It was a groundbreaking moment: the first cross-country flight without the need for human hands on the controls. On May 25, 1972, veteran test pilots Anthony LeVier and Charles Hall transported 115 crew members, employees, and reporters on a 4-hour, 13- minute flight from Palmdale, California, to Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C., with the TriStar’s AFCS feature engaged from takeoff roll to landing. Tristar pilots simply had to dial altitude and course changes into the flight control system and monitor their instruments, and the L-1011 would fly and land on its own, descending smoothly onto the runway by locking in to an airport’s radio beacons. But it was TriStar’s pilots who had access to its most thrilling feature: an advanced fly-by-wire automatic flight control system (AFCS). Flight crews appreciated its extra-wide aisles and overhead bins. Passengers loved riding in it, thanks to a unique engine configuration that reduced sound in the cabin. But in flight, the L-1011 was nothing short of a miracle, the first commercial airliner capable of flying itself from takeoff to landing.Ĭonceived during the mid-1960s to transport 250 passengers on popular transcontinental routes, the L-1011 boasted unheard-of luxuries, including glare-resistant windows, full-sized hideaway closets for coats and a below-deck galley, which lifted filet mignon and lamb chop dinners up to the main cabin via two elevators. With its large, curved nose, low-set wings and graceful swept tail, it looked as sleek as a dolphin. Holding a commercial pilots certificate I managed to talk my way into a jump-seat ride across the Pacific, and had the opportunity to catch this image just as we reached the point of no return. On the runway, the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar was an undeniable beauty. Perhaps the last picture taken from in airliners cockpit by someone who is not a flight-crew member or FAA. And on April 30, 1972, Eastern Airlines began scheduled service of the L-1011, with a smooth flight from Miami to New York. And a recession, fueled by the world’s first oil crisis, lessened the demand for commercial airliners.īut the L-1011, like its parent company, endured the storm, including a government loan guarantee, but in the end, more than 4,500 jobs were saved. Financial difficulties ravaged its engine’s manufacturer. In a similar fashion to other iconic passenger airliners before it, the L-1011 faced daunting challenges on the way to its inaugural flight.Divergent needs from competing airlines led to design challenges. In April 1972, after six grueling years of design and some unforeseen setbacks, the then-Lockheed California Company (now Lockheed Martin) delivered the most technologically advanced commercial jet of its era, the L-1011 TriStar, to its first client, Eastern Airlines.
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