Boeing’s First 727 Is Ready For Its Final Flight

The very first Boeing 727 is prepared to make its final flight to retirement location at the Museum of Flight.

Boeing’s first produced 727 aircraft will fly once more, but only for a final flight to the aircraft’s terminal destination. Seattle NBC affiliate KING-TV reports engineers are preparing the historic jet for one last takeoff from Paine Field in Everett, Wash.

The first Boeing 727 — tail number N7001U — was a revolutionary aircraft when it first rolled out of Boeing’s factory on November 27, 1962. While the three-engine aircraft launched with American air carriers Eastern Air Lines and United Airlines, but the very first 727 would ultimately belong to United’s fleet. By the time the 727 ended production, over 1,800 aircraft in multiple variations were delivered to airlines around the world. Today, it is estimated nearly 100 727s remain in commercial service.

Although the aircraft was built in 1963 and was donated to the Museum of Flight in 1991, volunteers believed that the aircraft still had one more flight left. The engineers are planning to prove it, when the aircraft takes to the skies for one final flight to the Museum of Flight main campus in Seattle.

“When this thing came here, I figured that was it and if it ever got downtown, it was going to be cut up and hauled down on trucks,” Bob Bogash, a retired Boeing engineer working as the project manager, told KING-TV. “I had to convince a whole series of museum managements that yes, we could fly it.”

While volunteers have been working on restoring the aircraft for over a decade, air worthiness preparations are being finalized over the next two months. KING-TV reports the aircraft had to be fitted with new transmissions, actuators and jackscrews, while the specialized engines were donated by FedEx, taken from of a former 727 freight aircraft.

While the aircraft is not air worthy yet, the volunteer crew is optimistic the final flight can take place in October 2015. Once the flight is complete, the aircraft will be on display as part of the Museum’s permanent collection.

[Photo: KING-TV]