Civil passenger aircraft with JATO
 

Thinking of a civil passenger flight out of Washington, DC in 1969 that had what appeared to be a JATO take off, something that surprised me for a rather small passenger plane that had a capacity of maybe forty passengers. I was telling someone about this flight experience and remarked that I had only flown once before on a JATO equipped plane and that was on a C-123 in South Vietnam.
Has anyone ever heard of a civil passenger plane equipped with JATO?

I'm sure more knowledgeable people will respond but I know for fact it was considered for the 727

Comet 1 was tested with Sprite rockets to assist with hot and high ops - not used in service though.

Trident 3. :O

Was any of this used in passenger service?

Metro liner turboprop

JATO
 

After flying the Tomahawk PA38 again after many years, It could certainly benefit from these.

It's wasn't just considered - it was certified and in-service with Mexicana for several years. Basically needed so they could get out of Mexico City with a decent load on a hot day. I don't think anyone besides Mexicana ever got it, and it was eventually made obsolete by higher thrust variations of the JT8D engines.
They were only there for engine-out during takeoff, and I don't believe it was ever used in anger. But way back when I talked to someone who'd flight tested the 727 JATO option. He said it was pretty much a non-event, he couldn't even tell when they lit the JATO bottles - he rather doubted it would have been that much help in a real engine out scenario but it made the regulators happy.

When we were flight testing the 747-8, we needed to do some cold weather testing in the early autumn and went to Kangerlussuaq Airport in Greenland to get the required temps. First day we were there it wasn't cold enough for the testing so we basically got the day off to explore. Everywhere you looked there were used JATO bottles about - they used them for fences, table legs, even ashtrays. They use a lot of JATO bottles flying C130's off of the Greenland Icecap, and apparently it wasn't worth the trouble to reuse or recycle the used bottles so they just repurposed them for other uses.

http://www.taamuseum.org.au/Images/P.../NGLoadDC3.jpg http://www.taamuseum.org.au/Images/P...%20Jato_to.JPG
Trans Australia Airlines TAA trialled JATO on DC3 aircraft in the hot and high operating conditions of Papua New Guinea in the 1960's.
Not entirely sure as to the accuracy of this but rumour has it that gathered dignitaries were present to witness the inaugural JATO takeoff of a fully loaded PNG DC3.
However the system failed to ignite and the lumbering aircraft disappeared off the end of the runway and down a valley only to emerge miles away at runway height, to much official clearing of throats and embarrassment.
Don't think it was ever used operationally much after that.

Photos courtesy TAA museum

I recall seeing a shot of an Ethiopian Airlines Convair Liner taking off with JATO in the 60's.
P,S, Ethiopian was apparently the first civil airline to use JATO on its 240s as a precaution on "Hot and High" operations in Africa ( Putnam GD Book)

Would they drop the empty bottles next to the takeoff airport?
JATO /ATO is super dangerous. C-130s get parked on the "hot" ramp whenever rigged for it. Can't imagine to take those risks in the civilian world anymore. And hot bottles get rare and valuable as they are not made anymore. Where would airlines store them?
Does anybody anywhere teach commercial pilots how to do it?

About 40 years ago when I was in reservations, the local rep for Varig was telling us that their 707s could operate out of Easter Island because they had, in his words, "boosters". I never figured out what he was talking about.

Water injection.

They played about with the Valiant BK1 with JATO. One of the problems was where to drop the spent rockets before continuing. This would use up all the fuel that you had saved.
It was overcome with the water meth injected Avon 205A which produced 10% extra (10,000lbs/11,000lbs) for one minute.

1410 lbs of water meth lasted exactly one minute; precisely the time that the mainwheels left the ground at Embakasi.

The only 5 engined jet airliner....

Beech 18. Some were offered with a JATO option giving a few seconds of emergency power in the event of an engine failure during takeoff.

There were 727's around that era operated or tested with JATO
Rumour is that Mexicana had it on 727-200s
and this MeType Certification Data 727-200 Series

Pedant mode on.

*R.A.T.O.

Pedant mode off.

ATO has been used as well. (USAF)

Emergency use indeed. Flew DC3s with JATO bottles. Fortunately, never saw one used "in anger". I think they had a use-by expiration date.

During that time frame there would have been Convair 240/340/440 and Martin 202/404 operating out of Washington DC. Neither manufacturer mentions the inclusion of RATO in the specifications. There may well have been smaller Beechcraft 18 and derivatives operating as "commuter" airline equipment. Some of these came factory equipped with RATO for critical engine out situations. Spent about 30 min searching for B-18 RATO installation pics with no luck.

As for "regular" use of RATO in civil (esp airline) service, I am quite skeptical due to expense and danger.

C2j

You could buy a Trislander with with 350 lb rocket. Seem to remember it was for a customer operating hot and high to get you out of trouble following an engine failure. Probably really needed a fourth engine but then it wouldn't be a Trislander.

TURIN
I have to agree with you.
Why is it called JATO when no jets are involved, just rockets?
RATO - in my opinion - is the correct term!

Mexicana had a Boeing OEM JATO system on their 727-200ADV. As I recall it was armed prior to TO by the FE with a key that was inserted into a slot of the FE panel.

https://www.reddit.com/r/aviation/co...00_taking_off/

Overseas National Airways, a US supplemental, had JATO on its DC9-30s. Don't bet money on my recollection of the numbers but I think it got a 5K increase in max T/O weight.

Strange, I only remember counting 4.

APU as well?

What we are talking about is this!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....74d30f15a2.jpg

They were the days of real flying.

Yep, the Swearingen Metroliner had a JATO option in the early days. The claim was that it would give you enough time to raise the gear with an engine failure on takeoff.

I think the Queen Air model 65 had JATO as well.

How did this work in real life? You had a rocket like a bomb in the hangar all the time? Was it ready to be fired anytime or secured somehow? Solid fuel rockets burn out whenever they are activated. And do you drop them after use? Glowing hot parts? This sounds more like a project, did anybody ever actually use it, get a demo or similar?
I only know the military JATO/ATO and they treat it with ultimate respect because it is so dangerous.

Well if you count the APU as an engine, you can hardly call the Trident 3 "the only 5-engined airliner" - that description would also apply to most of the 4-holers built in the last 50-odd years !

How about ‘the only five-engined trijet’?

Nothing dropped off the airframe after firing as it remained place until it was in a place where it could be replaced.

I never reall considered the Trident 3 as anything other than three engined! :p

Never heard that one, as a test airframe?

JATO in PNG
 

A 600. Lb. Thrust bottle was required for DC3 ops at Wau, as an engine failure on T/O was likely to be dire. As far as I know never used in anger, but were fired off when timexpired. Carried on many ? DC3s.

Supposed to replace failed engine for 12 sec , I think

Some photos and video here of the 727 RATO .

https://aviation.stackexchange.com/q...-runway-length

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....2d42eb8885.jpg
During the 60's Puerto Rico CARIBAIR Convairs used the JATO help to get rid of mountains in case of an EFATO after T/O from St Thomas and neighborhoods...nice pic by W. Sierra.

Can’t have a thread about JATO/RATO bottles without this.