Lockheed L-1011

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Lockheed L-1011 TriStar
Orbital Sciences' "Stargazer" Lockheed L-1011
Type	Wide-body aircraft
Manufacturer	Lockheed-California Co.
Maiden flight	1970-11-16
Primary users	Current: ATA Airlines Royal Air Force Former: Air Canada BWIA Cathay Pacific Delta Air Lines Eastern Air Lines Trans World Airlines
Produced	1968-1984
Number built	250

The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, commonly referred to as just L-1011 (pronounced "ell-ten-eleven"), was the third widebody passenger jet airliner to enter operation, following the Boeing 747 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Between 1968 and 1984, Lockheed manufactured a total of 250 TriStars. As of October 2006, 34 of the aircraft remain in airline service.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 History 1.1 Civil aviation 1.2 Military operation 2 Variants 2.1 L-1011-1 2.2 L-1011-50 2.3 L-1011-100 2.4 L-1011-150 2.5 L-1011-200 2.6 L-1011-250 2.7 L-1011-500 3 Specifications 4 Deliveries 5 Airliners in service 6 Incidents 7 Trivia 8 Notes and references 9 Related content

[edit] History

In the 1960s, American Airlines approached Lockheed and competitor Douglas with the need for an airliner smaller than the 747, but still capable of carrying a large passenger load to distant locales such as London and Latin America from company hubs in Dallas/Ft Worth and New York. Lockheed had been largely absent from the civil airliner market since the late 1950s following problems with its L-188 Electra which had suffered a number of crashes. However, having experienced difficulties with some of its military programs, Lockheed was keen to re-enter the civil market, and its response was the L-1011 TriStar.

The design featured a twin-aisle interior, low noise emissions, improved reliability, and efficient operation. American Airlines opted instead for the Douglas DC-10, although it had shown considerable interest in the L-1011. American's intent in doing so was actually to convince Douglas to lower its price for the DC-10, which it did^[1].

Without the support of American, the TriStar was launched on orders from TWA and Eastern Air Lines. Although the TriStar's design schedule closely followed that of its fierce competitor, the DC-10, Douglas beat Lockheed to market by a year due to delays in powerplant development. In February 1971, after massive development costs associated with the TriStar's RB211 turbofan engines, Rolls-Royce filed for bankruptcy. This halted L-1011 final assembly, but by then it was too late to change engine suppliers (to either General Electric or Pratt & Whitney). The British government agreed to approve a large state subsidy to restart Rolls-Royce operations on condition that the US government guarantee the bank loans that Lockheed needed to complete the L-1011 project.^[2] Despite some opposition, not least from the then Governor of California Ronald Reagan, the US government provided these guarantees.^[3]

Designed for a maximum seating of 400 passengers, the TriStar utilized a new engine layout: in addition to Rolls-Royce turbofan jet engines on each wing, a third engine was located dorsally below the vertical stabilizer. Manufactured in Lockheed facilities in Burbank and Palmdale, California, the TriStar faced brisk competition with the Boeing 747 and, even more directly, the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, which it closely resembled. The TriStar had a better safety record than the DC-10, and Trans World Airlines heralded the TriStar as one of the safest airplanes in the world in some of its promotional literature in the 1980s when concern over the safety record of the DC-10, which was flown by most of its competitors, was at its peak. However, the DC-10 outsold the TriStar nearly two to one, partly because of the TriStar's delayed introduction and the lack of engine choice. The TriStar only offered the Rolls-Royce RB211 engine while the DC-10 offered both Pratt & Whitney and General Electric engines.

The prototype first flew on November 16, 1970. The crew for that flight was H. B. Dees (pilot), R. C. Cokeley (copilot), and G. E. Fisher (development engineer). The first TriStar was finally delivered to Eastern Air Lines on April 26, 1972.

Lockheed bribed the Japanese government to subsidize ANA's purchase of L-1011s. The resulting political scandal led to the arrest of Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei. Within Lockheed, board chairman Daniel Haughton and vice chairman and president Carl Kotchian resigned from their posts on February 13, 1976.

