As a retired Flight Attendant from TWA the L1011, B747-100/200 B747SP were the workhorse of our Transcontinental and International routes. I was based out of JFK International Hangar # 12 / Terminal # 5. By experience, the L1011 remains the best in functionality, passenger and crew friendly environment. The rear of the aircraft with the small galley and multiple lavatories was a social gathering during long flights for passengers, First Class, Ambassador/Business and Coach all would mingle at times. Love working that aircraft.
TWTR4EVER I only flew the L-1011 once, JFK-CPH in 1990, after flying stand-by on TWA up and down the east coast and mid-west on first class. Just before the dep I asked the FC some questions. I think his name was Thomas Block, and he lived in Naples FL I think. He looked like Lesley Nielsen. Lol! During the flight he invited me to the flight deck. We saw the oil platforms of the North Sea. I spent an hour on the deck. I truly miss TWA. What a great airline. Some US friends that lived in BCN talked warmly of a couple that worked for TWA, Mr and Mrs. Fox I think. He as a FO on the 747 I think and she as an AH, JFK I think. I never met them. Be proud you worked for them. Stay safe, and be safe in these times. Greetings from Norway!
I was a volunteer for the FAA Emergency Evacuation test for Halcyon Days. Tristars were already certified before this, but this was a 400 passenger version. No leg room and it looked like a theater inside.
Funny to hear the DC 10 comparison comment😅 Roher and GM made similar styled Motorcoaches that Rivaled each other like Tri Star and DC 10 did. Once again, the boring household names win. Douglas and GM win over Lockheed and Roher even with all their tech advancements. One is still in flight and the other became "the most iconic vehicle of the 20th Century."🏁🏁
When flying was actually a great experience! People dressed up to fly, and you actually received great service. The planes were so much better as well!
I flew TWA and Eastern L1011's several times in my teens and early 20's. The love I had for that plane was one of the main reasons I became a pilot. Wonderful aircraft!!
Wow so glad I found this! I actually flew on the Courtline Tristar - aged 7. My only lasting memory was flying on a really big plane that was very colourful! It flew us from LGW to Malaga Spain. Unfortunately I didn’t get to repeat the experience on the way home, as Courtline went bust while we were on holiday 🙁
I love this aircraft. I was a TWA ground operations crew and I enjoyed working this airliner. It was a thrill to see it land and takeoff from the airport I was stationed crowded with many other airliners from many eras painted in varieties of color schemes of reds, oranges, gold, blues, purples, chrome, grays, yellows, greens, white, etc, it was so picturesque. All that is changed now, today, generally all the airliners look the same two engines on the wing mostly painted in white and blues.
I had no idea that the L-1011 had air stairs. Whoever fathomed the dynamics of those stairs deserves a medal. Love the L-1011 and was fortunate to fly one from Toronto to Manchester in 1996.
I've probably spent a couple of hundred hrs flying on these back in day. Fond memories of visiting the flight deck whilst flying over the French alps as a kid and looking out the front window.
Old times, when the passenger was the goal of the business and received a decent treatment instead of being a necessary evil from business perspective as nowadays.
Time for Lockheed to come out of commercial retirement and build contemporary aircraft to compete with the current duopoly. L-1011: Best airplane ever!
I was lucky enough to feel the power of this plane at take off and at amazing cruise speed. A great plane where you feel power all the time. Fuel consumption and maintenance where for sure the main issues, but than everything changed very quickly in aviation whit the petrol crises and of course the delay of RR to deliver the engines together with almost the bankruptcy of the company (saved by UK government) had its part in the "unlucky" story of Lockheed TriStar L-1011 an advanced and "sleek" piece of engineering .
In frame # 9.25, The kid boarding the L1011 was hesitant to board. She thought it was a DC10, and thats the reason why her mother carried her onto the plane...
