The trident was a satisfactory aircraft; flew on it several times in the 70's. On the trident 2 and trident 3 there was a small Y class non-smoking cabin immediately behind F class in front of the centre door with 3 rows. A very nice quiet place to sit and in those days on BEA/BA European Division at LHR T1 you got to choose your seat on a first come first served basis from a seating plan displayed at the gate (not at check-in) so best get to the gate early for the best choice of seat. As shown in the video, the seats in the first few rows of the rear Y class cabin were rear facing. I found this a very odd experience during take off. The point where the rear facing and forward facing seats meet (I assume at the emergency exit) created a very odd railway style arrangement where you would be facing the other row of passengers. Service was of course good, but don't forget that alcoholic drinks were charged for in Y class in those days, albeit at genuine duty free prices which made then significantly cheaper than the same drink bought in a pub in the UK so of course they sold well. On longer intra-European sectors the hot main courses were served after the tray was served using those long metal tongs. Legroom was satisfactory but of course there was no IFE of any description. For those who are unaware, until March 1981 BA European Division offered First Class on intra-European flights, replacing it with Club Class with the introduction of the Summer 1981 timetable. The abolition of F class and it's replacement with C class also saw a massive reduction in the standard of service in Economy, Y class being re-designated as M (discount) class. Unlike F class, the new C class did not offer lounge access nor did it even offer an empty middle seat like today but was basically a slightly upgraded version of the old Y class service with free champagne, newspapers and hot towels. One thing I did not like about F class on the tridents was that unlike every other airline which had dedicated 2 X 2 seating in F, BEA installed convertible seats which could be used 2 X 2 in F or converted to 3 X 3 in an all Y configuration. When the seats were in F configuration, there were odd bumps in odd places from the conversion and they didn't feel quite right. F class pax got a free guidebook to the destination country and a small bottle of Ma Griffe perfume. There may have been printed menus in F but unlike BOAC there were no printed menu cards in Y on BEA. On longer intra-European sectors the F class meal would consist of a pre-plated starter followed by a hot main course, desert and cheese served from the trolleys and plated at your seat. Table linen, china and glass were used. No hot towels or amenity kits though and certainly no caviar! On UK domestic trunk routes (LHR - BFS/EDI/GLA) very nice full meals were served until catering was abolished following the introduction of the Shuttle in the late 70's. The standard starter for dinner in Y class on EDI-LHR was smoked salmon. Domestic flights were single class Y but passengers could sit in the 2 X 2 configured forward (F) cabin for a small supplement (bookable seat) of I think GBP2.00.
Fantastic slice of history. I remember as a child being taken plane spotting to Heathrow in 1965. Returned home with my BEA & BOAC memoribillia. Shame it got thrown away.
That Trident is one beautiful looking jet liners I've ever seen! Reminds me of the Lockheed TriStar L-1011! And can land itself just like the TriStar! Interesting video, thank you for sharing!
As a child I used to fly to Malta every summer in the school holidays to visit my grandparents in BEA Tridents and Vanguard's .Sometimes flying as Air Malta.
West London Air Terminal is now Sainsbury's in Cromwell Road, with the Point West apartment complex round the back. Tridents used to fly over where I live in SW London in the '70's, and they were bloody noisy!
What an aircraft with confidence inspiring ability, high speed, retro coolness and an unmatched sound. I really wish aircraft as good looking as the classic British airliners were still produced, looks to be forever unparalleled so it seems 😪
I flew from London to Stockholm return on a Trident back in 1977. Great airplane to travel in. Was very impressed with the takeoff speed due to extra thrust from the booster engine.
I rode a BEA Trident with backward seating from Gatwick to Orly in 1973. I noted how the nose gear was off center. I was a world traveler back then, I'm still one today 🙂👍🛫
I am full of admiration for the BAC Trident, being the only aeroplane at the time with Flight Data Recorder, stick shaker stall warning and even stick pusher. Ir's a pity it was not a commercial success, presumably because it was too small, tailor-made for to a BEA specification for European routes.
I was flying on Tridents 1966-1973 and pretty much saw everything that happened in that period, For me the big surprises of the period were: Trident Auto-Take-Offs-&-Landings from-day-one (Big-Shock) with the captains hands closely ghosting the control-column. The American airlines doing 707 & DC8 charter atlantic return night-flights just to keep their aircraft in the air, To me; that was the real introduction of very cheap fares,. And that local/regional airports in the UK were almost never used (no-customs or immigration) there were daily services to beaches in remote parts of Scoland, but I only ever did one service out of Bournemouth in the south of England... Seemingly no-one saw the commercial potential of regional airports... :) Safe-Flying-All :)
I think its political. For some reason British Airways and Heathrow have had a lot of favouritism from Westminster. (Compare this with how British Caledonian and Gatwick have fared). But even more than this, surely to relieve all sorts of congestion in London the answer must be to emphasise the rest of Britain and decentralised activity - including airports.
