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For all the L-1011 Fans:
This has always been my favorite bird. Although it is well past its prime and a good ways behind what's out there now, I'm glad to see 6 being refurbished and back flying. (www.pr.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Hippy-Hop Hippity-Hop Hippity-Hop all the way from Shreveport to Minneapolis on L-1011 in 1964 - a seeming endless day trip along the Mississippi River with 3 to 4 stops enroute. When I was an airman based at BAFB in Bossier City I would occasionally fly as pax on that route and marvel yet today at the short runways and the inefficiency inherent in using that plane on that route!
I flew the Tristar(dash 500) with Delta and really enjoyed much of the old technology except the Nav system which was a big part of my training when I went to ground school.What I really liked was the ability to get really nice landings.It truly was a pilots airplane.I flew it on the international routes out of the New York Base.A large contingent of the JFK base were former Pan Am folks that were transitioned from Pam Am to Delta as a result of Delta buying Pan Am's Europe routes.I learned a lot about Pan Am from the Captain and FE's.Many of the Flight Engineers were former Pan Am Captains that had elected to transion to the Engineers seat to extend their time in service to their retirement pay.I got to fly with a Former Pan Chief pilot Ed Cywinski(sp-?)He was a true gentleman!The best of the best!!
Listening to the stories from the old Pan Am days was truly facinating.My favorite stories were about laying over for a week on Pacific Islands.They had also flown with the old "Flying Boats" Captains back in the day.--cs
Listening to the stories from the old Pan Am days was truly facinating.My favorite stories were about laying over for a week on Pacific Islands.They had also flown with the old "Flying Boats" Captains back in the day.--cs
So happy to hear, the L-1011 was one of the best birds to ever fly!
I wish Lockheed would get back in to the commercial airline business. The L-1011 was a great jet and one of the smoothest I've ever flown in.
I remember flying the 1011 on TWA and Delta. The most amazing was seeing them (and flying on them) in and out of LaGuardia. I avoid LGA on a normal day, but seeing these big birds was something! (Same for the AA DC10's that they flew from LGA). But regarding TWA, who recalls that there were no overheads over the center seats? Just those small overhead doors along the sides. That was the first I saw fights over lack of overhead space. Oh well. It was a comfortable plane.
Don't forget about Orbital ATK's mothership _Stargazer_ for its Pegasus launch vehicle. It just traded its red lettering and details for blue with the corporate merger. There are two Pegasus launches on the manifest.
The 1011 was a good airplane for the passenger...once you got it away from the gate. But its design philosophy doomed it from day one. The large passenger cabin was at the expense of lowering the cabin floor 2 feet. In turn, that made a requirement for special cargo containers in the belly. In the jumbo jets, cargo containers were interchangeable among the B747, DC10 and A-300; but not interchangeable with the 1011. It was the design mistake that doomed the 1011 to obscurity. Couple that with the myriad of mechanical problems that caused untold delays at the gate because this or that system did not work at the moment. Nice idea, but in the long run, not an economical airliner for the airlines. Delta ran the 1011 long after its usefulness because it was the only game in town at the time for Delta