Lockheed Electra L188-C Era


































Lockheed Electra L188-C


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THIS IS ONE OF THREE RECENT YouTube VIDEOS



ALL VIDEOS ARE BEST VIEWED IN FULLSCREEN MODE


Published on 19 Mar 2015
Film from the Lockheed Archives. Another Electra promo film, this one showcases many of the aircraft's features, including internal systems, power plants, etc. Neat scenes around Burbank Airport, and test flying as well. One of the better airliner promo films. 

Published on 19 Mar 2015
Film from the Lockheed Archives. Another neat Electra promo, this one focuses on the Allison 501-D13 turboprop power plant. Great scenes of early C-130s with blunt noses and three bladed props, plus VERY RARE footage of the Turbo Connie Conversions.

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Click this link for one Flight Engineer's detailed perspective of our  Lockheed L188C Electra era


CLICK HIGHLIHTED LINK BELOW TO VIEW








On page 23.... Note the Flight Engineer's pay scale back in 1964









CLICK HERE TO VIEW GARY SOMMERVILLE'S TRIBUTE TO OUR Lockheed ELECTRA L188C ERA


THIS VIDEO IS BEST VIEWED IN FULLSCREEN MODE




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T.E.A.L. LOCKHEED ELECTRA L-188C CREW ROSTER 3RD SEPTEMBER 1962 – 9TH SEPTEMBER 1962.

The departure times shown on the rosters are given as LST (Local Standard Time).  Note on the bottom of the last page the crew operates Nandi-Pago-Papeete in one day, and then the following day operates Papeete-Pago-Nandi. The first sector Nandi/Pago is dated Mon 3rd departing at 3.30 a.m. LST. The next sector Pago/Papeete departs Pago at 7.45 a.m. LST and is dated the day before i.e. Sun 2nd.  This is bought about by crossing the International Date Line between Fiji and Samoa and re-entering yesterday. The next day after an over-night stay in Tahiti, the crew operates Papeete/Pago on Mon 3rd, departing Papeete at 7.00 a.m. LST. The second sector on Mon 3rd is Pago/Nandi, departing at 11.00 a.m. LST. The arrival time/date at Nandi is not given on this roster but the aircraft will have flown into tomorrow, Tuesday 4th. Additionally the local times between airports will be adjusted by crossing Time Zones making the day shorter flying eastwards (towards Papeete – Tahiti) and longer flying westwards towards Fiji (Nandi). In the Electra days when LST was used on rosters it caused some confusion, so rosters which followed in the jet era where the Company went much further afield and the potential for confusion was greater, all rosters were predicated around GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) which is the time base for all aircraft operations, of all Airlines all around the world, and the same time base is used by all Air Traffic Control systems worldwide.






Names listed on this roster in the order they appear.

Captains:
Ian Gemmell
Eddie Tredrea
Cliff Le Couteur
Pat McFarland
‘Buck’ Buchanan
Don McLachlan
Ian ‘Destry’ Russell
Nevill ‘Nobby’ Clarke
Gordon Vette
Sam Corbett
Harold Thompson
Barney Wyatt
Geoff White

Co-Pilots:
Peter Grundy
John Harrison
Dave Aarons
Alan Potts
Jack Priest
Garth Owen
Geoff Roud
Ron McKenzie
Arthur ‘Spike’ Jones
Roger Dalziell
Les Simpson
Ross Gordon
Jim Collins

Navigators:
Joe McVicar
Ron Wilson-Walker
‘Tommy’ Tompkins
Alan Partridge
Jim Douglas
Lindsay Caudwell. s/n
William G Melville
Jim Kennedy
Ross Gordon. s/n
Arthur Pugh
Peter Heares
Cam Patterson
Brian Hewitt
Jim Mair
Tom Hugill
John Foster
s/n = Supernumerary 
i.e. under training.




