In my opinion the 3 engined aircraft are the best (too look at and fly in, it doesnt matter to me if its small or big leg room, youre still flying a 3 engined aircraft!!). L1011 Tristar (my favourite) was brilliant, DC10 and MD11 are great, B727 was good, TU-154 is good and Trident was good. But now with all these nice 2 engined aircraft that seem to be coping very well (777/A330…) do you think the 3 engined jets will come back? There is still a need for 4 engined aircraft, the A380 is being made!! But what is your opinion on the future of 3 engined jets?
Mark
By: greekdude1 - 18th July 2002 at 04:10
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
It’s no rumor gentleman, Delta has been taking Delivery of 777’s and 767-400ER’s for a few years now. In fact, they were the launch customer, along with Continental (probably the only 2 customers to date!) for the 764. They already have a sizeable fleet of both, I would imagine, however they still operate the MD11’s, and the fact that they have repainted a few of them in their new scheme, I would think they won’t get phased out entirely anytime soon. The tristars never saw the intermediate scheme, let alone the new scheme.
GD1
By: wysiwyg - 17th July 2002 at 13:27
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
I agree with Kabir. I doubt we’ll see another tri-jet as modern twins are so economical and passengers now seem to fully accept ETOPS on long haul flights. Several decades ago (in the US) you could only get a 300′ minima for a precision approach in a twin jet whereas you could go down to 200′ if you had 3 or more engines. This was a principal reason for the Americans pushing tri-jets until this rule was abolished and common sense occured. The original spec for the 757 was a tri-jet!
By: Pembo330 - 17th July 2002 at 11:26
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
The demise of the tri-jet is such a shame, but apparently inevitable.
My only flying experience on a trijet was on Dan Air 727’s back in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Would love to fly on an old DC10 or Tristar before they all disappear though.
By: KabirT - 17th July 2002 at 11:25
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
you wont see any more new tri-jets. Bombardier recently made a new design of a regional jet, tri-engined one, but it also stopped the programme at the drawing tables.
By: EGNM - 17th July 2002 at 10:29
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
Yea – the MD-11s are going for Cargo conversion and will b replace by 777s and 764s
By: w_a_s_p_i_e - 17th July 2002 at 09:21
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
Ive heard rumours that Delta will start replacing their MD11 fleet with B777’s!!
By: greekdude1 - 17th July 2002 at 02:13
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
Every US major had a sizeable fleet of 727’s at one point. They are pretty much all gone by now. Northwest looks to be flying their DC-10’s for a few more years. Delta still flies the MD-11. Other than that, all those types will still be around for years to come as freighters. It would still be nice to see them in passenger configuration, however. I saw a Thai MD-11 at SYD yesterday, and it looked just immaculate. My alltime favorite is the tristar, followed by the 727-200.
GD1
By: EGNM - 16th July 2002 at 21:04
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
The tristars never went to JMC – they flew DC-10s tho
By: A330Crazy - 16th July 2002 at 20:16
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
The tristar in my opinion was and still is the best tri-jet. The shape, size and stature could not and may well never be beaten.
In 1992 I travelled to spain on a British Caledonian Tristar, {G-BBAI}, loverly a/c.
It was a shame when Caledonian planes were stripped of the class looks, and turned into JMC, not that I have anything against them.
By: T5 - 16th July 2002 at 19:52
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
I think that over the next few years, tri-jets will gradually disappear from our skies. The L-1011 and the DC-10 are both fine aircraft. Delta withdrew all their Tristars from service and I think this will be the first of the three main three engined jets to go, closely followed by the DC-10. The far more recent MD-11 will hopefully be with us for a few years to come or at least until a half decent replacement is thought of.
By: Saab 2000 - 16th July 2002 at 19:15
RE: Future of 3 engined commercial liners
The Tri-jets are beautiful aircraft,I love the Tristar and the TU-154,though because of the reliabilty of the engines around these days I don’t think we will se another tri-jet aircraft.The costs of things such as maintance for airlines these days is another reason why we are unlikely to ever see a return of a 3 engined aircraft.
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July 16, 2002 at 7:06 pm