How many engines on a Trident Three?
Did you reject the take-off for the failure of the booster engine below V1? I guess you must have done - otherwise why fit it in the first place.
If no more thrust could be wrung from the Spey, maybe they should have tried fitting the reheat from the Spey F-4 - possibly on No2 only. That would have been quite something.
If no more thrust could be wrung from the Spey, maybe they should have tried fitting the reheat from the Spey F-4 - possibly on No2 only. That would have been quite something.
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Good question Potter. I was going to ask something similar. Some of the posters said it was a very unreliable engine. I was wondering if it was the last engine to be started, they probably did it on the taxi out to save gas. So if it failed to start they must have had to taxi back in to off load some weight.
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'Gripper' thread drift
Had the HS121 been built as originally designed, along with the growth potential, without BEA (Britain's Excuse for an Airline) downsizing the thing, it would have been a good platform to go head-to-head with the 727.
BOAC & BEA have a lot to answer for in the decline in the UK airframe building arena in the 50s & 60s. The Viscount wanted by BEA was too small, oohh dear then pax figures grew just as it started flying, then we got the -800!
Rant over, back to me pint & thoughts of summer, maybe next year!
BOAC & BEA have a lot to answer for in the decline in the UK airframe building arena in the 50s & 60s. The Viscount wanted by BEA was too small, oohh dear then pax figures grew just as it started flying, then we got the -800!
Rant over, back to me pint & thoughts of summer, maybe next year!
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I have a couple of friends who had a really bad time on the T3. They promptly jacked in their lot with BA and went to work for Britannia on the simple and reliable 737-200! 
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I have a couple of friends who had a really bad time on the T3. They promptly jacked in their lot with BA and went to work for Britannia on the simple and reliable 737-200!
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Just to advise you all that there is a preserved Trident three (G-AWZI)nose section on display at the Farnborough Air Sciences Trust (FAST) museum. It's complete inside and live with instrument, ceiling and floor lighting operable along with some of her systems such as the CWS, stick shaker, engine fire bell and stall warning horn. 'Zulu India' is painted into her BEA colours from 1971. The FAST museum is open every weekend 1000-1600 and entrance is FREE. The address is 85 Farnborough Road, Farnborough Airport, Hampshire. Located at the end of the runway next to the Swan Pub. WWW.G-AWZI.CO.UK is the dedicated website of the Trident three G-AWZI and tells the story of her history, retirement and restoration of the nose section. The museum is also open on Bank Holiday Monday's too. A dedicated 'Trident Ground Crew' made up of former pilots, ground engineers and enthusiasts open her up most weekends to visitors.
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Ahh happy days, the banshee whine of 1-11 apus, feeling the heat blast of a wet start even from a distance, unfettered Speys sans hush-kits rearranging my internal organs whilst supping a pint of Robbie's in the garden of the Airport Hotel.....(or was it the Robbie's rearranging my guts?)
Exmanman
I think the Banshee wine on the 1-11 was the Plessy CSDS (constant speed drive & starter) during engine start.
I used to work at Gatwick in the early '80s. At night there would be 2 or three departures in the small hours and the Dan-Air 1-11s would wake up half of southern England when they took off.
I think the Banshee wine on the 1-11 was the Plessy CSDS (constant speed drive & starter) during engine start.
I used to work at Gatwick in the early '80s. At night there would be 2 or three departures in the small hours and the Dan-Air 1-11s would wake up half of southern England when they took off.
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Thank you dixi188. Yes, on a still, crisp morning I could hear them 20 miles or so north of MAN. Couldn't think of any other type that had that particular signature tune, I suppose it was just BAC and only the 1-11.
Ahh nostalgia. I loved flying on the Trident possibly because I did most of it on my fathers staff travel rights for next to nothing but I was a nice plane to fly on in my mind.