Your comment about the American airlines doing 707 & DC8 charter atlantic return night-flights to keep their aircraft in the air doesn't really make sense to me as it doesn't fit with normal transatlantic operating patterns and the eastbound flights were normally overnight anyway. The low fares across the atlantic were normally offered by the dedicated charter airlines on the ABC charters. Not quite sure what you mean by local/regional airports but airports such as BHX/MAN/LPL/EDI/PIK/GLA/NCL/SOU/SEN and others certainly did have customs and immigration facilities. Also don't forget also that customs (but not immigration) facilities were needed for flights from the Channel Islands and the ROI.
Lived not far from the Hatfield factory and used to see Tridents fly over every few minutes. Having found out how many they built since, it was most likely the same one!
I love the ATC , imagine going into Heathrow in normal times now . Stacked then stuck in a 30 mile approx queue. I actually despise travelling in & out of there.
Who was the first to initiate transAtlantic flights? It was basically a tie- On 4 October 1958, BOAC started transatlantic flights between London Heathrow and New York Idlewild with a Comet 4, and Pan Am followed on 26 October with a Boeing 707 service between New York and Paris. Of course the 707 was the superior aircraft carrying twice the number of passengers, BOAC replaced the Comet 4 with 707s In October 1956 BOAC ordered 15 Boeing 707s with Conway engines (briefly the most economical commercial engine option). They entered service in 1960. (The British airworthiness authorities insisted on tail-fin modifications which Boeing made available to all 707 users.) Sir Giles Guthrie,who took charge of BOAC in 1964, preferred Boeing aircraft for economic reasons, and indeed BOAC began turning a profit in the late 1960s. After a row in Parliament the government instructed BOAC to purchase 17 Vickers VC10 aircraft from a 30-aircraft order which Guthrie had cancelled. The Standard VC10 had higher operating costs than the 707, largely due to BOAC's requirement at the design stage for the aircraft to have excellent hot and high performance for Commonwealth (African/Asian) routes, but the larger Super VC10 was a success with American passengers on the North Atlantic and was profitable. The next major order of Boeing aircraft was for 11 747-100s. On 22 April 1970 BOAC received its first 747, but the aircraft did not enter commercial service until 14 April 1971 due to BOAC's inability to settle crewing and pay rates with the British Air Line Pilots' Association. BOAC's successor British Airways later became the largest Boeing customer outside North America.
I love these second gen. of aircraft. The Fokker F-28 Fellowship also had the Spey engine. You could hear it crackle and pop at take off. I think it climbed better than the 737-200. I miss those aircraft. Today there are basicly only two aircraft to chose from in the S, M, L and XL catagory.
I remember flying on the Trident from London to Manchester. The seats we were sat in were aft facing. The airliners of today are just boring in comparison. I’ve been lucky enough to fly on most of the classics: Trident/1-11/Viscount/Vanguard/707/DC-8/DC-9 & 10/L-1011/747-100/200/300/727/737-200, to name a few. 👍😉
and runway 28 before the drift to 27... and how did that hideous new T2 win so many awards compared to the old Queen's building??? I dread arriving or leaving the new T2 as you have to cram into those awful lifts. In the old terminal, you just walked out the front!!
Yes, and a shop as well selling airband radios and frequency guides. They also used to make announcements about arrivals before portable airbands became the norm.
I often flew in tridents between london and paris ( orly) and london amsterdam also london newcastle northeast airlines which had just been renamed from bks airtransport.
I flew once on a BA Trident between London and Frankfurt. Just about the most enjoyable flight I have ever had. I had a coach ticket and the flight was overbooked. BA then sat me in 1st class. Very nice. I don't think the American carriers ever did a damn thing for me.
+brazil5657 I fully agrede with you..flew once on a BEA trident in 1977, Geneva-Heathrow..very enjoyable fligt and a colourfuland very tasty foodbox..sure beats todays BA A319 and 320 and the trash for catering being offered today..
Right, ( wrong ) I have flown in first class on many U.S. airlines due to overbooking. Do you really think only British airlines treat passengers nicely?
Toyota1949 : I had a girlfriend who was an Air Hostess for British Airways and she said ANY Economy Class Passenger who dressed smartly with a suit would be invited to a free upgrade to First Class if there were any vacant seats.....apparently it still happens to this present day.
Of all the people tearing down the Trident in the comments, I wonder how many of them even got a chance to fly it? Personally, my favorite was the Boeing 720B, and I liked the DC-9 very much, but I would have liked to have at least had a chance to try the Trident. Now they're gone. Nothing that they're making now is interesting or exciting in the least, in any way whatsoever.
Yes the Brits built fine aircraft, BUT the government was in control telling the airlines what they could buy and what the builders could build. Often this meant unreal delays and aircraft that were too small or underpowered or both as in Trident’s case.