The problem with the L1011 was the complexity of the aircrafts avionics. Also some pilots found it difficult adjusting to the sophisticated lift dump system, resulting in many heavy landings. But at least the aircraft was fitted with Rolls-Royce RB2-11 engines. A three spool design that started its commercial life in the Tristar. Derivatives of the RB2-11 are being fitted to the latest jets such as the Airbus A350. The Tristar 200 series did not have a great range. OK for most trans -Atlantic routes, but couldn’t operate LHR/LAX. The Tristar 500 came along with more powerful engines. It was a shortened version of the Tristar, like a 747SP. Delta took out the underfloor galleys on their Tristars, and fitted extra fuel tanks whilst also uprating the engines. This derivative was called the 250 and then the Tristar could then compete with the DC10-30. British Airways took out the underfloor galleys on their 200’s just to release more cargo capacity. Those aircraft eventually ended up being converted to all cargo with operators like Kalitta. The 200 version of the Tristar had a frisbee ramp in front of the intake for No2 engine. The Tristar was a very popular aircraft with British Airways Flight and Cabin Crews. The type was used a lot on Middle Eastern routes.
what happened to the Tri Star, it became obsolete in some way, maybe; they stopped the 3 engine design, maybe because 2 engines were just as reliable and much cheaper on fuel. it was a much much much better plane than the DC 10 is what I read.
@@fookthefrench The high bypass (and very wide) engines of today are much more efficient. 2 of them is all that's needed, with the modern also efficient wing. The jets tho are not as fast. And while less noisy, today's jets don't have sounds people are yet nostalgic about/ like a lot.
@S. Mesut Yes. Rules have changed: When modern high bypass engines came along and showed how efficient and reliable they are, the "More than 2 engines for over water...or long distance" rule was changed. Enabled the 2 engine design you see now.
The DC10 had some flaws, but they haul the freight and are workhorses. Some DC10s are approaching 50 years old and still fly. I love MD-11 DC-10 and the L-1011. Nothing can beat Triholders.
No doubt, when I was watching the stairs deploy I was thinking " yeah but no railing, too dangerous to use those" just then the railing pops up ,,,, Amazing
Never knew the aircraft was so self sufficient. Been in the industry for 41 years and would love to see this gorgeous aircraft fly again, re engined , In a few variants. I loved the aircraft when I flew as a pan am flight attendant when they flew the -500 variant. I'm still baffled that I never knew it had a hydraulic stair step in the rear that folded out , so in essence it could go anywhere there was a runway. How Cool. The new 737 max aircraft are a marvel in performance and fuel efficiency , however you can feel the cheapness. The doors feel like a feather compared to the older models. Oh well the days of aircraft being built around the customer sitting in it are definitely over.
I remember going with my girlfriend to Luton in 1973 to see Court Lines first L1011 flown in. It was a big event, reported in the local papers. FF to 1981, returning from CDG to MAN to find flight overbooked and BA asking for volunteers to be bounced. As I wasn’t in a hurry and was quite happy with an extra night in Paris, I agreed. Eventually, BA us that they were going to put us on a positioning flight scheduled to fly empty to MAN. Turned out to be an L1011, they put all six of us up in first class . It was like flying in a cathedral, quiet & peaceful, huge space, memorable experience. The L1011s still a beautiful bird IMHO.
In 1986 I took a Delta L1011 from Dallas to HONOLULU Hawaii and it was the best plane with room to drive a car in, today's aircraft have you so packed in now that you can't move around in your seat
I would do anything to go back to and relive the 70’s-90’s. Just really good and simple times. Society really has declined over the past two decades as well as the entire country. This was just a golden era where people were decent. Now everything is garbage
The brilliant L1011 shoulda prevailed over the crude DC-10 if only there had been a long range version early enough. Then we woulda ended up with a Tristar derivative agst the twins instead of relying on the mediocre MD11 to carry the Trijet flag. Had that happened, we mighta still had a Trijet flying.
Why do we reminisce on the past these days ... especially in aviation with birds such as the Boeing 727 TriJet & Lockheed L-1011 TriStar ? It's because aircraft such as these had character which is hard to replace with what's out there now. The overabundance of hightech actually defeats the intended purpose. Pilots once knew how to fly aircraft when aircraft and crews had character ! ...
