Since most international flights are grounded during COVID-19 pandemic, I am using the free time to bring back some of my classic flight reports. This one was never published before, but the memory has surely become golden now. It was my last ever L-1011 Tristar flight.
Thai Sky Airlines was a charter passenger and cargo airline based in Thailand, they operated a small fleet of two L1011-1s and one L1011-385-1F.
The first flight to Hong Kong was launched on May 19th 2005. Flights to Kuala Lumpur were launched on May 21st 2005. It was a joint venture with Thai, Hong Kong and Taiwan interests and was set up primarily to operate charter flights for tour groups travelling from Hong Kong to Thailand. The airline ceased operations in 2006.
L-1011’s in operation have become increasingly rare since the early 2000s. Once I found out about the new Thai airline flying the L-1011 I immediately called their Bangkok office. I wanted to book on the next available flight, for a same day round-trip between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
The Thai Sky Airlines L-1011-1 came in all Economy Class configuration with 343 seats. The forward cabin had a 2-4-2 configuration, while the aft cabin had 2-5-2 abreast configuration. The cabin felt extra spacious without the middle overhead bins.
L1011 boasted one of the roomiest cockpits in the sky. Allowing 5 persons to be inside at a time. The registration of the L1011 was HS-AXE.
We took off from Don Muang Airport (Survanabhumi Airport was not ready yet in 2005) runway 21R. Passing over the Chao Praya River and Bangkok city.
The captain in charge was extremely kind, he offered the observer seat to me for both sectors. Both pilots came from the USA (sadly he passed away after a sudden illness shortly afterwards). There was a requirement for a Flight Engineer to be present in order to operate the L-1011.
Flight time to Kuala Lumpur took just 1 hour and 40 minutes. Flying at 35,000 ft, Mach 0.85. We had just 62 passengers on-board, according to my information kept in my log book.
It was an excellent landing on runway 14L of Kuala Lumpur Int’l Airport (KLIA).
I spent an hour turning around at KLIA before boarding the same L1011 HS-AXE back to Bangkok. This time we had a full load of 342 passengers. Most of them were tourists heading to Thailand.
The return flight was event less and it was smooth flight at Flight Level 36,000 ft. There was a meal served in the 2 hour flight time, but I didn’t take any pictures of it.
After two hours, we landed back in Bangkok Don Muang Airport runway 21L.
The golf course, between the two runways, can be clearly seen on the right hand side during approach to Runway 21L of Don Muang Airport. I was truly privileged not only to fly on an L1011, but also to sit behind the pilots. It was one of those great flying memories that I will always treasure. Hope you too enjoy the experience.
The last remaining L-1011 TriStar in service as of now is the Stargazer air-launch mothership, operated by Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK).
Just eealized that I used to fly on this beautiful tri star as a kid and didn’t even realize it. It was a trip to Hong Kong with my family but I couldn’t remember much.
Wow, my first impression. wHAT A GREAT REVIEW. The only L-1011 Tristar still operating today is the stargazer as you mentioned. It is a useful and vital aircraft that launched 44 rocket containing 95 satellites as a air-launch mothership. Most important of all, it is safer than its competitors lie b747s and a300 (AS IT SOLD WAY FEWER AIRCRAFT THAN ITS COMPETITORS, SO ITS ACCIDENT IS FEWER).
Wow!! i cannot believe they are still flying!! I thought the ex BA 500 versions bought from them to the RAF were like some of the last handful flying! The 500 was the better Tristar!
I flew on many versions of the Tristar and lots people who did ,liked the plane alot as of its width! It was wider than an DC-10 ! Well for sure in interior width but almost the same! The Tristar was more expensive and a better plane to the DC-10 and Md-11 overall! Also it was the 2nd biggest plane for some time in the 1970’s/1980’s to the B747!
