Sole flying US widebody trijet

MikeD

MikeD

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Sole remaining widebody US trijet flying, with the DC-10 and MD-11 grounded, is Lockheed L-1011-100 N140SC “Stargazer”, flying out of MHV on various test support missions, as seen on Flightradar. Its normal mission is support of the Pegasus orbital rocket that launches satellites into space.

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View: https://youtube.com/watch?v=ElxQ237U5Co
 
I used to fly with a guy at Kalitta that was a CA on one. He said he liked flying it better than the 74 and he loved the 74. His only complaint, was he said its range left some to be desired.
 
jhugz said:
His only complaint, was he said its range left some to be desired.
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That is what the -500 was for. Pan Am used it to launch SFO/LAX/SEA-HKG nonstop and UA inherited that subfleet and briefly had an L-1011-500 base until they had enough 747SPs for SYD/AKL an the other longer routes. The longest scheduled route for an original TriStar that I know of was probably JFK-ATH, and even then I'm not 100% sure that didn't stop in FCO or something.
 
I'm sad I only got to fly on the L1011 twice - STL-MCO-STL.

Such a cool aircraft. The six lavs in the rear of the plane was bizarre.

(Wait, I thought this was childrentalkingaboutairliners.net.....)
 
i think the last flight of another L-1011 besides this one, was The Flying Hospital, which became the Tristar Experience, when it departed TUS-MCI in July 2017 after being stored at the airport since 2002. Was cool hearing the Rolls Royce engines starting up, and seeing it taxi out and depart.
 
I recall back in the olden times when I got my A/P it was not a great time for airplane mechanics and before I got my first A/P job at Santa Paula I was still working line service at a FBO at KBUR. I was friendly with a lot of folks because I met a lot of folks. I can't remember the guys name but one day he approached me about working on an experimental project that'd use an L-1011 to launch satellites, remember this was back in '93, long before there was a concerted effort for private (meaning not NASA) space flight and I thought it sounded ridiculous so I declined and went on with my life. I'm surprised about a couple things, that it worked and that they had enough customers to keep it going for 33 years. I'd like to have L-1011experience on my resume but would it actually be a highlight for a prospective employer in '26? All of the other stuff that would've come with it would've been cool, but the person I was talking to was not talking about being involved in the experimental portion of the endeavor, it was just a straight MX contract with post/preflights and possibly some repairs. I'm happy it's the last man currently standing in the wide body tri-jet forum.
 
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