It was the first T-tail rear-engined 3-engine jetliner (first flight ahead of the legendary B727!). On record, it was also the first airliner to make a blind-landing in revenue service. It was among the first to be certified for CAT III operations, and was an extremely sophisticated aircraft for its time. The first auto-landing in a Trident was achieved in March 1964. The first on a commercial flight with passengers aboard was achieved in June 1965, with a Trident 1, from Paris to Heathrow.

In our virtual world, in FSX, one thing I enjoyed was flying such aircraft (many actually originating from FS9, but made flyable by community enthusiasts). Unfortunately, as we move forward, these simulations would completely disappear from the virtual skies (if not already). Of course, certain developers/publishers (such as Just Flight) are making an effort to bring back at least a few of these historic aircraft (e.g. BAC 1-11), but the commercial aspects vs production expenses negate (PW) reproduction of what we could freely get in the FSX world.

One such classic was David Maltby's HS-121 Trident-2. As I am looking into my (FW) FSX aircraft collection, this caught my attention primarily due to the authenticity of its VC. And, if we thought B727 was loud, a warning about the Trident's sound appears on David's Website as follows:

"WARNING - THESE AIRCRAFT SOUNDS ARE VERY LOUD:
David Maltby accepts no liability for damage to hearing, hi-fi equipment & speakers, property, ornamental fish (cold water or tropical), telescopes, trombones, facial hair or anything else either."

Here is this Trijet on a short (dawn) flight (on icy Iceland) from BIAR (Akureyri) to BIRK (Reykjavik). I've used the Lufthansa livery for this flight and found an occasion to demonstrate for myself the Orbx's Iceland FTX Global Demo - I don't have the full FTX Global). I've also attached one unit of CIVA INS for navigation. Thanks for viewing the images of this milestone aircraft (even if it's probably a rehash for some).

Edited September 4, 20187 yr by P_7878

Some nice shots of an interesting aircraft. Like you, I enjoyed using Davids fine product in FS9 and FSX.

As you say, the Trident was very advanced for its time. Its thin wing was designed for high cruising speed. I think it was the fastest passenger aircraft in regular service in those days. The problem was that the wing did not generate much lift at lower speeds. And in the sixties most runways were a lot shorter than they are now.

I was flying from RAF Luqa, Malta, when BEA introduced a Trident service from the UK. The longer runway at that time was 06/24 which was barely 2000 metres. Our Canberra PR9s required consideraby less than that, but watching the Tridents was interesting. More accurately, in the summer, it was horrifying. They were very noisy, like David Maltby's version, but they had very poor acceleration. The crash barrier at the end of the runway had to be lowered, and the Tridents wheels seemed to be barely off the ground with a hundred metres to go. I doubt if the Trident could have met current certification standards, unless it flew empty.

For take off and climbout, the trident relied heavily on its leading edge slats, which were a relatively new idea at the time. And in June 1972 a BEA trident crashed after take off from Heathrow, when the slats appeared to have been retracted much too soon. As a result, operating procedures were changed and various warnings were built in, to reduce the risk. Like so many procedures we take for granted now, which are the result of past accidents.

 

 

 

Love that Old School Cockpit

Appreciated the notes and comments!

Yes, the key takeaway is:"So many procedures we take for granted now, are the result of past accidents". So, although this aircraft was not commercially successful, it surely contributed novel ideas for subsequent evolution of technology.

And, about "Old School Cockpit", it does have a certain appeal (especially in the SIM, for us "arm-chair" pilots who have the magical autopilot button "Pause"...🙂...), but seriously, such cockpit layouts keep us honest about where the roots are. So, I share the same thoughts.

Thanks all!