Lockheed needed to sell 500 planes to break even, but in 1981 announced that production would end with delivery of the 250th and last plane on order in 1984. The TriStar's failure to achieve profitability caused Lockheed to withdraw from the civil aircraft business.^[4]

[edit] Civil aviation

Civilian operators of the Tristar included Aer Lingus, AeroPeru, Air Atlanta Icelandic, Air Canada, Air France, Air Luxor, Air Transat, Air Lanka, All Nippon Airways, Arrow Air, ATA Airlines, British Airways, British Caledonian, Caledonian Airways, BWIA, Cathay Pacific, Court Line, Delta Air Lines, Eastern Air Lines, EuroAtlantic, Fine Air, Gulf Air, Hawaiian Airlines, Iberia L.A.E., LTU, Luzair, National Airlines, Orient Thai, Pan Am, Peach Air, PSA, Royal Jordanian, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Skygate, TAAG Air Angola, TAP Air Portugal, TWA, United Airlines, Worldways Canada.

Delta Air Lines was the type's largest customer. Cathay Pacific eventually became the largest non-US operator of the type by acquiring many of the Eastern Air Lines examples when Eastern Air Lines went bankrupt, operating as many as 21 aircraft.

However, most major airlines have retired the type from their fleets. Cathay Pacific retired its L-1011 fleet in October 1996, replacing the fleet with Airbus A330-300. TWA withdrew its last TriStar from service in 1997. Delta retired its TriStar fleet in 2001, replacing them with the Boeing 767-400ER.

The L-1011 still sees use by smaller start-up carriers, particularly in Africa and Asia. These operators mainly do their business in the ad hoc charter and wetleasing businesses. ATA Airlines (formerly known as American Trans Air) still actively operates four L1011-500s. These aircraft are used on military charter flights conducted by ATA, however, due to the lack of maintenance and spare parts reliability, ATA has scheduled their remaining L1011s to be put out of service by October 2007.

[edit] Military operation

The TriStar has also been used as a military tanker and cargo aircraft. The Royal Air Force has nine aircraft of four variants. The aircraft are ex-British Airways and Pan Am L-1011-500s. Two of the aircraft are designated TriStar K.MK 1s and are pure tankers. Another four are KC1s and can be either tankers or cargo aircraft. The two TriStar C.Mk 2 models and the solitary TriStar C. Mk 2A are pure cargo aircraft. The C2A differs from the C2 by having military avionics and radios. The RAF's TriStars were bought in the immediate aftermath of the Falklands War to bolster the long range capability of the RAF in the transport and tanker roles. All of the aircraft serve with No. 216 Squadron, based at RAF Brize Norton.

The aircraft have seen service in many recent conflicts. Two were deployed to King Khalid International Airport, near Riyadh in Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War as tankers, with the rest used for transport between the Persian Gulf and UK. The two aircraft deployed received nose art naming them Pinky and Perky. During the 1999 Kosovo War, TriStars deployed to Ancona in Italy, again as tankers, with four aircraft involved. TriStars joined VC-10s in the AAR role for Operation Veritas (Afghanistan), during which they provided aerial-refueling for US Navy aircraft. Their most recent wartime role was again over the skies of Iraq. The RAF deployed four TriStars during Operation Telic, to an as-yet-undisclosed location.

The TriStar is expected to remain in service with the RAF until the end of this decade, when it is scheduled to be replaced by the Airbus A330 MRTT under the Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft (FSTA) programme. The Airtanker consortium, lead by EADS, won the FSTA contract in January 2004. However beginning in April 2004 there have been continuing rumours about the fragile state of the contract negotiations. This culminated in an ultimatum by the UK's Defence Procurement Agency, delivered to EADS, demanding a reduced price for the aircraft. With continuing doubts over the FSTA programme Marshall Aerospace, responsible for the conversion of the RAF's original TriStars, have offered to buy and convert some of the large number of surplus commercial TriStars. This would give the UK a much needed increase in capacity (with the upcoming retirement of the VC-10 fleet) at a fraction of the cost of the £13Bn FSTA project.

