Even more so than the Concorde, the one plane I most regret not flying is the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. But it may not be too late…
I’ve written before about the five aircraft I most regret not flying. The L-1011 is on the list not only for its sleek three-engine design, but because my uncle was on the design and engineering team that helped created Lockheed’s final commercial aircraft.
> Read More: 5 Planes I Wish I Had Flown
The sad thing, at least in my own story, is that I had the chance to fly the L-1011 and did not take it. That’s what makes missing the L-1011 harder than missing the Concorde. I still regret that so much. You remember ATA Airlines? It was a former U.S. charter and commercial operator that ceased operations in 2008.
In 2006, for the period between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the company ran L-1011s (normally reserved for charters) on its scheduled Los Angeles to Honolulu service. I would not have even had to re-position to take this flight! Why did I turn it down? Looking back, I really don’t know. But it remains one of my biggest travel regrets.
And then I had another chance which I skipped. For many years, the British Royal Air Force operated charters from England to the Falkland Islands aboard L-1011s. I could have easily taken one of these flights, but never took the time.
But while I will never get to travel commercially on an L1011, there is still one in operation in the USA. It’s called the Stargazer, which is used to launch Pegasus rockets (containing satellites).
It is owned by Northrop Grumman and was manufactured in 1974. It was part of the Air Canada fleet until 1992.
I’ve reached out to Northrop Grumman to see if they will help me write a story about this aircraft. At worst, hopefully I can see it up close in California’s Mojave Desert. At best, maybe I can be a passenger on a launch flight.
CONCLUSION
Even the thought of potentially flying the L-1011 makes me smile. Such a beautiful aircraft. There’s one left. It’s still operating. I’ve got to find a way on it!
image: Orbital ATK / Northrup Grumman
I always thought that the treatment of the rear engine on the Tristar was so much more attractive than that on the DC10, which looks most awkward.
I flew on it back in the 80’s, the L10-11 was ahead of it’s time in aviation, truly a remarkable aircraft…from it’s design to the technology.
I flew the L-1011 a lot back and forth to college on the west coast and in Europe (we were a TWA family and I was elite with them until my mid-20’s when I had an apocalyptic service failure and switched to UA).
You’ve not really been missing very much…
I absolutely loved flying the L-1011, mostly on Delta. It was a huge cabin, lots of room in certain seats, I loved the ride. The F seats on the sides at the front of the plane were the best!
Made probably 100 flights on the Tri-Star, mostly on TWA, JFK-LAX /LAX-JFK in TW’s Ambassador Class (biz). Very comfortable plane to fly. Engines had a distinctive whine & I liked the cabin doors that slid up to the ceiling when opening. And the L10 had the cool elevator to the below main deck galley. Made visit to the cockpit a few times, cockpit windows were huge. First L10 flight was on an Eastern “Whisperliner”. Also flew BA and DL L10s
Greg, you complaining about TWA service or the facets of the mighty whisper jet.
L1011 awesome airplane, far ahead of its time with some ofvthe technology.
Many an hour spent in the FE seat, glad there is still one flying
Agree with Greg. You’re not missing much. The windows are tiny, the storage space is minimal, the engines are loud and you might experience a scarily long takeoff roll as I did the times I took it. You will have a window into what 70’s flying was though.
ATA was based in Indianapolis. The founder – George Mikelsons – is a pilot, a Latvian immigrant and a great guy. ATA fley many US military charters and George flew many of those trips himself. They did indeed make their mark with Hawaii trips as well as trips to Florida. The L-1011 was one of the many cool planes they flew, all with a palm tree – vacation fun livery. We miss them here in Indianapolis!
We took a ATA charter flight London Gatwick-Gander-Orlando Sanford (they could sometimes make it back non stop but we stopped both ways – the middle of the night on the return!)
I was a teenager so I can’t remember much apart from the stethoscope ear phones and projected movie, how lovely the crew were and the slightly larger cans of coke vs what we got in the UK
UK charters mean I got to fly otherwise quite rare aircraft- a Monarch A300 and MyTravel (now Thomas Cook) DC-10s – ~400 of us fed with prebooked meals on a less than 2hr flight to Tunisia and more recently a FlyGlobespan 737-600
Best flight I ever had was riding a Delta Tri-Star jump seat (ATC) into DFW while the captain was dodging cumulus at sunset. Ringside seat I still haven’t forgotten 40 years later.
