The following are pictures taken from a 1980 Lockheed L-1011 marketing publication. In this publication, Lockheed showed the plans for the Advanced Stage I, Stage II and Stage III glass cockpit. What is interesting, is that Lockheed never walked away from the concept of the TriStar being a 3 people cockpit. Therefore, even the Flight Engineer station got converted to glass. However, the L-1011 program was canceled long before any oft the Advanced Stage cockpits got implemented. It's sad, it would have been very interesting to see the L-1011 in glass ... but then again, it's the analog charm that I love so much about the L-1011.
Lockheed L-1011, Basic Main Instrument Panel
The main instrument panel below is the classic L-1011 panel as is on display with the Delta Air Heritage Museum here in Atlanta.
Lockheed L-1011, Advanced Stage I Main Instrument Panel
In the Stage 1 variant, Lockheed replaced the instrument cluster and the annunciator filed with two CRTs. Stage I, II and III cockpits all featured the same Advanced Flight Engineer station (see below).
Lockheed L-1011, Advanced Stage II Main Instrument Panel
In the Stage II variant, the L-1011 cockpit start to look very much like the Boeing 757 and Boeing 767. The two center panel displays got augmented with CRTs for the ADI and the HSI instrument.
Lockheed L-1011, Advanced Stage III Main Instrument Panel
Stage III would have been completely glass, except for the standby instrumentation. Each pilot would have had 3 primary displays in addition to the two center panel displays. The Stage III variant also features full color multi-functional weather displays.
Lockheed L-1011, Advance Stage I, II and III Flight Engineers Console
The flight engineers console would have been greatly reduced in complexity. Instead of the vast array of instruments, the console would have been dominated by 3 multi-function displays. The Advanced Flight Engineer's station would have also had significantly fewer circuit breaker.
I had always heard that Lockheed was working on an EFIS system. The Stage III instrument panel immediately reminded me of the Beech Starship with its odd array of various CRT displays in place of various analogue instruments.
ReplyDeleteThis is truly an incredible find, thanks for posting this.
Thank You Nick. All in all it's a shame that Lockheed canceled the L-1011 so early into the product cycle. It's also understandable that the economics model for the L-1011 just simply didn't work for Lockheed.
ReplyDeleteI do believe, however, that the Lockheed road-map for the L-1011 was not overly well positioned. Designing a 3 man EFIS cockpit seemed somewhat redundant. I think that both Airbus and Boeing picked up on the airline desire for 2 man crews very quickly and successfully.
It really is a shame that they stepped out of the airliner market.
ReplyDeleteI think its possible that they stuck with a FE strictly for marketing purposes, as I have to imagine the idea of a two-man flightcrew on a widebody in the 1970's might have been a scary thought to some airlines, similar to the reaction from airlines with the 737 in the 60's.
I have to imagine that if it had been requested Lockheed would have figured out a way to integrate the few remaining FE button and switches into the main panel.