The 727, while outdated and outclassed nowadays, is still looked back with a lot of fondness by Levy. “I loved the Boeing 727 because it was one of the last models with older technology. It was always challenging to make a ‘grease job’ in the 727. It was a fast aircraft.”
A grease job refers to making a smooth landing post-flight, and the 727 ran into many issues with landing that led to public backlash. Boeing determined it to be due to pilot error, instead of the craft itself, and changes to the training procedures in the mid-1960s helped win the trust of flyers.
It’s been nearly 60 years since the 727 first took flight, but it’s still hanging in there. Production ended in 1984, and only a handful are still in service today — 35 aircraft as of December 2023 — but it’s mostly used for carrying freight instead of passengers these days. Perhaps the lasting legacy of the Boeing 727 will be its role in one of the most famous crimes of all time. In 1971, a man known as D.B. Cooper hijacked a 727 and escaped with $200,000, but he was never found and the crime was never solved.