Finally, an aircraft type I can claim that you haven’t! 🙂
My family flew a DL L1011 from ATL to SJU back in the late 90s. I distinctly remember my dad was fascinated with the plane, so he was particularly excited to fly one. Odd because he otherwise hated flying.
Wonderful plane. The mainstay of the Cathay regional fleet. Very comfortable and technically advanced. I have great memories of it in and ex Kai Tak, many, many times.
It suffered unfairly from the Saudia accident ( landed safely but everyone dead from toxic fumes) and the one in Florida ( pilot error).
I’d love another flight on one.
It’s an awesome plane that I flew regularly between NYC and so many cities it would be impossible to list them all here!
But, they were made mainstays in the fleets of Air Canada, British Airways, Delta, Eastern, Pan Am (-500s) and TWA – so L10s were scheduled on a great many routes and at all three (3) of NYC’s major airports, JFK, Newark and even LaGuardia (which back in the day saw a great many wide-body L-1011s, McDonnell-Douglas DC-10s, Airbus A300s and Boeing 767s flown near [BUF, RDU, SYR, YYZ] or as far as LGA’s perimeter rule allowed for [IAH], and lots of cities in between [ATL, ORD, DFW, FLL, MIA, MCO, STL, TPA, PBI]!
Yep, for at least two (2) decades, L10s were a staple on NYC-PBI flights, and especially LGA.
Add in transcons on TWA – and Eastern (yep, that airline attempted to break into the JFK-LAX market, and I flew its flights in “F” and “Y” as I was a travel agent back then, and flew quite often) – to/from LAX, SFO and SEA, plus the LGA-STL-LGA sector which for years saw at least twice daily L10s on TWA’s hub there, the occasional JFK-ORD late afternoon/ evening flight when I lived in Chicago, and, well, I was lucky enough to have flown Lockheed’s TriStar a LOT.
In fact, I loved the L10 so much that I would purposely book flights on it whenever possible seeing as how I was booking my own flights on a computer (using SABRE, which I was among the earliest travel agents to learn it) long before the internet arrived, and as nearly everyone does now and could easily find/book flights where it was scheduled! 😉
So, Matt, with your uncle having been a part of the design and engineering team that created this magnificent flying machine that on its era was ahead-of-its time in terms of engineering and technology, here’s hoping your request to fly it is granted because it WAS an amazing plane that to this day I have a soft spot for – so much so that it’s “honored” in my Twitter handle!
Oh, for sure, Boeing’s majestic Queen will forever reign supreme for me!
But, if Boeing’s 747 is my “Queen”, Lockheed’s gorgeous TriStar (which, actually, I’ve flown far more often since 747s cannot operate at LGA, and while the current occupant of the White House has USAF VC-25s – 747s – gracing the runways at PBI the 747 was NEVER scheduled on the NYC-PBI/FLL routes that I flew often back then) is royalty too, to me… kinda like a Prince or Princess as it very much was an incredible plane that nary a 737, A320, 757, or any “densified” garbage wide-body of the now comes even remotely close to matching!
Heck, I even remember the stand-up bar and lounge Eastern Airlines has on its L10s in its earliest years!
I flew Air Canada, Delta, Eastern, Pan Am and TWA’s L-1011s, including a JFK-SEA flight when I got to take the elevator to see the below deck galley.
Yeah, in its day, the L-1011 was an amazing plane that I remember fondly!
And yeah, the electronic closing and opening of the doors was super cool!
I was born in 1985, so I’m certainly not not old, but when I think back to my childhood I remember many ATL-LAX and JFK-WAW runs on the Tri Star. It helped that my Dad was a 1990s DL road warrior. As a kid, I loved the plane. In fact, I think my first time in international J was in an L-1011 from BRU-ATL, but I could might have been a 767.
As an aircraft engineer for over 2 decades, L-1011 was the first aircraft type rating on my licence. I am certified on B777 and almost all Airbus aircraft upto the A380, except the A350, but I can say this for sure….. The L1011 stands tall as one of the best aircraft ever made. It was an aircraft far ahead of its times. An aircraft far too technically advanced, with a systems redundancy unmatched to date. I was very fortunate to fly in many of these as a passenger and also was part of few test flights post heavy maintenance. One of the test flights was on the Orbital Science “Stargazer” which came down for maintenance to the company I worked for in Abu Dhabi called GAMCO. The pilot in command on that day was a very senior commander, cant remember his name (I think it was Boon), who also happened to be the second pilot to take the L1011 prototype into the air. I was really fortunate to fly with him in the cockpit. Amazing experience……. Yes for sure, the L1011 was one of the last true classics!!
