I drive a Honda Accord. It's like my fridge for reliability. One consistently keeps the beer cold, the other consistently gives me trouble-free motoring. Just about as sexy as my fridge too... But I fly (or I will soon, just sold my Cherokee, new bird arrives in a week), a Beechcraft Sundowner, but I salivate for a Baron, or at least a Bonanza ;-) That being said, the 727 was a fine bird for its time. Look at how we evolved: in 1960, the Boeing 720, a true gas guzzler, basically had the same capacity, and a similar mission, to a B727-200ADV. The 727 must have seemed like a true revolution to airlines at that time, 3/4 the fuel burn for the same mission (at least the -200; the -100 actually had about the capacity and capability of...a B737-200ADV, another story of Darwin at work in the airliner business). Now the fuel burn is less than half with the 737NG and A320 series. The head-end crew is 2/3 the size. The 727's gig is up, but we should recognize it for what it is, a very important milestone in aviation history. But, not what some claim, the DC3 of the jet age, not even close. I believe that award should go to the DC9, still nominally in production 40 years on, and some examples well into their 30s still flying for mainline carriers (NW comes to mind, and until January this year, AC). Not even the DC3 can match that record... The MD11 is unfortunately a dog that needed significant mods to meet its performance promises, has a higher than average accident rate, is a bitch to land, and basically is the mistakes (marketing and technical) of the DC10 expanded. But it does look good though. And then, for widebodies, there's the L1011, especially the -500. My favourite all-time widebody, well, maybe after the 747-400. Mike Gammon ----- Original Message ----- From: "Alireza Alivandivafa" <DEmocrat2n@xxxxxxx> To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, May 16, 2003 6:40 PM Subject: Re: The 727 > Actually, I drive a BMW M3 and salivate over Ferraris and Porsche Turbos. I also salivate over the service and price of Southwest and jetBlue, and that means a lot more to me that keeping a 20 year old relic (for the youngest 727s) in the air to make me pay more for a ticket. Notice all the losses for airlines that flew them until last year?? If you want to keep a beautiful plane flying, MD-11 should be the first one your list. It out does A340 and 777, but happened to be made by MDC so it got the shaft. Have you seen just how good it looks as J-Bird? >