The commercially successful Boeing 727 , built between 1962 and 1984, was the only trijet the Seattle-based planemaker designed itself (although it would later build McDonnell Douglas MD-11s). Following the success of the Boeing 707, airlines were looking for a plane that they could operate out of smaller airports with shorter runways. Chicago's United Airlines wanted a four-engine aircraft to operate from its then high-elevation hub at Stapleton International Airport (DEN) in Denver.
For efficiency and a smaller capacity, American Airlines wanted a twin-engine jet. Meanwhile, Eastern Air Lines, who would become the launch customer, wanted a plane with more than two engines in order to avoid the FAA's sixty-minute rule for its Caribbean flights out of Miami. Eventually, the three airlines compromised and settled on a three-engine design.
Get all the latest aviation news right here on Simple Flying. An ideal aircraft for smaller airports Boeing fitted the 727 with an auxiliary power unit (APU) to enable the plane to operate from smaller airports. This meant the aircraft could keep running its air conditioning while on the ground and did not need a power outlet to start its engines.
The aircraft also featured a rear airstair under the fuselage, which again was helpful at airports with little or no equipment. In 1971, the anonymous hijacker D.B.
Cooper selected the Boeing 727 for the hijacking of Northwest Airlines Flight 305 and used the plane's stairs to parachute out of the a.