Only one flight on the TriStar as a passenger for me, a charter flight on Caledonian Airways, G-BBAH from Manchester to Gerona. Late check in meant I was stuck down the back in the middle row and worse still in the ‘Smoking’ section!!
Few years later and I was working as a Ramp agent/Dispatcher at Manchester. There were still a few L 1011’s still operating that I was lucky enough to work on. Notably Air Atlanta’s TF-ABU and Air Scandic’s sole TriStar EI-CNN.
I also got to witness the rather incredible take off of the Air-Ops TriStar, P4-JAB, which after a long time laid up on the ramp, was readied for a two engined ferry flight back to the ‘States.
I can well remember viewing a huge marine ply cut out in the Port engine in place of the engine spinner.
My recollection is of the a/c taking off to the South West, climbing very slowly over the nearby town of Knutsford before declaring an emergency and returning back to land on the reciprocal runway.
I don’t think it was said to be mechanical, rather failure of navigation equipment. Few days later, She took off for the successful Atlantic crossing and ending up in Roswell I believe.
Countless flights in 747’s, few trips in DC10’s and one in a World Airways MD11, but just that single trip in the TriStar, I can understand your regret for not ‘bagging’ the bird. Good luck in getting the ride you’re wishing for!
Great memories of the L-1011 on SJU-MCO, Eastern Airlines.
Matthew, I got a tour of Orbitals L-1011 2-3 years ago, I can send you the pictures I have.
I’d love to be able to be part of something like that too. Wish there was a way for us plebs to be apart if you can make this work.
Your in luck. Three RAF L1011’s have been sold to a Texas operator who will use them for contract air refuelling.
That’s great to know! Do you have more details?
Good luck with Northrop on this, Matthew! I’m very keen to know what they are doing / will do with the only other active L1011 I was tracking, tail N91011, which was acquired by Orbital ATK last year, and absorbed into Northrop. There were rumors it was going to be a Stargazer backup / second aircraft, but know little more. It’s history is here: https://www.tristar500.net/airframes/msn1241.htm
This particular aircraft made me an Avgeek – it was delivered to TAP in 1983, when my dad was an exec at the airline. We went to the reception of the aircraft at the maintenance center in LIS, then subsequently flew on it countless times between LHR-LIS/FAO/OPO throughout the 80s and early 90s up until my dad passed away suddenly in 1993, when I was in my teens. Special connection to this aircraft, also — truly one of a kind. Can’t wait for your write up on it.
I recently was in Mojave and snapped a photo of the “STARGAZER” . looks to be in pretty good condition.
Cool!
The StarGazer is almost pebble beach concours condition.
As a small plane pilot I like and am fascinated by all aircraft. I also am one never to fly on an L-1011 even though I’m an old dude. I never got on any airliner until I was in my twenties and most of my hundreds of flights were domestic routes, so the planes I flew in the most were smaller passenger jets, like the 727, 737, DC-9 and the MD-80 series. I married a woman from Venezuela in 1990 and so I got to fly in bigger planes but most carriers to and from Venezuela flew Airbus A300s and A310s. One of the low-lights of my flying as a passenger was I was on Pan Am airlines last flight from Caracas to JFK about 1992 or so. I wondered why the flight crew looked so somber as i got of fthe plane as I did not know it was the last Pan Am flight until the next day when I saw it on the news. Not one of the flight crew mentioned over the speakers that it was their last flight. For some reason, I have fond memories of flying on American Fokker F100s back in the early nineties. It was like a midget DC-9 or MD but was comfortable for a tiny airliner.
Being a Road warrior in the late ’80’s, I climbed on board a late night flight and found myself the sole passenger on an L-1011 being repositioned for an early morning flight across country. Although not completely alone(besides full crew), I was accompanied by an ice chest. carrying an EYE headed for some type of transplant at our destination. Imagine, the entire plane, and only I and an EYE on board as passengers…. I and EYE had a safe and uneventfull flight.
