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We share a heartfelt farewell tribute to the legendary Boeing 727 HK-5216, which may have been the last 727 Colombian.
Human beings are sociable by nature and develop attachments to the tangible and intangible.: a pet, your children, a platonic love or, in extreme cases, to your spouse or ex-partner.
Post written by: William Casalins
Aeronautic engineer
FIA Foundation
When you receive a flight schedule, everything flows naturally: get your things ready, you briefly review the route and documents, and you arrive at the dispatch office. Then you head to the platform and there it is. You see it and smile. The silhouette of the plane is beautiful; Its slender fuselage and “T” tail make it look stylized.. There are no engines in the wings, which gives it a clean aesthetic.
As you get closer, you start the exterior security inspection. You verify that there are no maintenance benches nearby when testing the control surfaces and ensure that the chocks are in place to prevent the airplane from rolling on a slope when testing the anti-skids.. You leave your suitcases at the foot of the stairs and go directly to the left train station.; there you verify that the APU fire bottle has the correct pressure (about 365 PSI) and that the witness indicates that it has not been fired.
You climb into the cockpit and carry out preliminary preparation to power the plane, although maintenance almost always has it ready. You review the report book, fuel and engine oil levels. Activate a hydraulic pump (System B) and go down again to complete the exterior inspection. When you return to "your office", You sit down and adjust the chair to suit you.. You inform the Commander about the reports and the status of the plane; That's when the real mental work begins..
You calculate the speeds and powers according to the weight, weather and track conditions. You look at the instrument panel again and a feeling of saudade overcomes you.: infinite nostalgia knowing that soon, you and your plane, they are going to retire.
The cabin is spacious compared to current airplanes of the same size.. Being specially designed for short runways and difficult airports, It has an impressive display of hyper-sustaining surfaces. If we were the relative wind, getting around it would be a big challenge; However, once the plane is "clean", shoots like a bullet reaching high cruising speeds, close to Mach 0.82.
The takeoff is dramatic. It doesn't matter how light the plane is, We always see the main wheels stuck to the concrete while the nose rises several meters off the ground at a steep angle of about 15 degrees. The pilot rotates it extremely gently to prevent the tail skid and the rear of the central engine from rubbing the track.. As a curiosity, thanks to its great braking efficiency (which includes the nose wheels), decision speed ($V_1$) usually coincides with the rotation ($V_R$). This allows excellent Improved Climb maneuvers to improve performance in the event of engine loss on takeoffs from critical airports..
You must rotate it delicately; if you hit the tail skid, the plane will charge you. Its numerous vortex generators in the vertical stabilizer and its enormous rudders with anti-balance tab (that look like flaps) They give great effectiveness to their thick tail. In his time, It had a reputation as a "track breaker" due to the configuration of its main gear and its weight., in infrastructure designed for lighter aircraft.
Boeing used the same narrow fuselage for the B707 models, B720, B727 and B737. Their cabins were almost identical to a layman; However, between the series 100 and 200, The visual difference was in the oval or round shape of the central engine air intake.. The horizontal stabilizer had a negative dihedral of -3 degrees, designed to reduce elevator swing. Its ventral ladder, in addition to providing elegance, made it self-sufficient for embarkation and disembarkation. In fact, a famous passenger (D.B. Cooper) he escaped there after a robbery on board, parachuting in to never be found. After that incident, A safety device called "Cooper vane" was installed to prevent its opening in flight.
It is a plane with many lovers due to its beauty, both on the ground and in the air. Today, Its thunderous sound makes it unmistakable in the few airports where it still operates.
I flew it for many years as a flight engineer. A lots of pilots, co-pilots, mechanics and dispatchers accompanied us on countless journeys. One develops empathy with the machine. Therefore, when I saw him on television dragging a wing across the floor, night, under the control of a heroic crew despite the collapse of the left gear, I couldn't hold back the tears. A deep sadness came over me. He was the last of his kind in the company where I served; I expected him to fly for at least one more year and retire as a soldier who fulfills his duty with honors..
Sadly it wasn't like that, although in his last minutes of flight he took care of his dedicated and well-trained crew. God bless captains Julio and Español, to the engineer Ramírez and the technician Buitrago, who overcame the emergency with impeccable professionalism, knowing that a landing with main gear retracted (partial gear up landing) it rarely ends well.
We retire together, my dear and beautiful machine. Seeing you hurt, with a broken wing and a broken "leg", you seemed to ask for help. Later, seeing you leave the track towed by a tractor, sore but not complaining, I couldn't take it anymore and I collapsed. I hung my head and cried. Your crew did an impeccable job.; thanks to them, your pain was not greater.
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