BOEING B727-200F

The 727 can use relatively short runways at smaller airports. It has three Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines below the T-tail, one on each side of the rear fuselage with a center engine that connects through an S-duct to an inlet at the base of the fin. The 727 is the only Boeing trijet, as a commercial design entering production.

The 727 followed the 707, a quad-jet airliner, with which it shares its upper fuselage cross-section and cockpit design. The 727-100 first flew in February 1963 and entered service in February 1964; the stretched 727-200 flew in July 1967 and entered service with that December.

Passenger, freighter, and convertible versions of the 727 were built.

Airport noise regulations have led to 727s being equipped with hush kits.

The 727 also proved popular with cargo and charter airlines. FedEx Express introduced 727s in 1978. The 727s were the backbone of its fleet until the 2000s; FedEx began replacing them with Boeing 757s in 2007.

Many cargo airlines worldwide employ the 727 as a workhorse, since, as it is being phased out of U.S. domestic service because of noise regulations, it becomes available to overseas users in areas where such noise regulations have not yet been instituted.

A freighter version of the 727-200 Advanced became available in 1981 designated the Series 200F Advanced powered by the Pratt & Whitney JT8D-17A engines and featured a strengthened fuselage structure, an 11 ft 2 in (3.40 m) by 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) forward main deck freight door, and a windowless cabin.

This was the last production variant of the 727 to be developed by Boeing, and 15 aircraft were built, all for Federal Express; the last 727 aircraft completed by Boeing was a 727-200F Advanced.

Aircraft of similar capability and era are: Hawker Siddeley Trident, BAC One-Eleven, McDonnell Douglas DC9, Tupolev TU-154.