The TriStar's second largest operator, ATA Airlines, uses the type exclusively on military charters for the US Armed Forces.

[edit] Variants

[edit] L-1011-1

The L-1011-1 was the first production model of the L-1011, designed for short and medium-range flights. This type was purchased by Air Canada, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Eastern and other operators with regional trunk routes requiring a widebody aircraft.

[edit] L-1011-50

The L-1011-50 was an upgraded version of the L-1011-1 with an increase in maximum takeoff weight from 430,000 lb (195,050 kg) to either 440,000 lb (199,580 kg) or 450,000 lb (204,120 kg). Fuel capacity was not increased. The L-1011-50 was only available as a conversion package for the L-1011-1 and was never built new.

[edit] L-1011-100

The L-1011-100 first flew in 1975 and featured a new center fuel tank that increased the aircraft's range by nearly 1,500 km. It was purchased by several airlines with longer-range routes, such as TWA and BEA.

[edit] L-1011-150

The L-1011-150 was a development of the L-1011-1 with maximum takeoff weight increased to 470,000 lb (213,190 kg). It was only available as a conversion for the L-1011-1.

[edit] L-1011-200

The L-1011-200 was introduced in 1976. Although otherwise similar to the -100 model, the -200 uses Rolls-Royce RB.211-524B engines to improve its performance in hot and high-altitude conditions. Gulf Air used -200 models to replace its aging Vickers VC-10 fleet.

[edit] L-1011-250

The L-1011-250 was an upgrade developed for late-model L-1011-1 aircraft and all L-1011-100 and L-1011-200 aircraft. It increased maximum takeoff weight to 510,000 lb (231,340 kg) and fuel capacity from 89,335 liters (23,600 USG) to 119,735 liters (31,632 USG). This variant also used the upgraded RB211-524B4I engine which could be easily upgraded on the existing RB211-524B powerplants of the L-1011-20 but required a re-engining on the L-1011-1 and L-1011-100 which used the original RB211-524-22B. The upgrade allowed the L-1011 to match the performance of the long-range McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30. Although it was applicable to all L-1011 models, it was only used by Delta Air Lines on six late-model L-1011-1 aircraft.

[edit] L-1011-500

The L-1011-500 was a longer-range variant first flight tested in 1978. Its fuselage length was shortened by 14 feet (4.3 m) to accommodate higher fuel loads; it also utilizes the more powerful engines of the -200 series. The -500 series was popular among international operators and formed most of the L-1011 fleet of Delta and British Airways.

[edit] Specifications

Measurement	L1011-1	L1011-200	L1011-500
Cockpit crew	Three
Seating capacity	253 (3-class)	263	234 (3-class)
Length	54.2 m (177 ft 8in)	54.2 m (177 ft 8in)	50 m (164 ft 2in)
Wingspan	47.3 m (155 ft 4in)	47.3 m (155 ft 4in)	50.1 m (164 ft 4in)
Tailspan	21.8 m (71ft 7in)
Height	16.7 m (55 ft 4in)
Wing area	3456 ft² (321.1 m²)	3456 ft² (321.1 m²)	3541 ft² (329.0 m²)
Empty Weight	224,579 lb (101,867 kg)	231,600 lb (105,052 kg)	232,749 lb (105,573 kg)
Maximum take-off weight	430,000 lb (195,000 kg)	466,000 lb (209,000 kg)	496,000 lb (225,000 kg)
Max speed	.95 Mach
Cruising speed	.90 Mach
Range fully loaded	4,610 mi (7,419 km)	4,610 mi (7,419 km)	6,340 mi (10,200 km)
Service Ceiling	10,670 m or 35,000 ft	10,970 m or 36,000 ft	12,496 m or 41,000 ft
Engines	3 X Rolls-Royce RB.211-22	3 X Rolls-Royce RB.211-524B

[edit] Deliveries

1984	1983	1982	1981	1980	1979	1978	1977	1976	1975	1974	1973	1972	1971	1970

[edit] Airliners in service

This table shows the numbers of Lockheed L-1011 in service.

