R 99 wrote: " If you come across a 727 that can be flown as a drone, then you probably wouldn't need any further ratings to fly it. You have a "commercial drone license", correct? Is there a drone license higher than that?"
Actually there was a drone 727, and skydivers jumped from it!
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I saw that TV program when it originally aired. The pilot was a skydiver and the last one to jump. If I remember correctly, both the co-pilot and flight engineer were non-jumpers but they were set up to do tandem jumps out of the back (I think the rear stairs had been removed).
The final segment of the flight into the ground was controlled from another aircraft, basically using model airplane type radio controls. Once the 727 was set up on a satisfactory "final" into the planned impact area, the co-pilot and flight engineer (who were already wearing harnesses) plugged into their tandem "instructors" and went out the back. The pilot then got out of his seat and, wearing his own skydiver rig, went out the back himself at a fairly low altitude.
The whole experiment was at a remote location in the Mexican desert.
