L-1011 Tri-Star

[Reebo]

That humm was about the coolest thing I'd ever heard. I still snap my head around when I hear that sound--whether it's from a RR 757 or a Cathay 747. It still takes me back.TC

The best sound ever. Dont care if its from a CF6 on a DC-10, a JT9D on a 747, or a RB211 on a L1011. The 76s and widebody airbuses of today dont compare.

 

[A1FlyBoy]

For anyone interested, AIRLINERS ( the magazine ) a year or so ago had a special edition dedicated to the L-1011. In addition to amazing photos, the article really got into the race between Lockheed and McDonnel Douglas in who could bring their new state of the art aircraft to the market place first.

 

[Spooky 1]

I guess I am lucky as I have flown Capt. on all three aircraft, MD11, L1011-1,25,500, and the DC10-10/-30. By far the L1011 was my favorite flying airplane, but the trips in the MD11 were the best of my career. L1011 was Faster and just had that Lockheed feeling about it. Sweat! Just fading memories now though. I sure wonder how some of these 3rd tier operators keep the 1011 going though as it needs a steady diet of good maint. to keep it going and dependable. More so I think than either McDonnell product.

 

[AA717driver]

Spooky--You are lucky to have those aircraft in your logbook.

The L10 did require a lot of care but I don't recall ever getting stranded anywhere--except MCI when we diverted in there to fix a broken windshield and they took four days chasing down hydraulic leaks... TC

 

[FlyChicaga]

The L10 did require a lot of care but I don't recall ever getting stranded anywhere...

My friend who worked on the L1011 as an F/A told me a story how enroute to the USA from Germany with military folks, they encountered some sort of rudder issue and diverted to Shannon, Ireland. They got "stuck" for four days, which were filled with craziness when the crew met up with military dudes and proceeded to invade every pub on the island...

I don't think there are many jobs like that anymore!

 

[TriStar_drvr]

I've been fortunate enough to fly the L1011, and I'm going back for round two starting next week.

The airplane rides like a Cadilac, a soft cushy ride. The autoland is downright amazing, and it is fast (although the 747 and 777 are faster). It is fun to hand fly, and actually easy to land, providing the engineer makes good callouts of the radar altimeter heights.

I remember once landing at Bangor at dawn after an Atlantic crossing. CAVU weather, and cleared for the visual 40 miles out. With a 12000 foot runway to play with, I decided to head for the numbers. Rolled out at 200 feet right in the slot and greased it on. After landing the FAs all raved about the smooth touchdown, claiming they didn't even know they were on the ground. The airplane can make you look that good (trust me though, I've made some clunkers too).

My first flight on the airplane after a year and a half absence is a 10+ hour Atlantic crossing. I just hope this second tour is half as much fun as the first.

 

[taiar]

Its awsome to see others have the same enthusiasm and love for the TriStar. ITs an awsome machine, and aperantly it has touched the lives of many. As its weared to see machine do that because normaly people are the ones to touch others lives not machines....

As far as TriStar stories, as a kid my First trip was on a TriStar was in 1982. I was 8 years, and I remember it like yesterday, i even remember the inflight movie, it was Star wars.

Since that date I ended up probably sitting in the Jump seat in the cockpit over 300 hours if not more. As I grew up and travelled the wrold from Singapore in the east to LAX in the west. As my Father was a Captain on the TriStar for an over seas Carrier, they use to allow special people like your airplane loving kids to sit up front. (Ahh the good old days).

Anyways, many memories and valuble lessons I learned from sitting and observing in the cockpit of the TriStar.


AS far as stories go, The best are a take off from JFK going over seas for a 11 hour flight. IT was a late August muggy and humid New york night, and thunderstorms where all over the place. We lined up on the runway and I was sitting on the High jump seat right behind the Captain. and I can see the Radar sweeping left and right with these MAgenta colors right infront of the nose of the plane and the sky was lite up by lighting bolts like fly zappers.. anyways, we line up and the thrust is advanced to the Take off position and the F.E then fines tunes the Levers to the correct EPRs and down the runways we accelarated. I guess we where so heavy that we needed all the power the RB-211-524 can give, so the packs where off line, and it was awsome, because in the absensce of the noise normaly heard from the airconditioning , all we heard was the noise of the engines roaring as we accelerated down the runway and ate up every foot of pavement. Then as we broke ground, and sucked the gear up we went into a left bank to avoid then Storms as the Magenta was getting closer. IT was the most awsome Take off I have ever seen in my Life, That was over 16 years ago, and I can still remember it as it was last night.


Other cool memories, is watching a CAT III landings into AMS and VIE, and how the Auto throttle would mover the thrust levers bythem sellf and then watched that baby set her self so gracefully back on the pavement and the spoiler lever would move back by itslef.

Then as we Taxi, we would pass the center line by like 20 feet and then swing the nose there... it was awsome.

So many sweet memories. The sound of the RB-211 -524 when it lityes off. and the rumble you feel and hear....

Just today I was taxxing to the gate DFW and saw an ATA L-1011 take off 17R, must been a ferry flight because they where off the ground in like less than 3000 feeet..... It was sweet....

Too bad Iwill never get to fly my dream machine.

Happy memories.

T.

 

[M. St. Lawrence]

Without a doubt...the L1011 was the most sophisticated and easiest wide body A/C to fly. The best autopilot ever...better than anything on any A/C today...shared secrets of SR-71!!!!!!

 

[bobs98tlr]

ATA does military charters out of DFW. I was there on January 28th of this year and saw 3 land in a matter of 30 minutes......OH how i miss watching those things move. It is such a shame to only see a handful amount still in use.

