Midland 331 - no, not the '3'. The Trident 3 was a stretched T2, with 30-odd seats added. Same wings, same undercarriage, same engines. Ergo - it couldn't get off the ground.
So, they stuck a plastic engine in the tail which was either 'off' or 'full-on'. It couldn't be re-lit in the air. In an infamous incident a T3 lost an engine out of Madrid. I recall that this happened after the plastic engine was shut down. The aircraft returned to Madrid, but had to go around on short finals due a blocked runway.
Without the boost engine, the damned thing wouldn't climb engine-out! They flew around at zero feet trying to build up a little kinetic energy!
In short, the T3 was a nightmare. The wings started to crack eventually beacause the weight was too great. Ugh!
Does anyone have anything nice to say about The Trident?
Yes, the T1 & T2 were brilliant. The T1E was even better. I still get wobbly-knees at how fantastic the T1 & 2 were to fly.
It's the dreadful T3 that I'd prefer to forget! Fortunately, I escaped to the 'new' 757 fleet a few months after being press-ganged onto the '3'.
AD