Once again the govt got involved, shrunk the Aircraft to being smaller than the Boeing 727 .Also the engine selection had politicians involved. The plane was noisy. I just wonder what would have happened if they used Pratt & Whitney engines and used a simpler & cheaper autopilot with Autoland as an option. In other words a basic aircraft like the 727, not that the 727 was simple, but many potential customers did not need Autoland.I am guessing a lot here but it appears that the British Airline Industry just made aircraft that the market did not want!Reg Ansett gave a resounding No to this aircraft in Australia. In those days the Govt owned airline was supposed to run the same aircraft so TAA was forced to buy 727's as well.I don't believe that decision was ever a disappointment.
lewstone1934 Not all airports have ILS however the main reason is separation at busy airports. In poor visibility conditions the ATC will increase the gap between aircraft landing. Obviously this has also knock on effect with the theory amount of aircraft they airport can handle so flights already cancelled.
The off center nose gear is because of the large sized automatic landing equipment located beneath the cockpit floor. Very unique to Trident. Trident was first autoland capable jetliner but only 117 were produced.
I was born that year what a difference compared with now then a feeling of optimism and progress now doom and gloom and you have to be careful what you do a hi viz and risk assessment to change a toilet roll
Tri-jet with 4 engines ... they don't make many of those anymore! Alas, never had the chance to fly on one. And how about that Rolls-Royce Spey engine ... originally designed for the Trident but it went on to power many more civil and military aircraft, not to mention marine and industrial applications!
These types of film show how shockingly low we've stooped in the UK. Dress, attitudes, politeness, it's all gone so far south it's dropped off the map. It's enough to make a gorilla weep.
You became wht you imported .... and allowed to import! Where were the masses when Enoch sounded the alarm? Ah yeah, they wer watching John & Yoko´s genitals!
Incredible that they used the crappy old Le Bourget airport into the Jet age?? like BEA tridents would have flown to Croyodon-airport or SASDC-8S would have landed at Bromma-airport..these airports were already antiquated in the mid-1960S..
MHG1023 Yes CDG was built in 1974 or should I say finished..however Orly existed which was for that time very modern..Le Bourget was an outdated airport for the Jet Age...
Living near Manchester airport. Tridents were freakin' awful...Along with the 1-11's. Ear splittingly noisy and belched out black smoke....Glad when they got rid! Evil Machines!
We may not be in the forefront of passenger jet manufacturing but we made it a whole lot safer. Stick that in ya pipes Boeing! Pity BOAC were suckered into buying Boeing. We were in the forefront of aviation but unlike the competition all funding was private. No government/tax payers money back then. We had some fantastic aircraft.
Yup, here we go again, our airplane was "vastly superior" to anything Boeing had, PITY we only sold 12 and only to BOAC. 727s were workhorses all over the globe and some are still flying today! BOAC needed an airplane that could actually generate a profit= BOEING!
@@charlesjones6487 BOEING had advantage of resources/man power from other US aerospace companies and engine makers vs smaller British aerospace companies .
They might have sold a few more if they didn't make it just to BEA specs it was under powerd and smaller than the 727 to much control of development by British government
The underpowered Trident makes me think of the opposite end of the spectrum. The Tupolev Tu-154 was overpowered for its job as a civilian airliner. That was because it was designed to be quickly converted into a troop carrier and had to operate on grass fields. That required a lot power and the Tu-154 had incredible climb performance.
Why don’t pilots use Autoland all the time? Or Why can’t pilots use Autoland in any visibility no matter how bad or below minimums? (Collected answers) There are a number of reasons why pilot don't use autoland all the time, even if the airport and aircraft are equipped with the right equipment. To name the two most important ones: Pilots need to practise their flying technique. If they would always fly autopilot, they would lose the skills to fly. Skills that they need when the autopilot does fail. There are phases of flight where it is better or even required to let the autopilot do its job, but landing is one the things pilot are allowed to and need to be capable of doing themselves. Of course autoland needs to be practised as well. Auto land requires very accurate ILS guidance. Even if the airport is equipped with calibrated ILS Cat IIIb equipment (required for autoland), the signals will be degraded by traffic that is operating near the ILS antennas. Under low visibility circumstances, when pilots cannot land visually, traffic spacing is increased and ground vehicles are not allowed anywhere near the ILS antennas to ensure the best possible signal quality. This is a standard part of the Low Visibility Procedures (LVP) of all airports. The downside of this is that the capacity of the airport is reduced. If autoland would be performed while there is no ILS signal protection, the effects can be spectacular at best or fatal at worst. Other Considerations Autoland is typically only used when it absolute has to, which means when the weather dictates or when it needs to be used for currency requirements. ATC doesn't care if you are going to do one, but I have heard guys give courtesy calls to the tower letting them know they'd be autolanding. The biggest pain with autoland is that it is a monitored approach. My only experience with those are in Category II ILS approaches (though my aircraft did not have autoland capability). Monitored approaches are higher workload and are briefed and flown differently than normal approaches*. As noted by another answer, when you are going to fly an ILS to cat II or III minimums, the ground controllers need to be protecting the ILS critical areas to guarantee the glideslope quality if you are going to follow it below cat I minimums. This may require coordination with the tower controller. Other pilots I've asked about autolands in Boeing widebody aircraft have all told me some variation of not liking to autoland unless they have to do one per company procedures. Whoa Boy landings There is a percieved public belief that autolands are safer (and better?) than manual landings, neither of which I believe to be true. ‘Better’ is a subjective quality, though I certainly pride myself to achieve smoother touchdowns than an autoland, the reality is an autoland is always rougher and more violent than the worst manual landing by any rookie pilot. In fact, it’s quite an insider joke to tell the cabin crew it was an autoland and blame it on the machine whenever I have a bad manual landing.The word ‘positive landing’ was on the engineer’s minds.
soaringtractor you know the reason. Do you?. Perhaps using political influence dominate the market?. I am sure if the Trident had been american it would have been a bestseller.
