Regarding the RB211-22CA engines on the early L-1011 deliveries to Eastern:
It was well a behaved engine if a bit low in power on hot days and we thought we had bought into a really good engine as our last experience with the big fan engines was the JT9D-3A on the leased B747 we operated. However, in going to 22B power, we found the engine had very little stall margin and that it would bang violently at the least provocation. Ted Fifield, the resident Rolls Royce rep assigned to Eastern at KJFK and I chased backfiring engines all over the Eastern region. We discovered that the stalls were violent enough to bend the "banana link" on the Variable Inlet Guide Vanes (VIGV) which completely messed up the vane schedule.
Please excuse the thread drift.
Last edited by tonytales; 24th Jun 2018 at 17:03.
Reason: correct term "banana link"