Passagem rápida pela SONANGOL.......1995

O Boeing 727, é um trijato que foi produzido pela Boeing entre 1963 e 1984, foi na década de 1970 o avião comercial mais popular do mundo. Foi criada atendendo aos interesses de três grandes linha aéreas norte-americanas: A American Airlines, que queria um bijato para maior eficiência econômica, a Eastern Airlines, que queria um trijato para seus vôos sobre o Mar do Caribe, e a United Airlines, que queria um quadrijato para operações de pouso e decolagem em aeroportos de alta altitude. Eventualmente, as três companhias decidiram por um trijato.
O 727 vendeu um total de 1832 aeronaves, sendo o avião mais vendido do mundo até a década de 1990, quando foi superado pelo 737. O 727 conseguiu enorme sucesso graças à sua capacidade de pousar em pequenas pistas de pouso e decolagem, e capaz de pecorrer médias distâncias. Seu alcance, da variante 727-200, facilmente a mais usada, é de 2,750 a 4,020 km, velocidade de cruzeiro de 890 a 965 km/h, e teto de 9,100 a 12,200 m.
Retirado de "http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_727"

......Serviços em Angola
O transporte de passageiros para todo país e para maior parte dos países Africanos é feito com aviões do tipo Falcon 20, BeechCraft 350, Foker 50 e Boeing 727.
Para além do apoio as companhias petrolíferas com helicópteros, o serviço de helicópteros também pode ser prestado a entidades singulares para a resolução dos seus compromissos profissionais ou de lazer.
Prestamos serviço de transporte de carga que é suportado pelos nossos Boeings 727 e Fokker 50, que poderão fazê-lo tanto para o interior ou exterior do pais. O transporte de combustível em todo País, para todas àquelas localidades inacessíveis por estrada é feito pelos nossos aviões Boeing 727. ......
Este é o primeiro Boeing 727 que foi para ANGOLA e ficou a operar na SONAIR que é uma subsidiária da SONANGOL. Fui eu que levei o Primeiro B727 para a SONAIR.
Foto legenda: B727 Tanker

Foto legenda: Em Luanda com Tião à esquerda, eu ao centro e Cândido à direita. Ambos fizeram cueso de B727 em Miami dado por mim na Flight Safety Internacional.

The Boeing 727 was, for a very long time, the most popular jet-liner in the world. The 727 first took the skies during the 1960s, much earlier than its bigger and more famous sister the Boeing 747.
The 727 has proved very successful with airlines world-wide because of its capability of landing in smaller runways while flying medium range routes. This effectively allowed airlines to attract passengers from cities with large populations but smaller airports to worldwide touristic destinations. One of the features that gave the 727 its ability to land on shorter runways was its unique wing design. Through flap extension and leading edge slat deployment, the 727 could almost double its wing surface area, allowing it to fly with great stability at very slow speeds. The 727's three powerful engines enabled quick take-offs from the shorter runways, as well.
Even as the 747s came about during 1970, international airlines worldwide still needed the 727. Many of the airlines were from medium to large sized countries and needed to transport their passengers to the larger communities where they would catch the bigger airliners for their international flights.
In addition to that, the 727 proved extremely popular because the range of flights it could cover meant that the 727 would prove efficient for short to medium range international flights in places like Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia North America, the Caribbean, Central America and South America.
The 727 also has proved popular with cargo airlines and charter airlines. Federal Express began the cargo airline revolution in 1975 utilizing 727s. Many cargo airlines worldwide now employ the 727 as a work horse. Other companies use the 727 as a way to transport passengers to their resorts or cruise ships. Such was the example of Carnival Cruise Lines, which used both the 727 and 737 to fly both regular flights and flights to transport their passengers to cities that harbored their ships. Carnival used the jets on their airline division, Carnival Airlines.
The 727 proved so popular that many have described it as the "DC-3 of the Jet Age," meaning, like he aforementioned plane, the 727 was a reliable and versatile plane that formed the core of many start-up airlines' fleets.
The 727 is also one of the loudest commercial jetliners, so most models in the United States must be fitted with Hush Kits to reduce engine noise if they are to land at most airports.
By the turn of the 21st century the 727 was still a vital part of some American major airlines' (United, American, Delta, Northwest, Continental, Alaska, to name a few) fleet, but events would soon change that. The post 9/11 ecconomic climate was perhaps the US Airline Industry's worst trauma since deregulation. Most airlines were already switching to twinjets, airplanes with only two engines. Twinjets tend to be much more efficient than planes with three (like the 727) or four jets. Also, the 727 was one of the last airliners in service to have a three person crew, including a Flight Engineer, a crewmember whose job is done by computerized systems on newer planes.
Faced with higher fuel costs, lower sales and the extra expense of maintaining older planes, most major airlines began phasing 727s out of their fleet. Delta, the last major US carrier to do so, retired its last 727 in 2003. However, the 727 is still flying for smaller start-up airlines, cargo airlines, and charter airlines, and it's also becoming increasingly popular as a private means of transportation.
Major airlines that have flown the jet include Delta Airlines, Mexicana, Air France, American, Eastern Airlines, Viasa, Pan Am, Air Canada, Dominicana, Iberia, Avianca, Aerolineas Argentinas, British Airways, Lufthansa, ANA, Australian Airlines, Copa, Fed Ex and, among Charter Airlines, Carnival Airlines and Hapag Lloyd. In addition to that, the USPS uses the type to fly mail from city to city every day.
The 727's sales record for the most jets bought in history, was broken in the early 1990s by its sister the Boeing 737.
On June 18, 2003, a 727 formely used by American was stolen from Luanda's international airport in Angola. According to the AOL News, most intelligence agents believe the missing plane to be in the hands of terrorists or drug dealers.
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