Old Aircraft Spotlight- Lockheed L1011 Tri-Star

The Lockheed L1011 Tri-Star was the third wide body airliner to enter commercial operations. In the 60's American Airlines approached Lockheed about making a competitor for the Boeing 747. Ultimately American chose the DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 was launched by TWA and Eastern Airlines. The L1011 was very similar to the DC-10 in appearance and they both had three engines with the L-1011's number two engine is integrated into the tail by an "S" duct for improved quietness and stability. The plane had a bunch of production delays, mostly due to the selection of the Rolls Royce RB211 as the powerplant. The DC-10 was able to get into service before the L-1011 and consequently only 250 L-1011s were produced by Lockheed versus a production run of 446 for the DC-10.

The L1011 entered revenue service in 1972. Delta Airlines eventually became the largest customer for the L-1011 and that is where I first met her. We all remember the first real airliner that we work on and mine was a Delta Airline L1011 tail number 789.

Being pretty much straight out of school I was amazed by the sheer size of the plane. The largest plane I had been around before that was an Aero Commander. I did overhaul work at Delta and the L-1011 was not exactly an easy plane to do that sort of work on. The plane was built like a tank, everything was heavy, and none of it really wanted to be taken apart. We would strip everything out of one, fix the discrepancies and put it back together again. My time spent there gave me a huge appreciation for the airplane. I did not get to do a lot of different jobs on her but I tried to learn as much as I could about her while I was there.

I do recall that the flight deck on the L-1011 was huge! The picture above does not even show the observer seat and that was as big as a business class seat. Those of you who have squeezed into the observer seat in a 737 can appreciate that. I also recall that the windshields were very heavy. I had the chance to change one and we used an overhead crane in order to lift it. The doors, the Galleys, the elevator they were all very heavy and required four guys to lift them. The largest repairs I was involved in were gigantic door doublers for the entry doors and Beam Caps in the cabin floor area. This beast was all metal and way ahead of it's time. I know she had RCCBs (remotely controlled circuit breakers) and that she was the first wide body aircraft to achieve a CATIIIc rating. Apparently the autopilot system was way ahead of its time as well and one of the reasons pilots really liked to fly her. I wish I had the chance to do some Line Maintenance on the L-1011 but like I mentioned earlier they went into service in 1972 (when I was two years old) and I got to Delta in 1991, the L-1011 was pulled from service by it's last US operator (Delta Airlines) in 2001 so unless I move to Africa or South America I'm not likely to see one.

I know that I will never forget the BOOM and following cloud of dark exhaust that followed the starting of those RB211s or the BANG and shaking following a test deploy of the RAT (ram air turbine). I will also never forget the amount of work involved in overhauling the Eastern Airlines L-1011s we got from out of the desert. "S" ducts, Lower Galleys, RCCBs, CATIIIc, RB211s, corrosion all a major part of me and those of us lucky enough to work one of the true Queens of the Air.