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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 0080.PDF
THE 727 KEEPS SELLING company-quoted basic 1976 delivery price, despite the dual INS fitted to the SIA aircraft. In the US market and abroad Boeing has had to offer part-exchange deals, by far the biggest of which has been the purchase of 30 early- model DC-8s from United. Boeing does not expect to be able to sell the DC-8s, so the price paid is in effect a dis count. There can be little doubt that Boeing will keep the programme profitable, but the constant presence of the A300 is having its effect. Even the US airlines are beginning to look towards wide-bodies in the 200/250-seat bracket. A Western Air lines spokesman talking to Flight recently made a point of saying that Boeing's offer to Western included "the 727 and the 7X7." Airbus salesmen eventually realised that the worst thing they could do was talk about a cut-back 200- seater A300B10, because that put them in the same posi tion as Boeing: both were offering a hypothetical aero plane. By the time it was appreciated just how much damage the A300B10 had done to the reputation of the full-size aircraft, Airbus Industrie had lost most of its prospective 1976 sales. Sadly for the A300 (but happily for Boeing) not all European decision-makers share the realism of European salesmen, and the A300B10 continues to haunt the scene. The freight capability of the wide-body, in Gregoire's opinion, presents no threat to the 727 in the US market. "The US domestics are trying to tell us that this isn't so important, that you shouldn't design an airplane around the lower cargo hold," comments Gregorie; Boeing bases its view on the airlines' experience of operations with QC aircraft. But Boeing is seriously considering convertible and all-freighter versions of the 727, and says that some airlines are" interested in both proposals. Weights would remain the same. Modifications for the convertible would include a main-deck door and cargo floor, and provision for a 9g barrier net. The 727-200F would dispense with passenger windows, ventral airstairs and nose-gear braking, as well as all the interior furnishing. Testing of an energy management computer on the 727 begins next summer; its operation has been checked out in the simulator. The system gives the crew the optimum thrust and speed for a given sector under given conditions, simplifying the use of flexible thrust techniques. Fuel 74 FLIGHT International, 8 January 1977 Two aspects of the 727's success: continuing sales, left, and continuing production, below savings could be more than 11 per cent, says Boeing, but in normal operation is more likely to be in the 4-6 per cent range. Boeing is also likely to offer a new Sundstrand APU, replacing the present AiResearcn unit. Beyond the present 727 Boeing is reluctant to commit itself to further development, but it is clear that the company sees potential stretch still left in the design. 0 United's unwillingness to go ahead with the proposed 727- 300B came as something of a shock to the manufacturer, and the payload-range slot which the stretched 727 would have filled now seems dominated in Boeing planning by the larger members of the 7N7 family. Boeing is looking at ways to improve the performance of the 727 without introducing all the major modifications proposed for the 727-300B. The aircraft finally rejected by United was a big step beyond the 727-200; the power- plant was the refanned Pratt & Whitney JT8D-217, which required considerable changes to the rear fuselage, and the centre-section was very different, to accommodate a four-wheel bogie main undercarriage. Noise, take-off performance, fuel capacity and runway loading are areas which Boeing is studying. The multi- chute suppressor nozzle originally developed for the JT8D- 217 may be applied to the standard engine, but no decision has been taken as yet. A variety of improvements to the existing wing are being considered: there may be advan tages in a three-position slat on the outer wing, or it may be more worthwhile to fit the full-span leading-edge flexible Kruger flaps designed for the 727-300B. Similarly, the 3ft wing-tip extensions proposed for the 727-300 could be applied to the existing aircraft, or Whitcomb winglets could be added d la Gulfstream III. But, Gregoire points out, alterations to the wing and the high-lift system will change the flying qualities of the 727 and result in some loss of "crew commonality." No fuselage stretch is proposed at the moment, but the range of the 727 could be improved by the addition of external tanks. Boeing has looked at tip tanks and under- slung tanks of some 500 US gal capacity, but so far they have not proved necessary. If need be the 727 still has a little stretch in it, mainly in the area of performance rather than capacity. Whether the airlines will be willing to pay for new versions of the 727 rather than new aircraft is another question. The appeal of the mature aeroplane is that it is a known factor. It is free of the tantrums which airlines fear in new air craft. Above all, the costs involved are precisely known, an aspect of the 727 which appeals to the accountants who run so many US airlines now. Gregoire does not think that 1976 was the Indian Summer of the 727. Boeing's best-seller has outlived so many obituaries in the past that he might well be right.
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