Fran Camino the reason is we never sufficiently produced in great numbers we preferred to start in small numbers so the aircraft were more expensive, this can be shown when Howard Hughs looked at the Bristol Britannia, he loved it and immediately ordered a large amount to be delivered very soon, the builder said he couldn't have them for three years and not that many, so he cancelled and ordered an american aircraft.
Built by a division of the then Hawker Siddley, previously de Havilland, which after the disastrous Comet 1 didn't have a good reputation. de Havilland offered to develop the Trident with Boeing. After seeing the proposal Boeing realized it could use the 707 fuselage to develop the 727. BEA then forced HS to reduce the size of it's Trident which was deemed to small by other airlines. The 727 was closer to the original HS Trident proposal and won the market.
USA had a mega plants producing 1000s PLUS of aircratfs of various kinds all over USA . England could not complete against this grand scale of the USA.
@@amuxpatch2798 I wish you people on here that submit your replies express correct analogy and make sense of what you are trying to say, I do not understand what you mean...
The trident was a satisfactory aircraft; flew on it several times in the 70's. On the trident 2 and trident 3 there was a small Y class non-smoking cabin immediately behind F class in front of the centre door with 3 rows. A very nice quiet place to sit and in those days on BEA/BA European Division at LHR T1 you got to choose your seat on a first come first served basis from a seating plan displayed at the gate (not at check-in) so best get to the gate early for the best choice of seat.
As shown in the video, the seats in the first few rows of the rear Y class cabin were rear facing. I found this a very odd experience during take off. The point where the rear facing and forward facing seats meet (I assume at the emergency exit) created a very odd railway style arrangement where you would be facing the other row of passengers.
Service was of course good, but don't forget that alcoholic drinks were charged for in Y class in those days, albeit at genuine duty free prices which made then significantly cheaper than the same drink bought in a pub in the UK so of course they sold well. On longer intra-European sectors the hot main courses were served after the tray was served using those long metal tongs. Legroom was satisfactory but of course there was no IFE of any description.
For those who are unaware, until March 1981 BA European Division offered First Class on intra-European flights, replacing it with Club Class with the introduction of the Summer 1981 timetable. The abolition of F class and it's replacement with C class also saw a massive reduction in the standard of service in Economy, Y class being re-designated as M (discount) class. Unlike F class, the new C class did not offer lounge access nor did it even offer an empty middle seat like today but was basically a slightly upgraded version of the old Y class service with free champagne, newspapers and hot towels.
One thing I did not like about F class on the tridents was that unlike every other airline which had dedicated 2 X 2 seating in F, BEA installed convertible seats which could be used 2 X 2 in F or converted to 3 X 3 in an all Y configuration. When the seats were in F configuration, there were odd bumps in odd places from the conversion and they didn't feel quite right. F class pax got a free guidebook to the destination country and a small bottle of Ma Griffe perfume. There may have been printed menus in F but unlike BOAC there were no printed menu cards in Y on BEA. On longer intra-European sectors the F class meal would consist of a pre-plated starter followed by a hot main course, desert and cheese served from the trolleys and plated at your seat. Table linen, china and glass were used. No hot towels or amenity kits though and certainly no caviar!
On UK domestic trunk routes (LHR - BFS/EDI/GLA) very nice full meals were served until catering was abolished following the introduction of the Shuttle in the late 70's. The standard starter for dinner in Y class on EDI-LHR was smoked salmon. Domestic flights were single class Y but passengers could sit in the 2 X 2 configured forward (F) cabin for a small supplement (bookable seat) of I think GBP2.00.
Fantastic slice of history. I remember as a child being taken plane spotting to Heathrow in 1965. Returned home with my BEA & BOAC memoribillia. Shame it got thrown away.
I used to fly on these regularly when i was a kid, mostly between Manchester and Heathrow.
That Trident is one beautiful looking jet liners I've ever seen! Reminds me of the Lockheed TriStar L-1011! And can land itself just like the TriStar! Interesting video, thank you for sharing!
Years ahead of its time !!
The Trident ,a machine that converted fuel into noise !
bermudarailway IDIOT
bermudarailway : Have you heard a BAC 1-11 take off ? I used to fly in these as a kid ....fantastic aircraft.
@@Biggles2498 Then came Yankee 727 planes in the scene and knocked out BAC aircrafts out of competition.LOL
i realize it's pretty off topic but does anyone know of a good place to watch new movies online?
@Elliott Braylon i would suggest Flixzone. You can find it on google =)
As a child I used to fly to Malta every summer in the school holidays to visit my grandparents in BEA Tridents and Vanguard's .Sometimes flying as Air Malta.
