Civil passenger aircraft with JATO
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Metroliner
The Metroliner 1 had a JATO motor in the tail.
the II i flew had the switchgear installed. As a 19 seat regional airliner this could be the plane the OP was looking for..
the II i flew had the switchgear installed. As a 19 seat regional airliner this could be the plane the OP was looking for..
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Thanks. The Metroliner from what I could find did have a jet assist option at one time. In said 1969 the jet assist on it may have been a short lived thing for passenger air service on this aircraft. I distinctly recall a JATO type sensation with a high noise level like that of a jet engine that lasted around ten seconds during take off. As mentioned, had a previous JATO flight on a C-123 in South Vietnam in 1967.
I was Director of Contract Maintenance Service at Eastern Air Lines in Miami in mid-1980's. One of our customers was Mexicana with their B727-200's. A few of their earlier ones had been fitted with RATO as mentioned before. Obvioudsly a necessity with -7 JT8D engines. Eastern had some early old -200 on the Air Shuttle and they were known as "Lead Sleds" on hot days even from the near sea level airports the Air Shuttle served.
We did "C" Checks" on those Mexicana aircraft but fortunately the RATO was long gone. One peculiarity of those aircraft was the ADF aerials which were usually in the bottom aft fairing of the wing root had to be remounted on top of the fuselage. Looked like a massive repair patch up there.
Saw a comment before that the writer thought some Eastern aircraft had been fitted with RATO. If so, I never heard of it.
Later, the 17R version of the JT8D were used on the high altitude airports in South America making RATO unnecessary.
My CMS operattion also did "C" Checks" on the RATO equipped DC-9 freighters (was it ONA?). They were under contract to the Navy for QICK-TRAN and required a extra boost in the event of an engine failure on T/O. The RATO was installed and active on the aircraft. These were scary for my techies were not used to having solid fuel rockets on the aircraft. I was told static electricity was sufficient to ignite them. Fortunately no servicing of them was needed. Did some extra safety training as the thought of those going off in my hangar was not something I wanted to imagine.
We did "C" Checks" on those Mexicana aircraft but fortunately the RATO was long gone. One peculiarity of those aircraft was the ADF aerials which were usually in the bottom aft fairing of the wing root had to be remounted on top of the fuselage. Looked like a massive repair patch up there.
Saw a comment before that the writer thought some Eastern aircraft had been fitted with RATO. If so, I never heard of it.
Later, the 17R version of the JT8D were used on the high altitude airports in South America making RATO unnecessary.
My CMS operattion also did "C" Checks" on the RATO equipped DC-9 freighters (was it ONA?). They were under contract to the Navy for QICK-TRAN and required a extra boost in the event of an engine failure on T/O. The RATO was installed and active on the aircraft. These were scary for my techies were not used to having solid fuel rockets on the aircraft. I was told static electricity was sufficient to ignite them. Fortunately no servicing of them was needed. Did some extra safety training as the thought of those going off in my hangar was not something I wanted to imagine.
Not civil but it shows many uses of JATO. However it ended in tears.
Dan Air bought one or two of the Mexicana ex Jato fitted 727-200's - notable due to the hump along the top of the cabin.
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https://www.avgeekery.com/boeing-act...fs-on-the-727/
Looks to be on the bottom, not the top. Perhaps you are speaking of the flush mounted ADF antennas having been relocated to the top?
https://www.avgeekery.com/boeing-act...fs-on-the-727/
Looks to be on the bottom, not the top. Perhaps you are speaking of the flush mounted ADF antennas having been relocated to the top?
Looks to be on the bottom, not the top. Perhaps you are speaking of the flush mounted ADF antennas having been relocated to the top?
Don't think Dan Air wanted JATO rockets ....well maybe out of Skiathos
Janetflight, post 39, I seem to remember seeing a picture of an Ethipian Airlines Convair 340 (in that colourful paint scheme they had in those days) using Jato's for take of. I searched my little library for that picture, but could not find anything. Can anybody remember that, or am I just getting old?,
Janetflight, post 39, I seem to remember seeing a picture of an Ethipian Airlines Convair 340 (in that colourful paint scheme they had in those days) using Jato's for take of. I searched my little library for that picture, but could not find anything. Can anybody remember that, or am I just getting old?,
There is a prettty colour picture of one , mentioning the JATO in John Taylor's 1964 " Aircraft Annual" but , like yourself , I have seen the action shot of one blasting off, and it's on my shelves......somewhere....Last edited by Haraka; 26th Aug 2020 at 13:47.
Bit of Thread Drift, but saw my first Rocket Assisted take of at annual Biggin Hill BOB display in 1954 I think it was.
Quiet impressive and noisy too! Aircraft was Manston based ISTR.
Quiet impressive and noisy too! Aircraft was Manston based ISTR.
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Great find and as one might imagine very similar to the Queen Air installation referenced at the beginning of this thread. Thanks again!
Airlift for April 1963 had an article on airliner JATO. It said American, Ansett-ANA, Braniff, Caribair, Ethiopian, Pan Am, Panagra, TACA and Trans-Australia had tried it, tho maybe Pan Am never had it on scheduled flights. "there have been eight actual emergency Jato firings, three in scheduled airline service..."
It says AA used it on DC-4 freighters out of Mexico City in 1947; Braniff and Panagra used it at La Paz. Ansett-ANA and Trans-Australia added it to their DC-3s in 1961.
The original units were only allowed 100 hours on the aircraft; in 1955 CAA approved 500 hours or a year, whichever came first. "During the past year, storage life has been upped to four years and flight time 750 hours or 18 months."
It says AA used it on DC-4 freighters out of Mexico City in 1947; Braniff and Panagra used it at La Paz. Ansett-ANA and Trans-Australia added it to their DC-3s in 1961.
The original units were only allowed 100 hours on the aircraft; in 1955 CAA approved 500 hours or a year, whichever came first. "During the past year, storage life has been upped to four years and flight time 750 hours or 18 months."