L1011 a beautiful airframe lovely spacious flightdeck wonderful cabin and as for her RB211s ... well what a wonderful aircraft really. Worked for Eastern at MIA in 80's on this marvellous plane. Happy memories.
7:24 hah! the day before my date of employment w/ Delta... my favorite aircraft, civilian or military, and the one on which i retired... 😁 no other aircraft had that unique sound of those 3 Rolls Royces at Takeoff Power, and it hand flew like a J3 Cub.... 👍❤️
I flew on the L-1011 as a F/A for Eastern Airlines from 1976 to 1989 out of my base at San Juan PR and Miami. This was my favorite aircraft out of the whole fleet that we had. It was much better than the DC-10 and I just loved that throaty roar of the RB-211 engines on takeoff and cruise. I always felt safe on this A/C as it was a solid hunk of heavy metal. The picture is of me having my picture taken sitting on the cowling in San Juan before one of my many flights.
What a wonderfully advanced plane that was! A flight almost 40 years ago captured my imagination and the love of flight for me ever since. the 1011 was awesome!
The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar certainly influenced my love for flight and airliners that has lasted decades and as exciting as today's technology is; as well as the latest airliners entering service as of late, none have matched the excitement I felt each time I boarded a TriStar. I don't expect it to happen again in my lifetime. I may have fallen behind the times, but when you consider my first business trip was on a Douglas DC-6; you might get a sense of the breadth of my travel experiences throughout my professional career.
A plane built around Airline's needs and their passengers, Lockheed really did an excellent job to listen and take in count almost everything!. How awesome aircraft it was!.
I flew on this plane from San Francisco to Toronto on Air Canada in the late 80’s or early 90’s, it was run down but still a beautiful bird inside and out. I loved visiting my Canadian family in Canada, great people 😎
This airline went out of business 7 or 8 years before I was born but one thing I recognize in their "2 meal service" is the wedge of cheese, man I remember that exact wrapper and wedge well. Never really liked the cheese wedge all that much but It seemed to come with every airline meal I ever had, didn't matter who's airline I was flying aboard, of course now a days we aren't served meals or cheese wedges or have any space for our rear ends. That L1011 was a heck of a well built machine, superior to all other tri-star designs.
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar is the first plane I ride in my life as a kid . I was thrilled, I was so excited to get on the plane . I would that time and childhood would return 😞
The Tristar is hands down one of the most beautiful airliners ever built, alongside the legendary Constellation. Shame that this planes commercial failure lead to the end of Lockheed’s passenger jet development.
What a beautiful bird. I wish they'd bring her back. The big hangup they'd have is the 3rd engines that aren't necessary today with today's reliability, however with the new modern wing of the 787 and newer composite materials, they'd save planty of money and the 3rd engine may enable them to fly faster and farther. I just love this airplane and everything about it.
The Space Shuttle was a expensive disaster that killed 14 astronauts due to events that would have never happened on a conventional spacecraft (leaking O ring would have just reduced thrust... foam insulation would have hit disposable stages that didn’t have to survive reentry).
"I wish they'd bring her back..." It never broke even for the company. Before Lockheed closed the production line, they offered to sell it to Boeing. "Not interested..."
Flew as a passenger in one of the Court Line TriStars and did a flight deck visit whilst undergoing training to be an RAF flight engineer. Little did I know I would end up flying the Tristar both in military service and for a civilian company. It was by far and away my favourite flightdeck as it was impeccably laid out, unlike the DC-10 which I flew for several years. I always thought the TriStar was designed for grown-ups . . .
The built in stairs was cool, most didn’t have that option tho, same with the mini loading ramp. Beautiful aircraft , Lockheed should get back into making airliners again!
Just get the old blueprints out, rethink the layout, tweak efficient wings and fuselage, and add three more fuel efficient and quiet engines, and you'll have a winner over 787 and the320.
Flew on a school ski holiday to Austria in 1972 via court line, while away airline experienced difficulties and we ended up flying via Zurich on one of BOACs first 747s into Heathrow.