What a cool bus at 10:30 ! . The autoland is amazing.
West London Air Terminal is now Sainsbury's in Cromwell Road, with the Point West apartment complex round the back. Tridents used to fly over where I live in SW London in the '70's, and they were bloody noisy!
Fantastic film. Fascinating glimpse of late 1960s cutting edge technology too. I am in Nerd Heaven. (PS I was 11 in 1977 too!!!)
I flew on a trident in 1977 Heathrow to Dublin ,I was only 11 and really impressed.
MrLetmein2011 The Vickers VC 10 was another marvel of British engineering!
I remember flying on this bird to Paris from LHR in 73 .. it was quite unique as i recall that and Concorde
Flew on Concorde as well - fabulous
What an aircraft with confidence inspiring ability, high speed, retro coolness and an unmatched sound. I really wish aircraft as good looking as the classic British airliners were still produced, looks to be forever unparalleled so it seems 😪
British aircraft couldn't compete with Boeing.
Noisy, inefficient and polluting. They served their purpose at the time, but as with everything, they were replaced by better technology.
@@rayjames6096 - They could not only compete, they were in many ways superior.
Was lucky enough to be in the RAF in 1974-86 flew on the Trident, Tristar and Brittania several times between postings. Ah memories!
I flew from London to Stockholm return on a Trident back in 1977. Great airplane to travel in. Was very impressed with the takeoff speed due to extra thrust from the booster engine.
I rode a BEA Trident with backward seating from Gatwick to Orly in 1973. I noted how the nose gear was off center.
I was a world traveler back then, I'm still one today 🙂👍🛫
I am full of admiration for the BAC Trident, being the only aeroplane at the time with Flight Data Recorder, stick shaker stall warning and even stick pusher. Ir's a pity it was not a commercial success, presumably because it was too small, tailor-made for to a BEA specification for European routes.
Don't you mean Hawker Siddeley ?
Actually it is a De Havilland design. Hawker siddley took it over when the company merged.
I was flying on Tridents 1966-1973 and pretty much saw everything that happened in that period, For me the big surprises of the period were: Trident Auto-Take-Offs-&-Landings from-day-one (Big-Shock) with the captains hands closely ghosting the control-column. The American airlines doing 707 & DC8 charter atlantic return night-flights just to keep their aircraft in the air, To me; that was the real introduction of very cheap fares,. And that local/regional airports in the UK were almost never used (no-customs or immigration) there were daily services to beaches in remote parts of Scoland, but I only ever did one service out of Bournemouth in the south of England... Seemingly no-one saw the commercial potential of regional airports... :) Safe-Flying-All :)
I think its political. For some reason British Airways and Heathrow have had a lot of favouritism from Westminster. (Compare this with how British Caledonian and Gatwick have fared). But even more than this, surely to relieve all sorts of congestion in London the answer must be to emphasise the rest of Britain and decentralised activity - including airports.
Your comment about the American airlines doing 707 & DC8 charter atlantic return night-flights to keep their aircraft in the air doesn't really make sense to me as it doesn't fit with normal transatlantic operating patterns and the eastbound flights were normally overnight anyway. The low fares across the atlantic were normally offered by the dedicated charter airlines on the ABC charters.
Not quite sure what you mean by local/regional airports but airports such as BHX/MAN/LPL/EDI/PIK/GLA/NCL/SOU/SEN and others certainly did have customs and immigration facilities. Also don't forget also that customs (but not immigration) facilities were needed for flights from the Channel Islands and the ROI.
I believe it was the first airliner capable of autoland to CAT3 minimums....way ahead of it's time
Lived not far from the Hatfield factory and used to see Tridents fly over every few minutes. Having found out how many they built since, it was most likely the same one!
I love the ATC , imagine going into Heathrow in normal times now . Stacked then stuck in a 30 mile approx queue. I actually despise travelling in & out of there.
I flew on G-ARPM, a Trident 1 from Dublin to Heathrow back in 1974 when I was 12.
News tended to focus on the positives in those days whereas today's news is super negative.
English airline colour schemes were so classy!
The British (BOAC & BEA) pioneered jet travel; America (Pan Am) made it affordable.
Great video. Thanks.
Pan Am did pioneer jet travel and made it affordable with the Boeing 707.
Not quite, Robert Milton. Pan Am's first revenue jet flight came 6 years after BOAC's and two years after Aeroflot's.
Russia's Aeroflot was first!
GRL all
Bea
Not really dude ..The real jet travel started in 1958 with Pan Am putting the 707 in service ..NY-LONDON-PARIS-FRANKFURT-ROME all non stop..
