LHR Late 70's

Yonks ago flew down to Heathrow from LBA on the BEA Viscount then to Malta on I think a Trident 3B.
I sat next to a guy who paid 75 pounds for the return fare Malta – London.
I had paid 29 pounds for flights and 2 week holiday.

Tristar does it for me, the way they blended the tail engine in, with the s-duct makes it a more aesthetic design than the DC-10. I loved seeing them in BA negus livery and wish they were still around.

Sadly I never got to fly a Tristar, but I did get to fly a ‘ten’. As Robert Burns may have said, “A jet’s a jet for aw that !” 😉

Incidentally, I don’t think they ever appeared in BEA livery, other than a strange hybrid of BEA, Eastern and Court that appeared on a sales demonstrator…?

Indeed… But the DC-10 still doesn’t look as good. :p
Paul

I much prefer the graceful aesthetically pleasing lines of the DC10 over what i consider the unstylish cramped lines of L.1011

By the way Trident’s were certified to 75meters RVR,not a lot else is certified to those limit’s thease days…………infact nothing if my memory serves me correct.:)

The system was first tested in March 1964. The first time it was used in service was in 1967 and by 1970 BEA had completed over 7,500 landings on aircraft carrying a total of 500,000 passengers.

The Trident used the Smith SEP5 autopilot system.

The BY 737 must have been adhoc or brought in by BA to suppliment a route. I wonder did Courtline ever operate out of LHR with the 1-11 or L1011? I remember for a while BA used the L1011 on the LHR-BFS route which was an amazing difference from the Trident 3B that usually operated the route. When you flew on the Tristar the cabin crew gave you a little booklet and poster of the aircraft, I think I still have mine tucked away somewhere. LHR was truly a great airport back in the 70’s and early 80’s (so i’m told). 😉

All the best

Si

Sadly the only type in that photo I haven’t had the pleasure of travelling in is the Tristar! 🙁
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IMO you haven’t missed much, the two I flew on were noisey bone shakers & that was when they were still in frontline service. The DC10 is far superior from a passengers point of view.

I always regret not being around for the propliners, I was around in the mid to late seventies & most of it seemed as boring then as the current modern jets seem now, but I like looking back on it now:) .

Sadly the only type in that photo I haven’t had the pleasure of travelling in is the Tristar! 🙁

I always have mixed feelings about the Viscount, great memories of flights in Aer Lingus examples but sadness in that a cousin who was a hostie on them died in the crash of the St.Phelim in 1968.

For a while BY did operate scheduled services and as such were eligble for IATA membership (which is why I remember this) but that might have been later than this. They were seen frequently on trooping flights and this might have been one of those.

I think their scheduled services were later than that, I’m sure they were in the 80s (the first time before the on-slaught of ticket only and hybrid scheduled/charters that we know now).

For a while BY did operate scheduled services and as such were eligble for IATA membership (which is why I remember this) but that might have been later than this. They were seen frequently on trooping flights and this might have been one of those.

Paul you should have been around in the days of the piston engine ..when they started up in clouds of smoke and you could smell the oil burning..those were the halcyon days of commercial aviation

Rub it in why don’t ya! 😀

Paul

Paul you should have been around in the days of the piston engine ..when they started up in clouds of smoke and you could smell the oil burning..those were the halcyon days of commercial aviation

Now you’re just showing your age Steve;)

Indeed… But the DC-10 still doesn’t look as good. :p

I know I keep saying this, but I really wish I’d have been around in the times that photo was taken. I can’t imagine me looking back on the days of the B738 as fondly as people recollect the Tridents and DC-8’s. Then again, who can say. Hey, at least I experienced the 732!

Paul

Paul you should have been around in the days of the piston engine ..when they started up in clouds of smoke and you could smell the oil burning..those were the halcyon days of commercial aviation

The DC-10 outsold the TriStar nearly two to one

Indeed… But the DC-10 still doesn’t look as good. :p

I know I keep saying this, but I really wish I’d have been around in the times that photo was taken. I can’t imagine me looking back on the days of the B738 as fondly as people recollect the Tridents and DC-8’s. Then again, who can say. Hey, at least I experienced the 732!

Paul

Dont forget much of the autoland equipment on BEA/BA TriStars came from the good old Trident.:)

Something ex-Trident crew tell us every time we fly in foggy conditions.
“Of course when we were on the Trident…”
😉

1L.

The DC-10 outsold the TriStar nearly two to one, partly because of the TriStar’s delayed introduction and the lack of engine choice. The TriStar only offered the Rolls-Royce RB211 engine while the DC-10 offered both Pratt & Whitney and General Electric engines.

Dont forget much of the autoland equipment on BEA/BA TriStars came from the good old Trident.:)

Now that i did not know cheers dude.

The Tristars were way ahead of there time a former Tristar pilot once told me.

BA Tristars would have been state of the art back in the late 70s.

Dont forget much of the autoland equipment on BEA/BA TriStars came from the good old Trident.:)

BA Tristars would have been state of the art back in the late 70s.

Charter flights from LHR were banned under the London Air Traffic Distribution Rules, which came into effect on 1st April 1978. Therefore it is possible that if the picture was taken before this time then BY could have been operating a charter in their own right.