...and another "shinier" repaint posted to FS.to today...

I'm really having a lot of fun with the FSS 727.

This week, I painted a freighter livery and this afternoon, I took her for a maiden flight (W8-951)...an early morning departure from Covington, Kentucky (FeelThere KCVG) to Hamilton, Ontario (SimAddons CYHM).

This is a relatively short duration, real world flight for Cargojet, albeit, currently flown with their fleet of B757/B767's.

This particular airframe (Serial No 21971)  was delivered to LACSA (Costa Rica) on Nov 1, 1979. She flew with several South American airlines as a passenger variant until she was converted to a freighter in early 1997. She initially flew for Capital Cargo International and Custom Air Transport (Pegasus Aviation) before being acquired by Cargojet in 2007. She only flew a short two years for Cargojet before fleet retirement from that airline. She flew another 5 years for Allied Air (5N-BMQ) before being permanently retired/broken up in 2014. 

From a purely nostalgia perspective, I really do miss seeing these "old" 727's flying overhead...great to have a good quality aircraft in the virtual world!

The FSS B727-200 aircraft is so much fun to hand fly...I think the developer did a fantastic job on the flight dynamics...typically with departure and approach I'm making without the autopilot, she just handles beautifully.

Attached are some snaps from today's journey...hope you enjoy!

Pre-departure walk-around, stand 12:

Cargo loaded, although less than full load...

Pre-Flight prep:

Taxi and lined up for departure, RWY 27:

...and wheels up...I can almost smell the unburned jet fuel!  🙂 

...and a few cruise photos...

The GNS-XLS must've seemed like a whole new world when it was introduced...loving the older school navigation...no "magenta line" here...   🙂 

Descending over Lake Erie into Southern Ontario:

Approaching Hamilton:

On final...hand flying...a little off the centerline!  (I'll blame the added workload on taking photos!)  🙂 

And finally, arrival at stand 35 to unload...

 

 

Wonderful post! A pleasure to read and watch.

1 hour ago, John F said:

Wonderful post! A pleasure to read and watch.

Thank you for the comment John! Greatly appreciated!

Fine set, thanks for sharing !

And again a nice paintjob..

cheers 😉

8 hours ago, pmplayer said:

Fine set, thanks for sharing !

And again a nice paintjob..

cheers 😉

Thank you for the comment! I should've picked up this aircraft much sooner!  🙂 

Beautiful job on repainting this classic airplane in this nostalgic color...🙂...A marvelous set of pictures and narrative too...

 

14 hours ago, rmeier said:

From a purely nostalgia perspective, I really do miss seeing these "old" 727's flying overhead...

"...I really do miss seeing these "old" 727's flying overhead... "...and also hearing the notoriously loud noise of those (P&W) JT8D engines...; there I fixed it for you...🙂...Just kidding...🙂...

Amazing airplanes of their time, indeed. The -F variant is especially appealing to me, and I distinctly recall having all the variants (-100/-200/-100F/-200F) of Captain SIM once upon a time...🙂...

Glad you're enjoying flying (and repainting) the FSS B727. It surely looks like a keeper in MSFS.

Thanks for the post...!

1 hour ago, P_7878 said:

"...and also hearing the notoriously loud noise of those (P&W) JT8D engines...; there I fixed it for you...🙂

LOL...you certainly have vastly greater experience than I to narrate these photo essays!  🙂  Appreciate the feedback!

I think I started with the Dreamfleet 727 (way back when) before moving onto the CS products in P3D.

 

(When I packed up my house in Louisiana to move back to Canada, I found my old DVD's of 2004 and the Dreamfleet 727...yup...I kept them!)  🙂 

This FSS version is really well done!

Like they say...kind of like riding a bicycle...all those hours in the Dreamfleet 727 and it all came back as soon as I stepped into the cockpit of this one...of course, having the virtual Flight Engineer makes it so much more easier!  🙂 

Also agree about the (1960's) technology...the B727 truly was ahead of her time...I usually tried to book a seat around the wings just so I could see the "unfolding" of the wings/kreuger slats on approach...great memories...especially for aviation nerds who'll never have that experience again...

