Merrill Field, Alaska now has a 727 as of Tuesday 26 February 2013. This was the last flight for the FedEx 727-200. The plane used about 2500 of the 4000 foot runway. It was retired from service and donated by FedEx to the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) Aviation program, which is situated at the east (approach) end of the runway. The 727 ferried from the Federal Express regional hub at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (ANC) to Merrill Field (MRI), Anchorage’s general aviation… (www.youtube.com) 更多...
An excellent video. Brilliant landing. And I liked the bit about the traffic jam at the end - 727's are obviously rare up there, so every man and his sled-dog came out to watch!
Brian , Thank you for sharing your excellent video. NOTE : Hardworker7 had it right. I DID plant it hard right on the numbers - That's the idea in a short field Max energy stop. Many cudos to the hard working folks that did the runway clearing / scraping / brushing before our arrival. The braking action was very good ! Tim Powell ( PIC )
Congrats to you and the rest of the flight crew who brought this future training tool to Alaskans. We appreciate you and FedEx for their generous donation. Awesome.
Great landing!!! I'm glad to see this 727 has found a good home for retirement. I can't believe almost all the 727’s flying in the US retired. I guess I'm getting old!!!
No I don't believe it ws any kind of a record. We were at 107,000 Lbs - Vref was 112.When we brought the A/C up to ANC Intl. on the 24th I shot two tounch and go's and a short field full stop on 7R.
How do the record keepers measure the distance taken when (in this example at Merrill) the aircraft didn't actually stop but rolled on until the end of the runway?
Thank you for the kind words everyone. It was an impressive site and this video was a lot of fun to put together. I put it together for people to see so feel free to share.
Awesome. Video was good, audio was great. One small bounce, but overall, the short field technique was pulled off masterfully. Couldnt have done it better myself... In fact, couldnt have done it myself, period.
I find it ironic that the last flight of this 727 and the one donated to Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry were both into fields name Merrill. In the case of the earlier one KCGX, Merrill C. Meiggs.
Yes, and too bad that idiot Daly had the balls to destroy the runway late at night using Dept. of Streets equipment to do it. Imagine, a Federal property with a tower, & of course, as head of the Chicago Democratic machine (same machine that put another idiot into national politics) got away with it!
Ok, having seen this video about the delivery to Meiggs field, I now have a question - Why did they bother with the landing on a small-plane runway when they are shipping the whole thing to another state to prepare the 727 for the museum, then shipping it back again to the museum? Surely they could've done that more easily by flying it to Indiana and shipping it back.
There's an old FedEx 727 sitting at Sioux Gateway in Sioux City at the MidAmerican Museum of Aviation which is in the process of being turned into theater as part of the museum displays. Even connected to the main building with an old jetway. You'll also see a full cockpit and crew cabin of a United 737. I think also one of the displays is the 707 cockpit used by the ABC show "Pan Am".
I have flown in&out of MRI many times, and would never think of a B-72 landing (much less taking off)! It was at min. landing wt. and of course great flying skills!! You couldn't really see it but MRI is surrounded by homes. UAA, your very lucky to get a fine,working a/c.
Very nice! PIC really planted it on touchdown. Always entertaining to see what an empty airliner can do in situations like this. Kudos to photog for staking out a great vantage point!
I thoroughly enjoyed the video, being a plane fanatic. I still get excited each time I see an aircraft land. That was a fantastic video. Thanks for that
I love these 3 holers.....I have a buddy (a carrier qualified pilot) who got a J with some airline running 3 holers & got fed up with riding sideways so he quit and went with Northwest. Guess what? Was riding sideways again, but in beautiful country.
What a great airplane, a classic in every regard. I'm proud to have been able to maintain a fleet of them at United Airlines prior to their retirement, only wish I could have piloted just one!
It was an incredible sight...I was standing on a taxi way watching....I fly in and out of Merrill on a regular basis in a little Cessna 152/172 and seeing a huge plane like the 727 land here was definitely unique and probably something we won't ever see again. Great video of it Brian!
2500' of 4000' runway??? WOW!!!! Having been on both fields, I can attest to how tight Merrill is! Bravo Zulu to the crew. Couldn't have asked for a better day to do it either! Now if only they had shown the traffic jam......
I remember the days of getting to fuel those great FedEx 727's. I miss them, but I am glad that they are being sent out to schools that can use them for their Aviation programs.