Inspector Clouseau ATC at approx 13 min - great video
😁...🕵🏻♂️
Who was the first to initiate transAtlantic flights? It was basically a tie-
On 4 October 1958, BOAC started transatlantic flights between London Heathrow and New York Idlewild with a Comet 4, and Pan Am followed on 26 October with a Boeing 707 service between New York and Paris. Of course the 707 was the superior aircraft carrying twice the number of passengers, BOAC replaced the Comet 4 with 707s
In October 1956 BOAC ordered 15 Boeing 707s with Conway engines (briefly the most economical commercial engine option). They entered service in 1960. (The British airworthiness authorities insisted on tail-fin modifications which Boeing made available to all 707 users.) Sir Giles Guthrie,who took charge of BOAC in 1964, preferred Boeing aircraft for economic reasons, and indeed BOAC began turning a profit in the late 1960s. After a row in Parliament the government instructed BOAC to purchase 17 Vickers VC10 aircraft from a 30-aircraft order which Guthrie had cancelled. The Standard VC10 had higher operating costs than the 707, largely due to BOAC's requirement at the design stage for the aircraft to have excellent hot and high performance for Commonwealth (African/Asian) routes, but the larger Super VC10 was a success with American passengers on the North Atlantic and was profitable.
The next major order of Boeing aircraft was for 11 747-100s. On 22 April 1970 BOAC received its first 747, but the aircraft did not enter commercial service until 14 April 1971 due to BOAC's inability to settle crewing and pay rates with the British Air Line Pilots' Association. BOAC's successor British Airways later became the largest Boeing customer outside North America.
"People in their care"... Those were the days. When Air Travel was an event.
Excellent film. Thanks for posting. Cheers.
I love these second gen. of aircraft. The Fokker F-28 Fellowship also had the Spey engine. You could hear it crackle and pop at take off. I think it climbed better than the 737-200. I miss those aircraft. Today there are basicly only two aircraft to chose from in the S, M, L and XL catagory.
60s Technology so advanced for that time.
I remember flying on the Trident from London to Manchester. The seats we were sat in were aft facing. The airliners of today are just boring in comparison. I’ve been lucky enough to fly on most of the classics: Trident/1-11/Viscount/Vanguard/707/DC-8/DC-9 & 10/L-1011/747-100/200/300/727/737-200, to name a few. 👍😉
Wow....back then that's a novelty..."Auto Landing"
edgar95035 trident pioneered autoland
Cool. 118.2FM. Remember that from my plane spotting days at Queens Bldg at LHR.
and runway 28 before the drift to 27... and how did that hideous new T2 win so many awards compared to the old Queen's building??? I dread arriving or leaving the new T2 as you have to cram into those awful lifts. In the old terminal, you just walked out the front!!
Wasn't there a canteen somewhere up there? I remember eating oxtail soup (HAHA) and watching planes in 1971
Yes, and a shop as well selling airband radios and frequency guides. They also used to make announcements about arrivals before portable airbands became the norm.
I often flew in tridents between london and paris ( orly) and london amsterdam also london newcastle northeast airlines which had just been renamed from bks airtransport.
thanks for uploading
I love the 0 shaped window of the aircraft
The trident imo is actually quite a great plane to fly short routes quickly but it’s difficult to fly it
What a technology 50 years ago!!
Better without mcas.
I flew once on a BA Trident between London and Frankfurt. Just about the most enjoyable flight I have ever had. I had a coach ticket and the flight was overbooked. BA then sat me in 1st class. Very nice. I don't think the American carriers ever did a damn thing for me.
+brazil5657 I fully agrede with you..flew once on a BEA trident in 1977, Geneva-Heathrow..very enjoyable fligt and a colourfuland very tasty foodbox..sure beats todays BA A319 and 320 and the trash for catering being offered today..
Right, ( wrong ) I have flown in first class on many U.S. airlines due to overbooking. Do you really think only British airlines treat passengers nicely?
The Brits have much to be proud of. Naked tribalism isn't among them.
Toyota1949 : I had a girlfriend who was an Air Hostess for British Airways and she said ANY Economy Class Passenger who dressed smartly with a suit would be invited to a free upgrade to First Class if there were any vacant seats.....apparently it still happens to this present day.
@@Biggles2498 does that include thongs ,t shirt ,track pants,design label jeans ( new norm dress), lol
Of all the people tearing down the Trident in the comments, I wonder how many of them even got a chance to fly it?
Personally, my favorite was the Boeing 720B, and I liked the DC-9 very much, but I would have liked to have at least had a chance to try the Trident. Now they're gone.
Nothing that they're making now is interesting or exciting in the least, in any way whatsoever.
Yes the Brits built fine aircraft, BUT the government was in control telling the airlines what they could buy and what the builders could build. Often this meant unreal delays and aircraft that were too small or underpowered or both as in Trident’s case.
“Flight to Zurich leaves in one minute. This is the final call.“ I wonder who still made it.
thanks for this
Once again the govt got involved, shrunk the Aircraft to being smaller than the Boeing 727 .Also the engine selection had politicians involved. The plane was noisy. I just wonder what would have happened if they used Pratt & Whitney engines and used a simpler & cheaper autopilot with Autoland as an option. In other words a basic aircraft like the 727, not that the 727 was simple, but many potential customers did not need Autoland.I am guessing a lot here but it appears that the British Airline Industry just made aircraft that the market did not want!Reg Ansett gave a resounding No to this aircraft in Australia. In those days the Govt owned airline was supposed to run the same aircraft so TAA was forced to buy 727's as well.I don't believe that decision was ever a disappointment.
