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Discovery intentionally crash tests a 727


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the footage is amazing...

 

good write-up from USA Today

 

 

The Boeing 727 belly-flops hard onto the sandy floor of the Mexican desert. Its nose is torn off as its landing gear crumples like a lame horse. Inside, unbelted occupants are tossed like rag dolls, and overhead bins spew luggage and electrical wiring into the cabin.

 

This is a real jetliner crash, but not a catastrophe. It's an intentional crash for the new Discovery Channel program Curiosity, which airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET. In this case, university scientists and international investigators will get a rare second-by-second look at just what happens -- to the jet and to its occupants -- when something goes terribly wrong midflight.

 

Discovery's Curiosity page with features about the upcoming crash episode

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I flew on that plane...its an old Champion Air charter. It was in really nice shape, sad to see it come to this end.

 

I dont know about this "experiment." Appears to be much more of a controlled hard landing than anything else. When I think of crashes, I think of massive systems failures that lead to total loss of control. That never happenned here. Still interesting, though.

 

WORST crash of a 727 has gotta be PSA192 over San Diego.

Edited by RkFast
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I flew on that plane...its an old Champion Air charter. It was in really nice shape, sad to see it come to this end.

 

I dont know about this "experiment." Appears to be much more of a controlled hard landing than anything else. When I think of crashes, I think of massive systems failures that lead to total loss of control. That never happenned here. Still interesting, though.

 

WORST crash of a 727 has gotta be PSA192 over San Diego.

 

PSA182. Hit a Cessna on approach, crashed into a suburb. Check out the pics of the thing going down, jjust horrifying...

Edited by TheMadCap
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They were great planes in their day. The high price of fuel, maintenance, and the 3 person crew killed them. Every time I have to fly on one of the modern day "lawn darts," or even a 737, I realize home much I miss them.

 

I think even FedEx has stopped flying them now. If you live anywhere on the Nascar circuit Roush Racing still flies 2 of them. One is an old Braniff plane. I understand they have an extra one down in NC that they just use to pick parts off of.

 

American was the first to fly them out of BUF in either 64 or 65. The BILLS used to always fly United (60's thru 90's) on either a 727 or larger, depending where they were going.

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They were great planes in their day. The high price of fuel, maintenance, and the 3 person crew killed them. Every time I have to fly on one of the modern day "lawn darts," or even a 737, I realize home much I miss them.

 

I think even FedEx has stopped flying them now. If you live anywhere on the Nascar circuit Roush Racing still flies 2 of them. One is an old Braniff plane. I understand they have an extra one down in NC that they just use to pick parts off of.

 

American was the first to fly them out of BUF in either 64 or 65. The BILLS used to always fly United (60's thru 90's) on either a 727 or larger, depending where they were going.

Some freight haulers in Anchorage still use piston DC-3s. I have always wondered what it must cost to maintain those big old 9 cly radials. They sure sound cool though.

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We get an old 727 used for transporting horses into Republic Airport pretty regularly. The thing is gawdgeous. And yes...its called "Air Horse One."

 

http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?cx=partner-pub-8297169501225184%3Aa05n2n-tzky&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=air+horse+one&sa=Submit&search_active=1&search=&sheadline=&search_field=datedesc&submit=&siteurl=www.airliners.net%2F&ref=&ss=1752j328512j13

 

Speaking of old planes, I saw John Travolta's 707 when it was here on Long Island, exactly a year ago...hearing those old JT3s whine is awesome....

 

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Here is Jet Clipper Ella taxiing to the ramp at Republic. The idling engines and rotating beacon really make this video. In the background is the American Airpower Museum which is housed in one of the remaining Republic Aviation hangers, where the P-47 was made.

 

 

When this plane came in, myself and around 20 spotters really followed it around. The running joke was that even if Travola was flying, the 707 was the "celebrity" we wanted to film.

Edited by RkFast
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Here is Jet Clipper Ella taxiing to the ramp at Republic. The idling engines and rotating beacon really make this video. In the background is the American Airpower Museum which is housed in one of the remaining Republic Aviation hangers, where the P-47 was made.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alkCSfrft50

 

When this plane came in, myself and around 20 spotters really followed it around. The running joke was that even if Travola was flying, the 707 was the "celebrity" we wanted to film.

Never saw a belly beacon like that. The pilot looks like he could us some help with his taxi skills.

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Actually I watched that again and the ramper was at fault. He was well to the right of the centerline and still directed the plane even further right.

 

He had to....if he followed that line, he would have parked the jet with the two sbd engines over the grass. That taxiway is really close to the runway. Like I said, its an old GA/former military airport.

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