"One Year... One Company"

Yesterday, Orbital ATK - the only L-1011 operator left - celebrated one year after the merger of the two companies.

Orbital ATK merger anniversary

And today, their L-1011 dubbed "Stargazer", took off from Mojave for a series of flights to Marana (Pinal Airpark), Phoenix Goodyear and back to Mojave.

Flightradar24 printscreens

11-Feb-2016 L10/Z KGYR-KMHV 03:39PM MST 04:05PM PST En Route
11-Feb-2016 L10/Z KMZJ-KGYR 12:51PM MST 01:14PM MST 0:23
11-Feb-2016 L101 KMHV-KMZJ 09:06AM PST 11:17AM MST 1:11

N140SC is currently the only L-1011 in operation in the world, so every single take-off means a major event for every TriStar fans.

TriStar History and Preservation new L-1011?

According to the N-Number registry, it seems that TriStar History and Preservation company recently bought the ex-Flying Hospital L-1011. The aircraft previously registered P4-MED has now a new tail number N910TE. The airframe, a PSA original, has been stored for several years in Tucson Intl Airport.

Let's hope this move doesn't mean TriStar History and Preservation is giving up on N91011.

Some info about the Flying Hospital, here. And the recent discussion about this airframe in Airliners.net's forum.

Season's Greetings

We would like to wish all our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

CS-TMP © original photo by José Jorge

And hopefully more L-1011s to track in 2016 :)

L-1011 design features

Early RB211-22B engines that powered standard lenght TriStars were equipped simultaneously with both cascade vanes and clamshells reversers. The clamshells when deployed deflected the hot stream from the engine core. But they were very unreliable and troublesome and were definitely removed. As a result, a new and shorter afterbody design led to less engine drag.

Reverser system © Lockheed

As an option, Lockheed offered built-in airstairs that serviced door R3 on standard lenght TriStars. Very few airlines took this option, LTU being one of them.

Built-in airstairs © Lockheed

Our website's Specialties page was updated with this information and pictures.

Barq Aviation - redelivery of TriStars?

The website CH-Aviation recently announced that Barq Aviation took redelivery of its three TriStars:

L-1011-500 © Barq Aviation

Barq Aviation (BUR, Amman Queen Alia) has taken redelivery of its trio of Lockheed Tristars following their return from South America where they were supposed to operate for Transportes Generales Aéreos (Lima Int'l) in Peru.

However, these aircraft never left Ras Al Khaimah Airport (RKT) where they are stored since 2013. In fact, it was somewhere in 2013, that a possible operation for Transaer RASA (Peru) was studied with the following registration numbers being assigned to the aircraft:

• msn 193B-1230 as OB-2049-P
• msn 293A-1238 as OB-2060-P
• msn 293A-1220 as OB-2061-P

Probably none of these TriStars have ever flown out of RKT since 2013 and they are still listed in the FAA N-Number registry with their previous ATA Airlines tail numbers.

• CH-Aviation News: Barq Aviation