I first saw it on FACEBOOK. Thanks for sharing.... Perfect in every way. Did they capture any video from the cockpit? There is not flying like ALASKA flying! Was the landing any kind of a record for short field landings? I too, will never forget flying as a passenger on the 3 holer!
I was told many years ago that the 727 was the first airliner to have three toilets on board and hence was known as a "three holer". Maybe I was being punked!
That was an awesome video!! Sad to see the 27's slowly disappearing. Wouldn't doubt if this was a former UAL tri-motor. We called them stretch 27's on the ramp. Remember turning trips with like 230 bags in the front pit, and 2 grand of mail and 2 grand of freight in the rear pit. Great plane!! Was the workhorse of the industry for many many years.
A sad ending to a great bird. To bad they didn't do a couple of high speed passes. That wasn't a bounce, just the struts absorbing the energy.Flew capt 727 for 10 yeras. Miss her.
Gat video and audio .. Good Luck to UAA Aviation .. Have fun ! The last 727 I recall being on, is now owned by San Jose State University Aviation now located at KRHV .. Donated by United Airlines
That is cool, a tribute to a wonderful airplane that I have the privilege of about 3,000 hours in. (NOT that particular jet, of course! The B-727 in general, I mean).
Those of us "old timers" remember when the 737 had to have a F/E? Talk about cramped...at least in the 72, you could do your 30 degrees for t/o&landing! (that means the f/e had to rotate his seat 30 degrees facing forward for take-off/landing,for those non-pilots,it was rough on tall guys knees in the 73).
In my career I flew for Alsaka Airlines and Western / Delta Airlines in Alaska for many years. it was a great pleasure for me to return to Alaska and do this delivery.
An equally good video as the first one. Well done. At the end, when the page reverts to youtube, there seems to be at least 4 videos of this event. We'll be able to have the subject re-posted a few more times yet. LOL
I'll go one better. In 1963 or 64 American Airlines donated a DC-6 to Parks College of Aero Tech in Cahokia, Ill. and landed it on a 1,500 ft. grass strip that had a ten ft. hedge row at the approach end. How's that for a short field landing? Unfortunately the original Parks and its campus are no more.
Yes it is sad and unfortunate that the original Parks and it's campus are no more. Now part of Aviation history. I was a student there in 1964 ( graduated in 1968 ). I learned to fly at Parks Airport, and have been lucky enough to be able to fly Boeing Jets for the past 43 years. By the way - I believe it was a DC-7 ( as students, we would sneak into it and imagine ourselves as airline pilots ). Tim Powell ( PIC of the 727 )
Didn't want to watch the vid, wanted to read the whole article. Very disappointed that the "more" button after the interrupted sentence opens the YouTube app.
Hard to believe that I learned to fly on ski's back in 1965 in a super cub on that field and a 727 landing there just boggles the mind. Awesome. smitty
my co-worker's aunt makes $64 every hour on the computer. She has been without a job for ten months but last month her income was $19580 just working on the computer for a few hours. Go to this web site and read more.. WWW.JUMP30.COM
The Big deal is that it was the final flight of this airplane as it is being donated to the local A&P school based at the airport. It's not every day a school gets a working 727 so a lot of people showed up to watch.
yep. we get that part and that is all worth the hype!...but the carrier landing is what I am talking about. I took a mechanics hop 40 years ago in a Sabreliner, and the corp drivers put it on the numbers and made the first turnoff...400 feet and didn't spill the drinks. not trying to take anything away from this one...just some perspective. Like Navy65 said, not really such a biggie. (wanna talk about WWII aero feats of skill and bravery sometime?)
Didn't a TWA 3 holer hit the mountain on takeoff when unable to clear it? I was there about 2 weeks before the hit, and could see why that takeoff run rather than toward the sea would be tough when hot and no wind
As did American Airlines until April 27, 1976 when flight 625 ran off the end of the runway, through a chain link fence, across the road, and into a gas station where the airplane was destroyed and about half the occupants died. That was the last of the 727's there.
I landed on that runway in a C150 about a week before the accident and touched down just prior to a 727 landing. It was a striking experience watching and hearing what it took to stop that plane in 4000 ft. Seeing it done in 2500 ft (albeit probably at a much lower weight) must have been an experience.
Why do the 'kids' always assume they invented everything. Not that it wasn't a nice landing...but come on....psst don't tell anyone, but its all been done before...and much if it repeated routinely!! As several of these posts imply. Only diff is no phone video's to record it!!!!.