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By
Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_L-188_Electra
The Lockheed L-188 Electra is an American turboprop airliner built by Lockheed. It was the first turboprop airliner produced in the United States. It first flew in 1957, and when first delivered had performance only slightly inferior to that of a turbojet airliner while at a lower operating cost.
Design and development
The design of the Electra was started by Lockheed in 1954, and the following year the company received a launch order from American Airlines. The prototype first flew on December 6, 1957. The aircraft is a low-wing monoplane with retractable tricycle landing gear, powered by four Allison 501D turboprops. Standard accommodation was for 66 to 88 passengers, with an optional high-density layout for 98 passengers. The initial production version was the L-188A. Later a longer-range L-188C was produced. A total of 170 aircraft were built, with production stopped earlier than planned due to the lack of confidence in the design after two fatal crashes. The aircraft were modified following the accidents but by then customers were interested in operating turbojets. Most of the aircraft currently in service are operated as freighters. In 1957 the United States Navy issued a requirement for an advanced patrol aircraft. Lockheed proposed a development of the Electra which was later placed into production as the P-3 Orion.
Operational history
Civil operations
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L188C Electra of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines operating a passenger service in July 1965 |
American Airlines was the launch customer, followed by Eastern Airlines and Braniff Airways. Many airlines in the US flew Electras, but the only European airline to order the type was KLM. In the South Pacific, TEAL and Air New Zealand flew the Electra. In Australia TAA and Ansett operated Electras on routes between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and to Port Moresby from 1959 until 1971. Qantas also operated four Electras, VH-ECA,B,C & D at about the same time across the Tasman. The Electras flew in commercial service until the mid-1970s. Some units were sold to Brazilian airline Varig, operated with a perfect safety record until 1992 on the Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo (that route is called Ponte Aérea - air bridge, in Portuguese) shuttle service before being sold to Zaire. Others were retired into air cargo use. A total of 144 L-188s were built, 57 of which have been destroyed in accidents, according to the Aviation Safety Network. The most recent Electra accident was in July 2003.
Military use
In 1983, after the retirement of their last SP-2H Neptunes the Argentine Navy modified several civilian Electras for maritime patrol , and widely used them until their replacement by P-3s in 1994. One of the Argentine Navy's Electras, known locally as L-188W Electron for electronic warfare, is preserved at the Argentine Naval Aviation Museum (MUAN) at Bahia Blanca.
Variants
- L-188A
- Initial production version
- L-188AF
- Freighter conversion of L-188A
- L-188C
- Long-range version with increased fuel capacity and a higher operating gross weight
- L-188CF
- Freighter conversion of L-188C
- YP-3A Orion
- One Orion aerodynamic test bed, fuselage shortened by seven feet.
- CP-140 Aurora and CP-140A Arcturus uses P-3 Orion airframe
Operators
Civil operators
 Australia
 Austria
 Brazil
 Canada
 Colombia Costa Rica Ecuador El Salvador
 France Guyana Honduras Hong Kong
 Iceland
 India Indonesia
 Laos
 Mexico Netherlands
 Norway
 New Zealand
 Panama Paraguay
- Líneas Aéreas Paraguayas (LAP) - 1 L-188A & 2 L-188C
 Peru Philippines São Tomé and Príncipe Sweden
 United Kingdom
 United States
 Zaire
Military operators
 Argentina
 Bolivia
- Ecuador
- Honduras
- Mexico
- Panama
Electra operators today
- AirSpray 1967 Ltd., Red Deer, AB, Canada, seven L-188 converted into firefighting airtankers with a 3000 US gallon capacity tank.
- Atlantic Airlines, Coventry, United Kingdom, eight L-188
- Amerer Air, Linz, Austria, had two L-188 but it recently ceased operating. The aircraft were sold to Buffalo Airways, Canada.
- Buffalo Airways of Yellowknife owns and operates two L-188.
- As of August 2006 a total of 15 Lockheed L-188 Electra aircraft (all variants) were reported in airline service, with Trans Service Airlift (1), Amerer Air (2), Atlantic Airlines (10), Segers Aviation (1) and Bigojet (1).
Accidents and incidents
These two accidents mirrored each other and shocked the aviation industry. The FAA Administrator requested Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to reevaluate the Electra. NASA and Lockheed engineers eventually determined that the engine mounts---following the failure of an engine mount during a hard landing---allowed too much precessional movement of the propellers at a critical frequency which allowed "whirl-mode" aeroelastic phenomenon, "flutter" in flight. This flutter, by pure chance, occurred at the wings' natural resonance frequency, which further excited the harmonic oscillations, which increased the wing flutter, that eventually led to separation of a wing from the fuselage. The engine mounts were redesigned and the wing stiffened so the problem was solved by 1961.
- On May 3, 1968, Braniff Flight 352, which was en route from Houston to Dallas, disintegrated over Dawson, Texas. All 80 passengers and five crew members were killed. This was the worst air disaster in Texas at the time. The Probable Cause found by the NTSB was excessive loads put upon the aircraft structure while attempting to recover from an unusual attitude resulting from loss of control in thunderstorm turbulence; the operation in the turbulence resulted from a decision to penetrate an area of known severe weather.
- On December 24, 1971, LANSA Flight 508, which was en route from Lima to Pucallpa, Peru, entered an area of strong turbulence and lightning and disintegrated in mid air due to structural failure following a lightning strike and fire. Of the 92 people on board, 91 were killed. One passenger, Juliane Köpcke, survived the crash.
- On June 4, 1976, an Air Manila Lockheed L-188 Electra L-188A (RP-C1061) crashed just after takeoff from the Guam Naval Air Station. NTSB report # AAR-77-06
SpecificationsGeneral characteristics
- Crew: Six (3 flight deck)
- Capacity: 99 to 127 passengers
- Length: 104 ft 6 inches (31.81 m)
- Wingspan: 99 ft (30.18 m)
- Height: 32 ft 10 inches (10 m)
- Wing area: 1300 sq ft (120.8 m2)
- Empty weight: 61,500 lb (27,895 kg)
- Useful load: 22,825 lb (10,350 kg)
- Max takeoff weight: 116,000 lb (52,664 kg)
Performance
See also
Related development
Comparable aircraft
External links
Text from Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply.
Published in July 2009.
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