Hawker Siddeley Trident 3. Who needs RATO.

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bumpywigs@reddit

Story was it’s cutting edge auto landing was so good it would land perfect centre on the painted lines and be uncomfortable for the passengers as it bounced along

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psunavy03@reddit

That sounds more like an oleo/tire pressurization problem than an autoland problem TBH . . .

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badpuffthaikitty@reddit (OP)

I love watching the video of an F-16 gently landing on an airstrip followed by an F-18 slamming into the runway just after. Quite the difference in landing techniques.

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badpuffthaikitty@reddit (OP)

It made room for a cargo loading door.

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doabarrelroll69@reddit

It made room for a cargo loading door.

Wasn't it because of the avionics? The auto land system took up a lot of space so they offset the front gear because of that.

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Pulse-Doppler13@reddit

Leave it to the british to name an aircraft Trident 3 and give it 4 engines

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FruitOrchards@reddit

Auxiliary power unit would like a word

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That's not an APU exhaust, the lower exhaust is for the 3rd turbofan engine (similar setup to the B727) and the upper is for an RB162 turbojet used for thrust augmentation on takeoff, with the air intake being the door at the front of the pod (which was on both sides).

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FruitOrchards@reddit

Interesting, apparently it added 5% weight but added 15% more thrust. Wonder how fast it could have gone if left on during flight.

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ctesibius@reddit

It was a lightweight jet designed for short periods of use for VTOL, so it wasn't realistic to keep it on during cruise.

Btw, the earlier Trident 2 had water injection, though apparently this was to allow take-off in higher temperatures rather than to augment power for normal take-off.

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TheMachman@reddit

To elaborate on your point, the engine also had no throttle of its own; there was a control to select whether or not it would be used and, if it was selected, the engine would start at full power once the main engines were throttled up. It would run like that for about a minute then cut out.

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KokoTheTalkingApe@reddit

That's interesting. I wonder how much it added to the cost?

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Melech333@reddit

This was only on the latest, largest version of the Trident. Apparently the ones before still had just 3 engines.

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Techn028@reddit

Using a turbo jet for thrust augmentation, when turbojets suffer the most at takeoff because they rely heavily on ram pressure recovery...

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ctesibius@reddit

This engine was designed for VTOL, not cruising speed.

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mawzthefinn@reddit

To be fair, they named it first and added the 4th engine some years later.

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algarhythms@reddit

Trident's nose wheel always cracked me up. Like they forgot about it in the design process and had to slap that together the night before roll-out

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electriclux@reddit

Just imagine the honking gaitling gun you could fit in this thing

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ctesibius@reddit

Well, they fitted Sidewinders to the Comet 4 to make it in to an interceptor.

(Ok, it was the Nimrod MRA, based on the Comet 4, but it was designed from the start with the wiring for missiles. And no, when they fitted the missiles, it wasn't for defence).

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sbisson@reddit

That was for the space needed for the CAT III autoland equipment. It was one of the first aircraft rated for it...

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KokoTheTalkingApe@reddit

So I'm reading that the autoland sort of self-lands the plane in bad weather? Why does it need so much space under the nose?

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JustChakra@reddit

Electronics in the 60s and 70s were.... bulky, to say the least. A small computer chip of today is equivalent to a room-size computer of that time.

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Stenthal@reddit

Avionics are still bulkier than you'd expect. I once watched a video tour of the avionics compartment under the cockpit of an A350, and it looks like a miniature data center.

I'm not sure if this was the video, but it's close enough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAf1SePrKLc

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JustChakra@reddit

Still, my point still stands. The A350 is one of the most advanced aircraft flying currently. Whatever the A350's computers are processing would require a 60s-70s computer the size of a big hall.

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SubcommanderMarcos@reddit

Also the A350 prototype first flew 12 years ago, after at least 6 in development. Electronics in general advance much faster than civil aviation development, by the time a plane hits the market its electronics are 'outdated' compared to other industries, and models are 'stuck' with the same computers for their entire life cycle.

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workahol_@reddit

Literally JATO

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superuser726@reddit

Aren't all takeoffs for airliners that?

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psunavy03@reddit

Looking at the upvotes, the "ackschyually" crowd outnumbers the people who actually got the joke.

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mawzthefinn@reddit

No, the Trident 3B had a 4th engine specifically for additional takeoff thrust, not used for anything else.

So 3 turbofans for power and 1 turbojet for takeoff assist.

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FletcherCommaIrwin@reddit

If not already posted, Paul Stewart posted a Trident video a few weeks back.

*Not affiliated at all, just enjoy the informational videos he posts.

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Dangerous-Salad-bowl@reddit

I was on a flight from London to Belfast back in the day, soon after takeoff the seal on the nearby door started making farty squealy noises. A flight attendant fixed it by jamming a damp J-Cloth into to the gap with her toe. It worked fine after that.

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vonHindenburg@reddit

There's an old Robert Heinlein story about a reporter interviewing lunar miners where a sudden quake cuts off their section of a tunnel which begins to depressurize through a small crack and they're saved by a guy with the nickname of 'Fatty' who applies his bare ham to the spot in question, but then soon falls unconscious due to exanguination through the small area of skin.

This is now a proverbial story of how a leak in a large space station really isn't that big of a deal.

A small leak in a passenger plane is similar. If it can be shown that the leak is not a precursor of anything more dramatic, it's not a concern. The pressure is constantly renewed anyways.

Kudos to that stewardess for dealing with the matter in a calm and non-disruptive manner.

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Dangerous-Salad-bowl@reddit

Yes, she was definitely "oh that again". A non-event.

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KJ_is_a_doomer@reddit

So it's the VC-10, Il-62 and Jetstar's hidden brother?

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mariegriffiths@reddit

Ive been on a Trident, VC-10 and a Comet

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toaster404@reddit

The last time I recall seeing a Trident was this one: British European Airways Flight 548 - Wikipedia We drove by the field where folks were still picking up pieces of the aircraft. The beautiful tail section tilted in the field, so much small debris, so sad. Gorgeous aircraft

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