The trijet that needed four engines.
Yes, it suffered from low thrust... it needed a booster engine. Bit of a dog, performance-wise.
Britain leading the world
Nice video! thanks for upload!
If this tech was available in 1968 - why is it that fog still grounds aircraft in 2017?
lewstone1934 try a few years earlier. Yes it's that old.
lewstone1934 Not all airports have ILS however the main reason is separation at busy airports. In poor visibility conditions the ATC will increase the gap between aircraft landing. Obviously this has also knock on effect with the theory amount of aircraft they airport can handle so flights already cancelled.
Because we fly American planes! Thanks to some dodgy goings on.
Safety from CAA : We have become a Nation of "snowflakes" !
The off center nose gear is because of the large sized automatic landing equipment located beneath the cockpit floor. Very unique to Trident.
Trident was first autoland capable jetliner but only 117 were produced.
I was born that year what a difference compared with now then a feeling of optimism and progress now doom and gloom and you have to be careful what you do a hi viz and risk assessment to change a toilet roll
Yayyy Another great vid - Thanks again mate.
A foggy day in London Town - my Trident plane is touching down.....
I didn't realise that the nose wheel was so "offset" of the centreline ie to the left !
Apparently, this was to provide space for the Autoland equipment.
Say what you will, but at that time, commercial aircraft still had a certain character-did they?
Tri-jet with 4 engines ... they don't make many of those anymore! Alas, never had the chance to fly on one. And how about that Rolls-Royce Spey engine ... originally designed for the Trident but it went on to power many more civil and military aircraft, not to mention marine and industrial applications!
I wonder if they still use auto land
Category 3 Landings ?
These types of film show how shockingly low we've stooped in the UK. Dress, attitudes, politeness, it's all gone so far south it's dropped off the map. It's enough to make a gorilla weep.
You became wht you imported .... and allowed to import! Where were the masses when Enoch sounded the alarm? Ah yeah, they wer watching John & Yoko´s genitals!
What a stupid comment. The only people in this film were relatively rich and privileged. Ordinary people couldn't afford to fly.
oh those were the days!!
Back in the days when London was always foggy
So was Edinburgh,one Captain even complained to Midlothian District Council for the man made "smog" many years ago.
Can't explain why it was always foggy- a real "mist"ery
British and french are revolutionary hats off
Bizzare that the British had the ability to manufacture aircraft like this and never had the ability for whatever reason to sell them .
Bruce Burns politics.
Incredible that they used the crappy old Le Bourget airport into the Jet age?? like BEA tridents would have flown to Croyodon-airport or SASDC-8S would have landed at Bromma-airport..these airports were already antiquated in the mid-1960S..
am1966ath
Simply because CDG was not yet built ...
MHG1023
Yes CDG was built in 1974 or should I say finished..however Orly existed which was for that time very modern..Le Bourget was an outdated airport for the Jet Age...
BEA, and then BA, flew to both Le Bourget AND Orly in the early to mid 70s. Only when CDG opened were the flights switched from LBG.
great the captain giving his little talk and staring at the camera while the airplane lands itself....what if............
Back then did pilots really just say "roger" instead of a readback?
I flew one of these beauties in the day about 1972, b4 BEA/British Airways merged
from LHR-CDG....
Wow, you must have known the BA548 crew, so sad.
727 may have done better, but the Trident looked much nicer!
Don't forget the 'waiting wife' lol
Flew often on the Trident.
Living near Manchester airport. Tridents were freakin' awful...Along with the 1-11's.
Ear splittingly noisy and belched out black smoke....Glad when they got rid! Evil Machines!
Those were Rolls Royce Speys, revolutionary for the time. 12,000 pounds of thrust. They were powerhouses.
Powerhouses unable to provide the required thrust for the Trident which had to use the entire runway to the last meter to get airborne !!!
Just not for the Trident nor 1-11.
69Phuket Poor little snowflake. Such behaviour sabotaged many a brilliant idea.
barracuda7018 Takeoff is one thing, cruise speed is another. She was a rocket once airborne. Any more spurious reasons for your anglophobia?
How many of those women passengers are called "MIster air traveller" or are concerned about "the waiting wife"...
Hello, would it be ok to use this video on in my trident overview?
thanks for you time ~ shaun
Hi Shaun, thanks for writing; sure I think that's perfectly fine. Would appreciate a link back to my channel, and would like to see your vid as well!
@@mcdonnell220 Okay, thank you!
A totally different Britain
The Paris-London & London-Paris route is a milkroute..its not exactly the Kangoroo-route and by this time(mid 1960S) it was indeed very banal..
The off set nose wheel annoys the hell out of me 🤣
Nicholas : What about "offset" Cockpit Canopies for Fleet Air Arm Aircraft on Aircraft Carriers in the 1960's ?
We may not be in the forefront of passenger jet manufacturing but we made it a whole lot safer. Stick that in ya pipes Boeing! Pity BOAC were suckered into buying Boeing. We were in the forefront of aviation but unlike the competition all funding was private. No government/tax payers money back then. We had some fantastic aircraft.
