The L1011 beautiful looking as it is is a maintenance nightmare, BA when they operated them always had snag lists as long as your arm! The reason why the L1011 died an early comercial death is not only would it not carry the payloads of its competitors (DC10) its despatch reliability was (and still is) appalling in comparison.
BA (when they operated the type) clearly had no idea about proper maintenance...as DAL, the largest operator (69 aircraft, as I recall) had superb reliability with the type....and made a big profit with them as well.
CX? The same, operated the type for many years and made handsome profits.
TWA? Likewise.
About says it all for the RAF operation...day late, dollar short.
Just like BA.
Perhaps the RAF should have stuck with the VC-10...
