��� Lockheed introduced the L-1011 after the competition
between airplane manufacturers took on a new age: the wide body jet.�
Plans and contracts for the L-1011 were made long before McDonnel-Douglas
introduced the DC-10 but the DC-10 was introduced onto the market earlier
because of delays in the Tristar creation.� 1970 was the first year
with L-1011s in service.� The DC-10 is another plane of roughly the
same size as the L-1011, but it has more passenger room in the cabin due
to the mounting of its tail engine.� Over 249 L-1011s were sold and
four different models were built (see below).� The Tristar can hold
400 seats or 57 tons of cargo.� The Tristar was discontinued in 1982
due to demand and the DC-10 became the winner of the competition.�
There are still many L-1011s in service, however, and its safety record
is far superior to that of the DC-10.� (I have included a list of
accidents in the L1011s history.)� American
Trans Air purchases their L-1011s from other airlines, which is the explanation
of the different color schemes.
��� The -365 and -385 designators were used to identify
the respective MGTOW of these aircraft, however, the -385-1 had a MGTOW
of 409,000 lbs. The -100 series was designed with 2 extra fuel tanks in
the fuselage; 13 were built and 23 -1's were modified to -100's. Other
-1's were modified to -50's, -150's and -250's thereby increasing their
range. The -50 featured stronger landing gear and tires for a slightly
higher weight. The -200 series was designed primarily for hot or high use
and increased range of which 24 were made and 14 others converted to -200
status. The -250 (heaviest at 510,000 lbs.) is a hybrid of a -200 (fuselage)
and -500 (increased thrust engines) of which Delta was the first operator.
The -500 (50 built) was the long-range version of which Delta was also
the first U.S. customer. In May of 1972 an L1011 made the first fully automatic
U.S. coast-to-coast flight. A total of 250 units were produced.
***(If I am incorrect about any of this info or you know of something
else I should add please let
me know!)***
I have created a page dealing with my trip
on an ATA L-1011 to Cancun, Mexico.� I took video of the trip and
have included some snapshots from inside the plane.
Below is a Quick Time video of a rocket launch off of a Tristar.
This plane is owned by a company called Orbital
that sends satellites into orbit using small rockets.� The image gallery
contains more photos of their L-1011 and the rockets.� (Video is Approx.
1.9 MB)
The retirement of TWA�s L1011s came on September 3, 1997. The final
flight was TW840 from LAX to JFK. After landing on Runway 31R at 1604,
aircraft N11006 received a water cannon salute from Port Authority fire-fighting
vehicles as it turned off taxiway Bravo onto taxiway Delta Alpha. The aircraft
parked at Terminal 5 and TWA�s Lockheed era came to an end.� Click
on the image for a bigger view.
Click Here to visit
my image gallery of all the images of the Tristar I have collected
so far.
Tristar Seating Variations I have recieved requests for the seating maps in L-1011s so I have
put some images on of seating arrangements from different airlines.�
Click the image for the map.
Air Transat�
This airline does not have a seating chart availabe but they operate two
kinds of L-1011s and their website is worth checking out.� Images
of their types: L-1011-150, L-1011-500
This airline does not have a seating chart availabe but they operate two
kinds of L-1011s and their website is worth checking out.� Images
of their types: L-1011-150, L-1011-500
Delta
has the L-1011-1, L-1011-250,
and L-1011-500