Yup, here we go again, our airplane was "vastly superior" to anything Boeing had, PITY we only sold 12 and only to BOAC. 727s were workhorses all over the globe and some are still flying today! BOAC needed an airplane that could actually generate a profit= BOEING!
@@charlesjones6487 BOEING had advantage of resources/man power from other US aerospace companies and engine makers vs smaller British aerospace companies .
Every 2 mins one would scream over house till one crashed in Staines
1972
I loved: the real jet were British! ( I am Italian I can say it).
They might have sold a few more if they didn't make it just to BEA specs it was under powerd and smaller than the 727 to much control of development by British government
The underpowered Trident makes me think of the opposite end of the spectrum. The Tupolev Tu-154 was overpowered for its job as a civilian airliner. That was because it was designed to be quickly converted into a troop carrier and had to operate on grass fields. That required a lot power and the Tu-154 had incredible climb performance.
Better than max8
16/9 is suspicious
Why don’t pilots use Autoland all the time? Or Why can’t pilots use Autoland in any visibility no matter how bad or below minimums? (Collected answers)
There are a number of reasons why pilot don't use autoland all the time, even if the airport and aircraft are equipped with the right equipment.
To name the two most important ones:
Pilots need to practise their flying technique. If they would always fly autopilot, they would lose the skills to fly. Skills that they need when the autopilot does fail. There are phases of flight where it is better or even required to let the autopilot do its job, but landing is one the things pilot are allowed to and need to be capable of doing themselves. Of course autoland needs to be practised as well.
Auto land requires very accurate ILS guidance. Even if the airport is equipped with calibrated ILS Cat IIIb equipment (required for autoland), the signals will be degraded by traffic that is operating near the ILS antennas. Under low visibility circumstances, when pilots cannot land visually, traffic spacing is increased and ground vehicles are not allowed anywhere near the ILS antennas to ensure the best possible signal quality. This is a standard part of the Low Visibility Procedures (LVP) of all airports. The downside of this is that the capacity of the airport is reduced. If autoland would be performed while there is no ILS signal protection, the effects can be spectacular at best or fatal at worst.
Other Considerations
Autoland is typically only used when it absolute has to, which means when the weather dictates or when it needs to be used for currency requirements. ATC doesn't care if you are going to do one, but I have heard guys give courtesy calls to the tower letting them know they'd be autolanding.
The biggest pain with autoland is that it is a monitored approach. My only experience with those are in Category II ILS approaches (though my aircraft did not have autoland capability). Monitored approaches are higher workload and are briefed and flown differently than normal approaches*. As noted by another answer, when you are going to fly an ILS to cat II or III minimums, the ground controllers need to be protecting the ILS critical areas to guarantee the glideslope quality if you are going to follow it below cat I minimums. This may require coordination with the tower controller.
Other pilots I've asked about autolands in Boeing widebody aircraft have all told me some variation of not liking to autoland unless they have to do one per company procedures.
Whoa Boy landings
There is a percieved public belief that autolands are safer (and better?) than manual landings, neither of which I believe to be true.
‘Better’ is a subjective quality, though I certainly pride myself to achieve smoother touchdowns than an autoland, the reality is an autoland is always rougher and more violent than the worst manual landing by any rookie pilot. In fact, it’s quite an insider joke to tell the cabin crew it was an autoland and blame it on the machine whenever I have a bad manual landing.The word ‘positive landing’ was on the engineer’s minds.
I am sure that if Americans had invented it, it would have be a world best seller.
soaringtractor you know the reason. Do you?. Perhaps using political influence dominate the market?. I am sure if the Trident had been american it would have been a bestseller.
Fran Camino the reason is we never sufficiently produced in great numbers we preferred to start in small numbers so the aircraft were more expensive, this can be shown when Howard Hughs looked at the Bristol Britannia, he loved it and immediately ordered a large amount to be delivered very soon, the builder said he couldn't have them for three years and not that many, so he cancelled and ordered an american aircraft.
+Fran Camino They did! called it the 727.
Built by a division of the then Hawker Siddley, previously de Havilland, which after the disastrous Comet 1 didn't have a good reputation. de Havilland offered to develop the Trident with Boeing. After seeing the proposal Boeing realized it could use the 707 fuselage to develop the 727. BEA then forced HS to reduce the size of it's Trident which was deemed to small by other airlines. The 727 was closer to the original HS Trident proposal and won the market.
USA had a mega plants producing 1000s PLUS of aircratfs of various kinds all over USA . England could not complete against this grand scale of the USA.
Haha @ late 1960's technology
This was a period when England was great without the influx of foreigners....
England was a outdated country ,thank GOD for USA for modernizing the world economy and the default of the US dollar over crappy pound.
@@amuxpatch2798 I wish you people on here that submit your replies express correct analogy and make sense of what you are trying to say, I do not understand what you mean...
Take your racist crap somewhere else.
@@amuxpatch2798 Thanks, Mister Trump.
The Trident could have been a world beater, BEA ruined it's potential.
Search: 'RED ONE TO LONDON' Thames Television Documentary 1973 Restored 2024