My dad was an engineer with Lockheed and the 1011 was his last project with the company. Sadly he passed in ‘75 but it was my time spent at their Palmdale facility on employee appreciation days that I remember most. Plenty of Lockheed’s storied aircraft on hand and all the ice cream I could eat. The 1011 graced us with a fly by once. It roared past just 500 feet off the deck and was a beautiful sight to see. Of course he felt the 1011 had a better center engine design than the DC 10 which was predictable for an aviation engineer, a field that has always enjoyed a healthy dose of competitiveness. Thanks for the great article and happy to see a 1011 still in the air.
Hello Mike. Me too. My father worked for Lockheed at Palmdale, for the L1011 program. Thank you for sharing your story.
Hello to all. I just stumbled onto this blog, after seeing a TV commercial tonight, for the new Audi Q3 SUV. In this commercial, I saw an L1011, which brought back memories, and also stunned me, to see this aircraft in a commercial in Sept 2019. So, I jumped on the web, to see if any off these were flying today. Similar to Mike (just above) my father worked for Lockheed in Palmdale on this program, -electrical/avionics engineer. We then moved to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, also in support of this program, but then working for Saudi Arabian Airlines. My father would hide bottles of liquor inside the Lav ceiling (access panel) while the aircraft were in England, and then recover the same bottles a week later while the aircraft were in Jeddah. That was his way to avoid customs & smuggle in his whiskey into the country. He and a friend (also from Palmdale) had this system down pat, watching the tail numbers roll into maintenance (on tarmac or inside hangers) with a smile on their face. Side Note: I loved seeing the SR-71 Blackbird (early 1970’s) at the same Lockheed/Palmdale airport while it was ” Top Secret”. As a kid (and even today) I just loved seeing that plane land and taxi; and ONCE I saw it takeoff. I saw this long ago, but the memory of this is strangely CLEAR today. We lived in nearby Lancaster, so my visits to Lockheed Palmdale were limited. Thank you for this time, and for this blog Matthew.
I became fascinated by this huge plane flying over my rented house in 1988 West Palm Bch, FL on its way in and out of PBI. I’ll never forget that ominous shuddering of the ground, the air… as it lifted up over my neighborhood, that unique whine of those 3 giant engines. Delta, Eastern, Air Canada used to fly them during the winter months and when I found out I could fly on one to my hometown of Boston, I booked my first flight on a Delta evening flight up to Boston. April 21, 1991. I remember eagerly awaiting the arrival of the L10’s flight from Boston. The sun was setting as I gazed out the terminal windows for its final descent from the west. I spotted the massive silhouette of the heavy on its final bank against the orangey skies. I was so excited and watched it get closer to touch down and its taxi to my gate. I sat there watching every deplaning passenger walk out the jet way and thought how cool they all were to have flown on this plane. Now it was my time! Back then I was into logging all my flights into a journal and noted that this L10’s tail number was either produced one before or one after the Delta L10 that crashed in Dallas back in ‘85. Boarding was great. The jetway actually angled up which was cool. Entering the wide body was awesome, so huge. I sat in 21A. It was a smooth flight all the way to Boston and couldn’t wait to fly back to West Palm in a few days for another L10 flight. I remember all the rear lavatories in a semi circle it seemed. On one special flight I took up from PBI to ATL around 1999 on a night flight, there were only about 6 of us passengers so the crew just told everyone to sit in first class to keep it convenient. That was so cool! My last ever L10 flight was fortunately on a long trip from SFO to ATL in 1999. It was another smooth flight all the way and was also the last ever real breakfast on a domestic flight. Scrambled eggs, sausage etc…great flight. Miss those heavies!
Your not missing anything it’s a poor copycat of the DC-10
Yes, a poor copycat of the DC-10 deathtrap. Later reimagined as the MD-11, another dog.
Only pilots failed the L1011 Tristar. High speed, rapid 3 spool RR engines, DLC system, wing load relief system, best auto land system ever devised, 1 engine GA on either wing engine, if an engine fails away from base, simply take off on two engine ferry, a true SAS system, hand flown to M.90, two elevators to the ping pong room, double the number of hyd systems with backup to those, it had hyd pumps that ran hyd pumps with a huge RAT between the mains for additional hydr power, its was so quiet for the pilots and increditably safe for the passengers. Thank You ATA allowing me to see over 100 countries
Just a note…
Four of the retired L1011 aircraft from the Brit air force now reside in Texas where the owner plans to charter them out for aerial refueling services world wide..