Lockheed L-1011 TriStar
Third wide-body airliner, advanced trijet with S-duct center engine.
Last updated
By 2026, just a single L-1011 remains operational, flying under the name Stargazer.[1]
Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.
How it changed
It was also the first widebody to receive FAA certification for Cat-IIIc autolanding, enabling completely blind landings in zero-visibility weather.[2] The aircraft incorporated an all-flying tail stabilator instead of the trimmable horizontal stabilizer found on most jetliners of its time.[3] The L-1011’s flight management system, certified in September 1977, offered features like Mach/IAS cruise control and automatic Rough Air Mode.[4] The TriStar’s advanced technology resulted in a high purchase price.[5]
Lockheed needed to sell 500 airliners to break even, but only 250 were built, causing the company to withdraw from the civilian aircraft business.[6][7] An integrated drive generator (IDG) made its first appearance on a jetliner with the L-1011.[4] Lockheed incorporated a direct lift control system into the TriStar's design, enabling smooth landing approaches without requiring substantial pitch adjustments.[8]
What the maker and period sources say
The same source states that the TriStar’s entire interior concept was conceived by the industrial design firm Sundberg-Ferrar.[9] Leighton’s article reports that the L-1011 was designed with so much redundancy that it has relatively few incidents and accidents.[10] The Harrington-Cressman account also describes that Lockheed patented the concept of a lower deck galley for the TriStar.[9] Leighton’s article notes that the L-1011 was a much more optimized design than its competitors.[10]
References
- Wikipedia, "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Greenwald, "Catch a Falling TriStar", December 21, 1981; Clark, "Rockets purchased by Stratolaunch back under Northrop Grumman control", Spaceflight Now, October 10, 2019 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Young, "Look Ma, no hands—learning how to land a jumbo jet", Chicago Tribune, September 18, 1977; "LTN-92 Laser Gyro INS", Northrop Grumman; "Report: Lockheed L1011-500 Tristar, CS-TMP", Air Accidents Investigation Branch; Harrington-Cressman, "Requiem for a Trijet Masterpiece - the Lockheed L-1011", September 30, 2015 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Upton, Jim., "Lockheed L-1011 Tristar", Specialty Press Publishers and Wholesalers, 2001; Beach, "SAE Technical Paper Series", SAE, 1968-02-01, p. 2229; LisbonJet, "Delta flight 1080 incident" (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Upton, Jim., "Lockheed L-1011 Tristar", Specialty Press Publishers and Wholesalers, 2001 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Leighton, "The Lockheed L1011 - Saying Goodbye to Another Trijet", March 24, 2014 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Leighton, "The Lockheed L1011 - Saying Goodbye to Another Trijet", March 24, 2014; Jones, "Saddened Lockheed workers still view L-1011 with pride", 'Los Angeles Times, December 8, 1981; "Lockheed to stop l-1011 production", Sumter Daily Item, December 8, 1981 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Greenwald, "Catch a Falling TriStar", December 21, 1981 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Lockheed L-1011 TriStar" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Report: Lockheed L1011-385-1-14, G-BBAF", Air Accidents Investigation Branch, p. 5; Kocivar, "Giant Tri-Jets Are Coming", December 1970, p. 50–52 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Harrington-Cressman, "Requiem for a Trijet Masterpiece - the Lockheed L-1011", September 30, 2015. facts only, no text reused. airlinereporter.com
- Leighton, "The Lockheed L1011 - Saying Goodbye to Another Trijet", March 24, 2014. facts only, no text reused. airlinereporter.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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