Lockheed L-1011 TriStar

Forty years ago today (16 Nov.), Lockheed launched what would be its final assault on the commercial market, with the first flight of the L-1011 TriStar.

On this day in 1970, the widebody trijet completed its maiden sortie from its purpose-built production facility in Palmdale, California. Dubbed the “Star Factory in the Desert”, this plant was capable of producing up to 10 L-1011s a month, but due to a mix of early problems with its Rolls-Royce RB211 engines (which delayed the programme and also hampered the trijet’s longer-term development) as well as intense competition from the very similar but ultimately more capable DC-10, Palmdale’s TriStar output never got near that level.

The TriStar entered service with launch customer Eastern Airlines on April 30 1972, between Miami and New York via Atlanta, and went on to see service across the globe, operating with many major carriers in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Nicknamed “Star Ship” by flight crews who adored its handling and advanced technology, British Airways pilots showed their affection for the TriStar by dubbing it “PFM” or “Pure F**king Magic”!


Lockheed built a total of 250 TriStars between 1970 and 1983, and delivered all but one of those. A late attempt to match its rival’s range with the “cut and shut” long-range TriStar 500 ended up being too little, too late – just 50 were sold. And the TriStar's lack of payload capability prevented it from enjoying the success of the DC-10 as a freighter in its later years.
So there is now just a handful of TriStars operational around the world, with the Royal Air Force's nine aircraft being the largest single fleet. According to Aviation Week data providers Ascend and JetNet, just three other TriStars remain operational: two with Sands of Las Vegas and One with TriStar Air o Egypt.

The RAF’s nine ex-BA and Pan Am TriStar 500s are due to continue serving with 216 Sqn at RAF Brize Norton for three more years, before being replaced by Airbus A330 tankers, which will probably bring the curtain down on what was Lockheed’s last roll of the dice in the commercial sector.

L-1011-600 'BiStar' was a twin-engined proposal, based on the L-1011-500

Poncho (Admin) a écrit:Un petit couplet sur le DLC du Tristar, un système révolutionnaire il y a 35 ans et à priori toujours pas égalé

Utilisation des spoilers pour le contrôle du taux de descente

ww.airliners.net/aviation-forums/tech_ops/read.main/324930/#2 et ww.airliners.net/aviation-forums/tech_ops/read.main/324930/#10

C'était vraiment une machine pointue : Load alleviation / DLC / collage des panneaux de fuselage

Poncho (Admin) a écrit:(Rasta, ta photo est de fait publique maintenant, on ne peut empêcher quelqu'un de la télécharger)

Toi t'es pas Camaro donc !

Poncho (Admin) a écrit:Fine

J'attends la 'vette alors ;D

Poncho (Admin) a écrit:La prochaine fois, ce sera la Challenger