Airline	Number
Royal Air Force	9
ATA Airlines	4
Globejet Airlines	5
Sky Gate International Aviation	4
Starjet	2
Al Anwa	1
Air Universal	2
euroAtlantic Airways	2
Luzair	2
Saudi Arabian Royal Flight	1

[edit] Incidents

• The 1972 crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 in the Everglades (the subject of Hollywood movie, The Ghost Of Flight 401).
• In August 1980, Saudia Flight 163 burned up on the tarmac after making an emergency landing at Riyadh's International Airport due to fire in the rear of the aircraft. Delays in initiating the evacuation of the aircraft resulted in the deaths of all 287 passengers and 14 crew.
• In August 1985, Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crashed while approaching Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in heavy wind shear conditions. The crash killed 8 of 11 crew members and 128 of the 152 passengers on board as well as one person on the ground.
• On July 30, 1992 TWA Flight 843 aborted take-off shortly after liftoff from JFK en route to San Francisco. The aircraft came to rest, upright and on fire, on grass-covered soil, about 290 feet to the left of the departure end of runway 13R. There were no fatalities among the 280 passengers on board, but there were 10 reported injuries that occurred during egress.

[edit] Trivia

• A two-engine version called Bistar never left the drawingboard.
• The L-1011 TriStar's internal Lockheed model number is actually L-093.
• In the early 1970s, Eastern Air Lines nicknamed the L-1011 TriStar "The WhisperLiner". For the Latin American market, the L-1011 was called "El Grandote de Eastern" (Eastern's Big Plane).
• The main visible difference between the TriStar and DC-10 is in the middle/tail engine; the DC-10's engine is mounted externally for more power, while the TriStar's engine is integrated into the tail through an S-duct (similar to the Boeing 727) for improved quietness and stability.
• There has never been a crash of an L-1011 due to mechanical failure.^[5]
• The L-1011 was the first widebody to receive FAA certification for Cat-IIIc autolanding, which approved the TriStar for completely blind landings in zero-visibility weather. In theory it could even taxi to the gate in zero visibility if the airport was properly equipped.
• Technologically the L-1011 was considered to be largely ahead of its time. In addition to the Cat-IIIc autolanding capability, it had a unique Direct Lift Control (DLC) system which allowed for smooth approaches when landing; four redundant hydraulic systems (the DC10 and MD11 had only three); production also utilized a unique "autoclave" system for bonding fuselage panels together. This made the L-1011 extremely resistant to corrosion.[1]
• In the early 1990s, Orbital Sciences began to use a converted L-1011-100 named Stargazer to launch Pegasus rockets into orbit around Earth. This venture effectively rendered the small Scout rocket obsolete. [2] [3] This aircraft was also used in support of the X-34 program.
• NASA performed aerodynamic research on Orbital Science's L-1011 in 1995. [4]
• The Lockheed L-1011 is the airplane used on the ABC cult series Lost.

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ Boyne, Walter J., Beyond the Horizons: The Lockheed Story. St. Martin's Press: New York, 1998, p. 354.
2. ^ It did this because if Lockheed (which was itself weakened by the difficulties) had failed, the market for the RB211 would have evaporated.
3. ^ "New Life for TriStar", Time, May 17, 1971. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
4. ^ "Catch a Falling TriStar", Time, December 21, 1981. Retrieved on January 6, 2007.
5. ^ NTSB Accident Database

• Yenne, Bill, Lockheed. Crescent Books, 1987.

[edit] Related content

Comparable aircraft

• McDonnell Douglas DC-10
• Airbus A330-200
• Boeing 767-400ER

Related lists

• List of Lockheed aircraft
• List of airliners
• List of active United Kingdom military aircraft