Living right next to Heathrow until my mid 20s I certainly heard enough Tridents and while it was noisy it was mild compared to the VC10 and Caravelle on take off and much less mind numbing than the scream of the early PW fan engines on 70s and DC8s on approach. I am pretty sure you could distinguish the boost engine sound on the Trident three as well as it was a quite distinctive noise although not unecessarily much louder.
As I recall the Trident was pretty fast for an airliner and easily outpaced DC9s and early 737s, but at a cost of course and once fuel got expensive it was the end of the line for what was virtually the symbol of Heathrow during its heyday
PB
PB
Living right next to Heathrow until my mid 20s I certainly heard enough Tridents and while it was noisy it was mild compared to the VC10 and Caravelle on take off and much less mind numbing than the scream of the early PW fan engines on 70s and DC8s on approach. I am pretty sure you could distinguish the boost engine sound on the Trident three as well as it was a quite distinctive noise although not unecessarily much louder.
As I recall the Trident was pretty fast for an airliner and easily outpaced DC9s and early 737s, but at a cost of course and once fuel got expensive it was the end of the line for what was virtually the symbol of Heathrow during its heyday
PB
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Going back a few posts, "treadigraph" mentions the truncation of "British airways" to "British". I think this was a "spoiler" move, designed to frustrate another operator's plans to change its name.
I can't be sure which airline, but seem to recall it was Dan Air. Can anyone confirm that it was/wasn't?
P.S. Could it have been British Air Ferries??
I can't be sure which airline, but seem to recall it was Dan Air. Can anyone confirm that it was/wasn't?
P.S. Could it have been British Air Ferries??
I never quite got all this "Gripper" stuff, for in my experience from back in the cabin the Trident seemed to have perfectly adequate rate of climb, and to prove the point I have an old photo taken looking backwards on a Heathrow 9R (possibly 10R !) departure to Glasgow, on a Shuttle Trident 1, looking back over the airport from high above Osterley. More than can be said for some other contemporary types such as the old Pan Am 747-100s which they used on nonstops to California (BA never attempted this), which on summer afternoons were apparently known to ATC as "Hedge Clippers".
The Trident didn't give me my first flight, but it did give my first flight On Company Expenses
. First of very many.
Regarding the rear-facing seats, the Trident 3s latterly configured for the Shuttle had the forward cabin all rearward-facing. At mid-cabin there was thus a facing set of 6 seats each side of the aisle, good for groups, such as the one I conducted back from Manchester one afternoon. Of course we sat the clients in the forward facing seats, while I was rearward facing. On rotation, goodness, if it hadn't been for the seatbelt I would have been in the lap of Mr Prospect, Senior, sat opposite. The angle was most pronounced.
There was a short interval between the Trident taking over from the Vanguard on Edinburgh, and the opening of the new terminal (and runway)but not long. During all the runway discussions in the early 1970s BA maintained they had to keep the Vanguards staggering on because the old runway was inadequate for jets. After all the arguing was done and it was approved, BA promptly withdrew the Vanguards and used Tridents during the construction time. I was always surprised nobody picked them up on this.
The Trident didn't give me my first flight, but it did give my first flight On Company Expenses
. First of very many.Regarding the rear-facing seats, the Trident 3s latterly configured for the Shuttle had the forward cabin all rearward-facing. At mid-cabin there was thus a facing set of 6 seats each side of the aisle, good for groups, such as the one I conducted back from Manchester one afternoon. Of course we sat the clients in the forward facing seats, while I was rearward facing. On rotation, goodness, if it hadn't been for the seatbelt I would have been in the lap of Mr Prospect, Senior, sat opposite. The angle was most pronounced.
Originally Posted by mustpost
I'm humbled to realise some of the posters here must have flown me there and back (from Turnhouse - old terminal!)
The gripper nickname has always seemed a bit odd to me too. I never flew in one but on my occasional visits to the top of the Queens Building at Heathrow in the mid-sixties the Trident had a far steeper climb angle than anything else. Did they get worse with the later variants?