OSC L-1011 and the NuSTAR mission II

As previously announced, L-1011 N140SC of Orbital Sciences will be involved in the launching of NuSTAR satellite.

The aircraft arrived on last May 24 at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the launch date is now scheduled to take place on June 13.

Pegasus Carrier Aircraft Arrives at Vandenberg
Fri, 25 May 2012 06:01:24 PM GMT
The Orbital Sciences L-1011, an airliner modified to carry and launch the Pegasus rocket, arrived at Vandenberg on May 24 in preparation for the ferry flight to Kwajalein for the launch of the Pegasus XL rocket carrying NuSTAR. Installation of the Pegasus fairing around the NuSTAR spacecraft is complete. Rollout from Orbital’s processing hangar and the mating of the Pegasus to the L-1011 is planned for June 2. Launch is targeted for June 13 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern time.

• NASA: NuSTAR Launch

Portuguese TriStar fleet status 05/12

MSN 1206 euroAtlantic CS-TMX - scrapped at Lisbon (LIS)

MSN 1240 euroAtlantic CS-TEB - stored at Amman (ADJ) / listed for sale (as is, where is)

MSN 1241 Luzair CS-TMR - stored at Victorville (VCV)

MSN 1248 Luzair CS-TMP - stored at Aqaba (AQJ)

euroAtlantic airways in 2002

This movie of euroAtlantic airways is a brief presentation of the company profile in the year of 2002. At that time their fleet was composed of one L-1011 and some B737s.

During the presentation you can see the L-1011 (reg. CS-TEB), including its cabin. When the movie was made, the aircraft still had its bulkheads with TAP's old decoration (sunset theme in shades of blue and orange).

Askari Aviation

Pakistan's Askari Aviation is operating today a flight with L-1011 equipment. The flight AAS2222 from Nairobi to Quetta is taking place right know but the registration of the aircraft is yet unknown.

Nice to see a civil TriStar still in operation.

Update: aircraft was L-1011-500 reg. N162AT of Barq Aviation, operating UN charter flights.

Delta Air Lines L-1011 seat maps

L-1011-1

L-1011-250

L-1011-500

Jets Monthly - El Ten Eleven

Jets Monthly's latest issue (May 2012) has an article about the L-1011: "TriStar - a star dimmed too soon".

Jets Monthly - May 2012

L-1011's 1st commercial flight was 40 years ago

In 26 April 1972, the L-1011 TriStar entered in service with Eastern Airlines.

• Flightglobal: The TriStar heritage 40 years on

TAP's First Class seats in the L-1011

When TAP Air Portugal introduced the L-1011 in 1983, the aircraft had a configuration of 12 First Class seats (2-2-2 abreast) and 234 in Economy. About one year later, TAP decided to end its First Class service and introduced the brand new C/CL called Navigator Class. Configuration was changed to 21C232Y with 2-3-2 abreast in Navigator Class.

In 2004, an exhibition of TAP Museum was held in Pavilhão do Conhecimento (Lisboa), where we could see some of those FC seats:

L-1011's First Class seats

Despite being wide and comfortable, they look rather vintage and quite primitive even when compared to current Top Executive product.

In the 'Memorabilia' section of TriStar500.net you can find one vintage ad about TAP's First Class in the L-1011.

OSC L-1011 and the NuSTAR mission

The L-1011 of Orbital Sciences Corporation is scheduled for a new launch of its Pegasus rocket in June 2012. Its payload will be NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) which will search for black holes, map supernova explosions and study the most extreme active galaxies.

Pegasus XL rocket © NASA

The Pegasus XL rocket is fully assembled inside a hangar at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Technicians will tow the rocket to the base's runway a few weeks before launch and bolt it to an L-1011 carrier aircraft, which will fly the Pegasus and NuSTAR payload to Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. 

The L-1011 jumbo jet will drop the rocket about 40,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean, and the three-stage, winged Pegasus will light to propel the 800-pound NuSTAR satellite into a 340-mile-high orbit.

This L-1011 named Stargazer and registered N140SC is one of the few active TriStars left and was specially modified by Marshall Aerospace of Cambridge to carry the air-launched Pegasus rocket.

L-1011 Stargazer © Orbital Sciences Corporation

• Spaceflight Now: Launch of NASA X-ray telescope

Airways Magazine - TWA TriStar Returns Home

On January 2010 we reported the arrival of the former TWA L-1011 with reg. number N700TS to its new home in Kansas City.

Airways Magazine published an article about this aircraft and its final ferry flight in its May 2010 issue. Now you can read it online: TWA TriStar Returns Home (pdf).

This file is hosted in the TWA Active Retired Pilots Association website.