Edited September 6, 2025Sep 6 by rmeier

Wonderfully nostalgic Dreamfleet/Flight1 memories...🙂...and a well-composed video...

I recall, Dreamfleet B727 that set the standards for this Trijet (an incredible simulation for its time), was designed for (and native to) FS9, but not a perfect match for FSX...🙂...

And 20+ years later today, we are now asking, if a certain a/c is native to MSFS2024...🙂...?

Thanks for sharing...!

5 hours ago, P_7878 said:

I recall, Dreamfleet B727 that set the standards for this Trijet (an incredible simulation for its time), was designed for (and native to) FS9, but not a perfect match for FSX...

rmeier:

I don't mean to take over your post, but my own earlier (above) recall/comment about the Dreamfleet 727, that you've referenced in your post, made me look up a bit more, with help of AI...🙂...of course...

BTW, I now also recall I must have shed a tear or two...🙂...of sorrow, when the Dreamfleet 727, a SIM I could not probably live without...🙂... (priorities of life appear slightly misplaced in those younger days...🙂...), was NOT officially updated for FSX.

Please read on if interested in this AI feedback:

"The Dreamfleet 727 was not directly (and officially) available for FSX. While the Dreamfleet 727 was not updated for FSX, other 727 models were available, such as the Thomas Ruth Mega Pack for FSX/P3D...

Why the Dreamfleet 727 wasn't for FSX:

• FS9 vs. FSX: The Dreamfleet 727 was developed and popular during the era of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004 (FS9), which predates FSX. 
• Compatibility: Many add-ons from FS9 are not directly compatible with FSX due to the differences between the two simulators, such as the 64-bit architecture in FSX.

The smart AI also (and correctly) notes, "However, the modding community did find ways to make this B727 function in FSX, though this, often, required workarounds that could cause issues."

This sounds eerily similar to our on-going duel between MSFS2020 and MSFS2024 aircraft support...🙂...Does it not...? So, what's the matter with my all those (payware MSFS2020 a/c) that are now sitting idle in my (MSFS2024) Library, listed as either "Unverified by Publisher" or "Permanently Incompatible"...🙂...? ...Oh well...

Cheers...!

3 hours ago, P_7878 said:

I don't mean to take over your post,

No worries...

I recall the Dreamfleet 727 vividly...I had just moved to Scotland for a new job...purchased a new PC, flightsim peripheral hardware (controllers) and boxed copies of flightsim software at a brick and mortar computer store in Aberdeen...now I'm thinking about how many moves that boxed software has made with me...  🙂 

The B727 (passenger variants) had just been retired by most major airlines in and around 2003...still plenty of real world cargo flights to simulate...

It has to be tough for a developer to decide when to stop supporting older platforms...I'm sure for a lot of them, their aircraft (even some of the "under-developed ones"!) are truly "passion projects" for aviation geeks...like us. Either it doesn't make financial sense to continue supporting them...or the passion (time to support) for the aircraft has diminished...

Thankfully, there is still a niche market (enough people to continue to buy/support) these classic aircraft as the quality of the sim platforms continue to evolve...although, I suspect our demographic is diminishing for that market to survive another 10-15 years...I still smile when I hear stories of simmers holding onto older platforms just to fly older sims (the FSLabs Concorde and Majestic Dash-8) immediately come to mind...yeah, I realize the Dash is not technically a classic aircraft! 🙂 

True, our SIM is usually driven by the developers, guided by financial and resource constraints…unless projects of passion, as you have said. 

In the old SIMs, the (freeware) projects such as Historic Jetliners Group and California Classic Propliners made up some missing grounds, until such classic aircraft appeared from the developers.

Anyway, hopefully, a high-fidelity 707 would appear in MSFS…within our SIM lifespan…🙂 …

Cheers…!