The name given to the built in staircase found in the rear underbelly of a Boeing 727 jet airliner. The stairs can be raised or lowered while the aircraft is on the ground. The feature allows the option for passengers to board or depart the aircraft without dependance on typical ground facilities. An inovative feature developed, and installed first, on the Boeing 727. Sun Country 727 The Boeing 727 is a large commercial jet airliner carrying as many as 189 passengers. ...

It was the airstair, found only on this aircraft, that obviously caught the eye of a man travelling under the name Dan Cooper, a.k.a D.B. Cooper. On November 24, 1971 in the United States, he hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines Boeing 727 flying from Portland, Oregon. With the $200,000.00 he extorted for the release of the passengers, he parachuted from the plane at low altitude after lowering the airstair on the aircraft. A feat most experts say, would have been impossible to pull off successfully had he hijacked any other jet airliner and tried to exit the plane through one of the cabin doors. It is still debated today whether he was in fact successful because neither he, or the money ever surfaced again. A 1972 FBI composite drawing of D. B. Cooper D. B. Cooper is the name used to refer to a famous airplane hijacker who, after receiving a ransom payout of $200,000, leapt from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest. ...