 

[Wesb737fo]

I have heard alot of guys talk about the L-1011. It's too bad they are being phased out. A while back I had a chance to look inside on a DFW ground delay.
Oh well, kudos to the guys who flew, as well as those who currently fly, the Tri-Star.

 

[XTW]

.

, and it is fast (although the 747 and 777 are faster). .

I don't know what the speeds are for the 747 or 777, but our L10's were Vmo'ed at .90, although normal cruise was .84-.86 above 26000', 375kts 10,000- 26,000', and 350kts below 10,000'.

I remember, as a new-hire FE, walking down the concourse as a class with our instructor, to do a walk-around on an airplane that was at the gate. As a group, we were easy to pickout as eager new-hires to the seasoned crewmembers that we were passing. On our way to the airplane, a senior Captain approached us and asked us what airplane we had been hired on to. We told him the L1011. With that, he asked to examine one of our classmates index finger. He said, "Hmm, you'll get a callous on that soon enough!"

You see, all the switches on the engineer panel were push button type as opposed to toggle switches.


M. St. Lawrence- Captain J.S.Hart had many fond memories and stories of flying with you. I wish I had the pleasure also.


XTW

 

[AA717driver]

XTW--Is M. St Lawrence one of us? Or did Capt. Hart fly with him in the military?

Good thing I still have the callous on my button pusher. I use it too much these days...

Take care.TC

 

[XTW]

Callous Palms

TC,

Captain St. Lawrence retired just around the time we were hired. From the stories J.S.H. told, I'm sorry I missed him, he sounded like quite a character. Another part of the colorful history!

XTW

PS. Still got my callouses too. It happens after 5000+ hrs. of switchlight pushing and all!

 

[Whirlwind]

For anyone interested, AIRLINERS ( the magazine ) a year or so ago had a special edition dedicated to the L-1011. In addition to amazing photos, the article really got into the race between Lockheed and McDonnel Douglas in who could bring their new state of the art aircraft to the market place first.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that one of the main problems is that the market wasn't quite big enough to support both airplanes (and the 747 was big enough over those two to make its own market), which is why in the end their companies ended up giving the commercial airliner market over to Boeing.

If the MD-11 is so good, why doesn't Boeing build another similar design with 2 engines? Or is that just too far into the "not invented here" syndrome?

 

[ArcticFlier]

Its awsome to see others have the same enthusiasm and love for the TriStar. ITs an awsome machine, and aperantly it has touched the lives of many. As its weared to see machine do that because normaly people are the ones to touch others lives not machines....

As far as TriStar stories, as a kid my First trip was on a TriStar was in 1982. I was 8 years, and I remember it like yesterday, i even remember the inflight movie, it was Star wars.

Since that date I ended up probably sitting in the Jump seat in the cockpit over 300 hours if not more. As I grew up and travelled the wrold from Singapore in the east to LAX in the west. As my Father was a Captain on the TriStar for an over seas Carrier, they use to allow special people like your airplane loving kids to sit up front. (Ahh the good old days).

Anyways, many memories and valuble lessons I learned from sitting and observing in the cockpit of the TriStar.


AS far as stories go, The best are a take off from JFK going over seas for a 11 hour flight. IT was a late August muggy and humid New york night, and thunderstorms where all over the place. We lined up on the runway and I was sitting on the High jump seat right behind the Captain. and I can see the Radar sweeping left and right with these MAgenta colors right infront of the nose of the plane and the sky was lite up by lighting bolts like fly zappers.. anyways, we line up and the thrust is advanced to the Take off position and the F.E then fines tunes the Levers to the correct EPRs and down the runways we accelarated. I guess we where so heavy that we needed all the power the RB-211-524 can give, so the packs where off line, and it was awsome, because in the absensce of the noise normaly heard from the airconditioning , all we heard was the noise of the engines roaring as we accelerated down the runway and ate up every foot of pavement. Then as we broke ground, and sucked the gear up we went into a left bank to avoid then Storms as the Magenta was getting closer. IT was the most awsome Take off I have ever seen in my Life, That was over 16 years ago, and I can still remember it as it was last night.


Other cool memories, is watching a CAT III landings into AMS and VIE, and how the Auto throttle would mover the thrust levers bythem sellf and then watched that baby set her self so gracefully back on the pavement and the spoiler lever would move back by itslef.

Then as we Taxi, we would pass the center line by like 20 feet and then swing the nose there... it was awsome.

So many sweet memories. The sound of the RB-211 -524 when it lityes off. and the rumble you feel and hear....

Just today I was taxxing to the gate DFW and saw an ATA L-1011 take off 17R, must been a ferry flight because they where off the ground in like less than 3000 feeet..... It was sweet....

Too bad Iwill never get to fly my dream machine.

Happy memories.

T.

Who did your Dad fly the Tristar for?



AF

 

[Vector4fun]

My Dad was on the L-1011 for at least a dozen years. I got to spend a few days in the jumpseat with him.

I recall you can get at least 7 in the cockpit comfortably, especially if some are female. With the Pax asleep over the Pacific, and the door open, a dozen folks could party between the Capt's Chair and the forward galley.

Don't ask me how I know this......

 

[Snakum]

If I remember correctly, as a young Infantryman, all my TWA flights to FRA in the late 80s were on L1011s. I always thought they were a very sexy bird. Even the old cannibalized TriStar at Tradewinds' maintenance shop still looks sexy coming in on 5 at GSO.

Shame I will never get to fly one.

Minhommad the Mad Muslim Pig Farmer