FLYING AT THE FRONT END: Lockheed Once Made Commercial Aircraft
Flying at the front end usually means sitting in either first or business class. When the distinguished aviation journalist Brian Walters offered us a piece about actually being on the flight deck ABTN jumped at the chance. As a very small child he first flew to the Channel Islands before World War II, landing on a beach in a Dragon Rapide. After 25 years in the airline business, firstly with Air France and later with Lufthansa leaving as sales manager London, he turned to writing in 1980. Brian even once held a PPL. This story is pure nostalgia.
With a few exceptions, most cargo airliners in use today were originally designed to carry passengers but are no longer deemed to be competitive in that role. So some may assume such aircraft to be the tramp steamers of the skies, conjuring up a picture of old aerial rust buckets.
However that is far from the case, and the vast majority of cargo aircraft ply their trade reliably and largely unnoticed, as the fleet of Lockheed Electras L188 operated by Atlantic Airlines attest. Indeed, as I accompanied Alistair Smith on his pre-flight checks carried out in the small hours at Belfast Airport recently, I was impressed by the cleanliness of an aircraft that was certainly older than the young captain.
Invited to join the crew on a round trip from Coventry to Belfast, I had accepted with the same enthusiasm that any railway buff would have, given an opportunity to share a footplate with a steam train driver. For many, gently ageing forms of transport of any kind hold a certain fascination although the Electra does not look out of place even today.
It was designed by Lockheed in the 1950s and although only 170 were delivered for use as passenger airliners, more than 650 derivatives dubbed the P-3 Orion and adapted for maritime reconnaissance/anti-submarine warfare roles were delivered to air forces and navies around the world. Like the robust Electra airliner, many Orions remain in service. The still in production Lockheed Hercules is a very close cousin.
Given that not a few other airliners have entered service and since been retired in the 45 or so years after the Electra began to earn its keep, it is hard to dispute Captain Smith”s claim that in many respects the Lockheed airliner was ahead of its time. Alistair is 24 years old and Gareth Pratt, the first officer on our round trip, a veteran at 34 but both enthuse about an aircraft that boasts some modern features.
Doubtless that was one reason why Atlantic Airlines first introduced the Electra in 1993, acquiring the sixth, seventh and eighth examples during the summer of 1998. But to keep the aircraft in tip top condition, the company holds a stock of no less than 300,000 individual components and has the odd example of non-flying aircraft that could be cannibalised to keep the others flying if necessary. In addition Atlantic has 14 spare Allison 501 turboprop engines.
The seven-strong operational Electra fleet operate a number of scheduled cargo services within the UK as well as to some European cities but the crews eagerly accept allocation of the occasional charter flights that may take them to warmer climes. Such flexibility of operation confirms the versatility of the Electra for which there is no obvious replacement.
To the eagle eye, the blocked out windows of the passenger cabin together with the large forward cargo door, are the only features that distinguish the cargo version of the Electra from the original passenger airliner. However, from the jump seat I noticed that some of the older engine instruments have been replaced by modern digital displays, while to comply with the latest safety requirements, the aircraft is fitted with the new enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS).
Originally configured to carry a flight engineer in addition to the pilots, some three years ago, Atlantic, as a design authority, developed a revised instrument panel for two-crew operation. Without compromising safety, this enables the aircraft to be flown with a degree of tender loving care that will enable the Electra to remain in service until at least 2010. In fact if the present market demand for the aircraft is maintained, Atlantic Airlines says it will operate them beyond that date.
I noticed that Gareth controlled the pressurisation panel, which is generally kept to around 8,000 feet ”for airframe kindness,” while the engine temperatures and rpm are carefully balanced, again with long life in mind. Gareth also operated the radar and on our outward flight beneath a canopy of bright stars and moonlight, he pointed out the northeast English coast below clearly replicated on the radar display.
Wearing a headset I could follow the radio patter as we were passed from one control zone to another, finally coming within the orbit of Belfast International Airport. On a cloudless night the view is one of darkness and lights on the ground as the aircraft meandered its way north at an easy 330 knots more or less following the line of the M6 before turning towards Liverpool, crossing over the Isle of Man before descending into Aldergrove with watery expanses all around. It is the custom that guests on the flight deck prepare coffee for the crew but Alistair was testing the efficiency of his new thermos flask and alas we all concluded that it was not up to scratch. The next visitor will be expected revert to the previous custom! I also took a look at the cabin, or perhaps it should be called the freight hold. No windows and a flat floor does make a difference. And that's not me but Russell Ladkin, former pilot and now managing director
As Alistair methodically walked around the aircraft after our arrival, (a task performed by Gareth before our departure from Coventry), I was struck by the fact that as each inspection panel was opened, it revealed critical components and systems that did not betray the age of the aircraft. This can be explained by the fact that Atlantic Airlines has a hangar dedicated to the maintenance of its Electra fleet and all their pilots are trained not simply to fly the aircraft but to do so with especial care.
However, before long we were beneath grey skies again and approaching to land back at Coventry. At the conclusion of the round trip, Alistair completed an In-flight Engine Monitoring Sheet on which turbine inlet temperatures, fuel flow and other details for each engine was recorded for the benefit of the company maintenance engineers.
The Electra can carry a 15 tonne payload in containers and on pallets. This is just right for many tasks and the aircraft is destined to form the backbone of the Atlantic Airlines” fleet for some time to come.
http://www.atlanticairlines.co.uk