I always hoped Caledonian Airways that got ex BA/BA-Airtours Tristar machines was still around and would have replaced their fleet i feel with A330-300’s! B777-200’s may have been an option if BA still was the owner,passing older B777’s to them as a replacement for a £tag but out on their own they may have gone for today if still around B787’s? A350 i think would be to big for their operations! Great livery ‘back n the day’!
Actually that livery would have looked good on a MD-11 ! Though under BA ownership at that time ,that was never gonna happen! They had 5 or 6 Tristars but i feel only 2 or 3 A330’s or B777’s would have been acquired for their trans-atlantic and Canaries flights! Why? They were always filled up! Tourist class and later in the day they did offer a form of Business class on their few DC-10’s they acquired from BA at Gatwick operations for USA and Caribbean operations! So who knows what be their choice today ! Lots of small A320’s/A321’s i suppose! Though Covid-19 might have killed them off like your Monarchs and Thomas Cooks ,Airtours,Air 2000’s and JMC,Peach,First choice of this world!
UK needs a decent Tourist Airline thats has some stature! All thats left is TUI >ex Brittania and thats on its Knees and Fly2 of Jet 2 crap and Ryan Air ,Easy jet >>> Christ what ‘crap’ to choose from! Bring back Caledonian! Never understood why Virgin Atlantic never did flights to the Canaires out of Gatwick? They would easily fill them as that would be everybody choice and decent size aircraft like a A330!
Lastly,amazed they found a flight engineer that was still operational and licensed to fly still, as thats a 3 man crew??
Cool report ! I had the pleasure of lying on the Tristar over a hundred times. Mostly on TWA JFK-LAX round trips in Ambassador class. Also flew L10s on Delta, BWIA, BA & Eastern. Things I remember most about the L10 was the whine of the engines on takeoff & the wide cabin. And I loved the little elevator that went down to the lower galley. I think the best looking L10 was the Eastern Whisperliner, white. Spotted some celebs on TWA L10s: Courtney Cox (pre Friends, around the time of the ‘Dancing In The Dark’ Springsteen video & Tom Selleck (who was very nice and signed my TWA Royal Ambassador flight menu) on his way from NYC back to Honolulu for Magnum P.I. filming. Selleck was also nice to the flight attendants. He was sitting across from me, middle aisle in first. I heard him mention that when he started filming Magnum that he would usually fly LAX-HNL on Western Airlines.Think that would have been a DC-10.
The L-1011 was a very advanced commercial aircraft known for the “flying tail” design. The aircraft entered service initially with eastern airlines. The aircraft is famously known for a crash in the Florida Everglades and the associated story called “ The Ghost of Flight 401”. I flew the aircraft with TWA in the 1980s.
Hi Sam
Nice to read L1011 Tri-Star story, Iam lucky to have flown this aircraft in Saudia Airlines domestic sector after joining my job in Jeddah in 1995 from India, I believe soon after that all these aircraft were replaced by Boeing 777-200 by SV
Brgds
Siraj
Thanks for finally doing a Tristar report 🙂
Wow Sam, seems like it was a great flight! Fun fact – HS-AXE is actually still preserved in Bangkok as a restaurant in the Chang Chui Market. If you ever go there, there’s a sight to see! This L-1011 is not the only one preserved in it’s entirety outside of the US though – an ex-ANA L-1011 (JA8522/9L-LFB) is currently preserved on a beach in Cotonou, Benin, with an untouched ANA interior and complete cockpit!
If there are any employees of Thai Sky Airlines, L-1011 pilots/engineers/FAs, or just frequent fliers of the L-1011, could you reply/share your experiences below? Anything from highlights, quirks, best/most unusual moments would be great – I’d love to hear more about the 1011!
Dear Sam
My Dad Johnny Send me this link,I’m so happy that you share this airline and the memory that you had ever,I do have the same love with this airline at 2005 ,I was the boy 15 years old ,sometime I do travel with this airline from HKG – BKK ,I never have the chance to take any photo at the moment ,I’m appreciate that you share the greatest memories, good luck for you all the best .