News from several TriStars all over the world

• Barq Aviation has recently bought all three airworthy L-1011-500's from ATA Airlines which went bankrupt in April of 2008. These aircraft (MSN 1220, 1229 and 1238) were in storage since then at Victorville Air Base (VCV) and are now being readied to fly towards their new home and owner somewhere in the Middle East as we can see in this photo. Barq Aviation also owns msn 1230 (ex-N194AT)
• The only active L-1011 left in the FAA registry is now N140SC from Orbital Sciences. This aircraft is supposed to be modified into a -200 standard (currently is a -100) in order to get RB211-524B engines which still have technical support from Rolls Royce and from some MRO shops
• CS-TMR (293B-1241) of Luzair, currently stored at Victorville, seems to be listed for sale
• CS-TEB (293B-1240) of euroAtlantic is finally getting its modified engines installed and being prepared for return to service. Together with CS-TMP from Luzair, these are the last portuguese TriStars left

EDIT: in fact, there is still another active N-registered L-1011: N388LS from Las Vegas Sands Corporation. Thanks to visitor Howie for the correction.

TriStar EFIS cockpit upgrade for Royal Air Force

Here is a clear picture of what it looks like:

The IS&S Flat Panel Display System (FPDS) is an easily installed cockpit upgrade for the Tristar L1011 aircraft. The Primary Flight / Navigation Displays are designed to replace the existing EADI and EHSI display, altimeter, airspeed, vertical speed indicators. The Engine Instrument Display System (EIDS) is designed specifically as a low-cost upgrade of the Tristar engine instrument cluster, replacing primary and secondary engine indicators.
This easily retrofitted replacement system is compatible with the existing cockpit configuration. It provides all existing primary flight, navigation, engine related parameters, hydraulic indication, and flap and trim position indicators using five (5) AMLCD (Active Matrix Liquid Crystal Displays) in lieu of over 73 LRUs. Its unique design concept permits accelerated modification of graphic display formats, and as importantly, rapid certification.

• Full article: Here

This mod is supposed to be done by Marshall Aerospace.

Lockheed first proposed an EFIS cockpit in 1981 when they installed and tested this design in their prototype msn 1001.

L-1011 EFIS cockpit, 1981

However, it never went into production.

Portuguese TriStar fleet status 01/09

CS-TEB can be seen in front of TAP's Hangar 5 (LIS/LPPT) standing without all its engines. These are going under modification according to IP5 AD.

euroAtlantic CS-TEB - under maintenance at Lisbon (LIS)
euroAtlantic CS-TMX - scrapped at Lisbon (LIS)
Luzair CS-TMP - stored at Aqaba (AQJ); still waiting for C-check
Luzair CS-TMR - stored at Victorville; future unknown; photo here

CS-TMP ferried for C-check

Today, CS-TMP from Luzair was ferried to Aqaba (AQJ) in Jordan where the aircraft will be waiting for a maintenance slot before going to Amman / JorAMCo in order to perform a C-check there.

Portuguese TriStar fleet status 11/08

euroAtlantic CS-TEB - active in Hajj operation for Med-View Airline (op start 9th Nov 2008)
euroAtlantic CS-TMX - scrapped at Lisbon (LIS)

Luzair CS-TMP - active to be ferried to Amman (AMM) for C-check
Luzair CS-TMR - stored at Victorville (VCV)

Royal Air Force to keep TriStars until 2015

Marshall Aerospace is delighted to announce that it has been awarded a £97m contract by the UK Ministry of Defence to sustain the Royal Air Force’s Tristar fleet. Under Tristar Integrated Operational Support (TRIOS), the UK MOD and Industry will provide integrated maintenance, engineering and supply support to the RAF’s fleet until 2015.

• Marshall Aerospace: Website

HS-AXF back on the road as S2-AET

MSN 193A-1012: This old boy delivered in 1972 to Eastern Airlines and converted in 1987 to a freighter plane (-1F) , left Bangkok (DMK) last 11th August towards Dhaka to start a cargo operation between Dhaka and Dubai.

The aircraft was previously operated by Thai Sky Airlines and now it seems it will be flying for RAK Aviation (UAE) under Zoom Airways' (Bangladesh) AOC. HS-AXF was recently re-registered S2-AET.

Portuguese TriStar fleet status 08/08

The Airworthiness Certificate of CS-TEB was finally issued this month and the aircraft recently operated a flight for Aer Lingus between DUB and JFK. CS-TEB was stored in LIS since its arrival from AUH, in April of this year.

euroAtlantic CS-TEB - active
euroAtlantic CS-TMX - scrapped
Luzair CS-TMP - active
Luzair CS-TMR - stored at Victorville