Ever wonder how the L1011 get its weird model name ? The building in this video were all L1011s were assembled has the physical address 1011 Lockheed Way, Palmdale CA. Enter that address in Google maps and you'll see this building !
This is a welcome, complete contrast to the first L1011 Tristar video, in terms of production values. Much improved quality from every aspect, and at its end (13:30) proudly displayed "Produced by Lockheed-California Company". At 13:50, another, silent video was attached, apparently of the same demonstration aircraft, on its world publicity tour.
Yes, I second that. Whether engineering machines for war or consumers, engineers learn first (1) what the priorities are now (2) what they are likely to become and, when it is complete, (3) where the bodies are buried. The L1011 went through trials unrelated to its design, so its design vs. execution almost could be made into separate videos.
Beautiful bird. It has soul, and the high tech looks. Lots of room in the cabin, and I heard the bird flys itself. Crazy! Different than a Cessna 152...
In these days of cheap travel and Greyhound bus flying public, if this airplane was still around today, the lower galley would have been converted to carry passengers, and peanuts and pretzels served for everyone. Who needs hot meals on today's airlines mindset? The days before deregulation, those were the days.
Modern passenger aircraft , there is 3 ways out : airstairs brought to the plane , inflatable slides , and lastly , a rope out cockpit window or just jump out for it all . Great huh?
Was lucky to fly AC L-1011’s coast to coast as a kid remember it vividly more than likely was on the AC jets you see in this video. I remember once going south my Dad found out we would be on a DC-10 (Aug of 89 Just after UA 232) and said he’ll no! Got a hotel and re booked with Delta the next day to be sure it was a 1011 we were on👍🏻👍🏻
Woah self loading cargo conveyer belt, foldable electric stairs, electric cargo door, that 200 gallon water dispenser, that galley below with lift and those Rolls Royce RB 211 engines 👌🙂 All those in 1973 wow Nice
One of the biggest thrills in my 60 year life, was about 22 years ago I worked part time as a courier in the San Diego area. When I went to the shop to get paid one Friday, since they were closed on weekends except for Rush Deliveries, they asked us drivers for a volunteer to do a Saturday delivery to Los Angeles County. When I saw it was addressed to Boeing. I volunteered right away. I was an Airline geek since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I knew Boeing the corporate headquarters was in Washington state, so I thought it was just going to be some satellite office near LAX. When I pulled up, there was a guard at the gate. It was in a crummy run down warehouse district, I still didn't know what was up. The guard called someone on his phone, and I had to wait at the gate. It was a long 20 minutes, and I was bummed that it was just some crummy warehouse, probably for parts, but also because I had to wait and wouldn't be going through the gate. A guy finally showed up in like a golf cart sort of thing to sign for the package. Very nice guy. I just decided to ask if it was a parts warehouse for Boeing and that I've been an airline geek all my life. He said, "Nope, we build 707s here." I thought he was joking because 707s I thought were long gone. He told me that some airlines in South America use them and also some private corporations, and did I want a tour??? HUH?????? HELL YES!!!! Wow. That was some tour! Took me through the entire assembly plant, showing me every stage of the assembly production, and every station had a 707 in that particular process and took me to the last stage where one had just been completed. ( I wore a hard hat the entire time) The 707 he showed me had ashtrays at the armrests. 😊 The good ol' days for us smokers. Of course, Saturday, there were no workers, but that entire tour was about 90 minutes long, and BLISS for me. The next time I went to the shop at the courier company, I told everyone, especially the drivers, what they missed out on. Not very many shared my happiness about that day. I thought to myself "idiots" 😂 They probably would have just left it with the guard and split. But I told the guard it needed to be signed by a Boeing employee. Yeah, I lied. But God will forgive me 😊
I worked on many L1011's back in the day and I never encountered the baggae loader system or that air stair system. They must have been an options. i do miss those cushy seats though. Now you get a plastic lawn chair to sit on.
These machines are certainly a fine piece of historical artwork and should all be preserved and placed in museums all around the world! I spent a lot of time traveling on them during the 1980s and I have so many happy memories of the L1011! I sure miss them!