Flight Engineers:
Mike Hewett
Ken Abbott
Neville Hay
Derek Stubbs
Geoff Freer
Ron Oliver
Dave Blackwood
Ian Diamond
Gordon Tonkin
Ray Poole
Jack King
Nick Caulton
Ron Tunney
Bill Freeman
‘Bert’ Jamieson


Stewards:
Dave Taylor
W. Appleton
Ron Hayes
Tommy Blythen
Jackie Finch
Keith Nathan (Whaka)
Brian Gillham
Don Robertson
Mathew Miller
Graeme Durston
Ron Ingledew
Vic Stone
Bob Chidwick
Jackie Martin
Dennis Perham
Laurie Willetts
Peter Hill

Stewards:
Don Jolly
Charlie Eglinton
Stan Mabus
J. Macintyre
Keith Baker
Dave Brideson
Johnny Price
Ron Buckman
A. ‘Rory’ Doyle
Mike Findlay
Tony Brice
Eddie Arkle
D. Herring
M. Morris
Peter Aldridge
Brian Remi
J. Kelly

Stewards:
Ken ‘Granny’ Mathews
Kevin Donovan
Pat Tarr
Dennis O’Dwyer
Frank Collier
John Hamling
R. Brown
G. Lilley
D. Elliot
John Van de Gouw
Don MacKay

Hostesses:
Kathy Brown
Barbara Sisson
Erin Tipping
Joan Findlay
Val Vincent
Diana Dick
Alyson Chester
Dennyse Jowitt
Sylvia Robinson
Ann Slavin
Gail? Petersen
Sue Carlson
Valda Watson                                                                                      

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What became of Air New Zealand's Lockheed Electra L188-C's











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Lockheed L188-C Electra Videos


Ex T.E.A.L. ZK-CLX. Lockheed L188-C Electra

Reeve Aleutian N1968R.
Anchorage to Dutch Harbour.
16 July 1997. 1:03:44 min/sec

For those with an interest in the Lockheed L188-C Electra, this is a video which appeared on YouTube in late 2014.

T.E.AL./Air New Zealand operated Electras from 1959 to 1972.

Since 1966 the R.N.Z.A.F. have operated a variant of the Electra, a fleet of 6 Lockheed P3 Orions.

There has been a scarcity of Electra films and/or videos available on the Web due to the Electra era being before the digital age, i.e. digital cameras, digital video cameras, the Internet and even Television.

Older analogue films now have to be re-processed by interested parties to convert to digital form and this is just beginning to happen, 50 plus years after the Electra first flew.

This new 1997 video is unique in that it was filmed in the digital age, and is a welcome arrival, and was only possible because ZK-CLX continued to fly well into the digital age. 

It is significant that much of the software of the Electra era, human flesh and tissue, those fine colleagues of ours may have gone but the hardware  carries on flying, just as youthful as the day it was born.

In this video: what is of special interest to us is that the aircraft depicted is ex- T.E.AL./Air New Zealand L188-C Lockheed Electra ZK-CLX.

When TEAL wrote off ZK-TEC in a flight training exercise at Whenuapai in March 1965,  QANTAS sold TEAL a replacement Lockheed L188C Electra, VH-ECC, to plug the gap in their fleet. This became ZK-CLX.

Many of us will have done a walk-around check on this aircraft, and operated it over our network during its T.E.AL./Air New Zealand tenure from 1965 to 1968. 

My personal special memory of ZK-CLX is that it was the first aircraft I operated after check-out as a fully-fledged Flight Engineer on 26 August 1965.

After service with T.E.A.L. / Air New Zealand, ZK-CLX went to Reeve Aleutian Airways Alaska where it remained in service for a further 33 years, operating on the American register as N1968R. (ZK-TEB msn2010 also went to Reeve and flew with them for 33 years as N178RV).

As you will see in the film the Electra was well suited to the climatic conditions and short almost inaccessible runways scattered around the Aleutian Islands. 

In fact at times it was the only aircraft that could handle the conditions, aided in no small measure by the instant lift created by firewalling if necessary, four giant 14 foot diameter paddle bladed propellers.

The video starts on the tarmac at Anchorage Alaska and operates the sector Anchorage to Dutch Harbour.

It is a lengthy film of just over an hour but many of us will recall sitting in those very seats, handling those controls, operating those switches, buttons, levers etc. 

The Electra introduced us to many new innovations and some of the funny little things that come to mind were ‘Teeter-Totter’ switches, engines which operated throughout the flight envelope at constant R.P.M --- and of course, the ‘TD Null Valve’!

Another video is automatically offered at the end of this video showing the return leg.    

Dutch Harbour to Anchorage. 16 July 1997. 1:01:24 min/sec
If you wish to view it later, here is the link,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5rlYyy1Mz8
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ZK-CLX – N1968R was almost lost on 8th June 1983 

Enroute from Cold Bay Alaska to Seattle Washington the N°4 propeller and reduction gearbox separated from the wing in flight.

Enroute the crew noticed an unusual vibration while climbing from 19,000 feet to 25,000 feet. The flight engineer went aft to inspect the engines and propellers but noted nothing unusual. A flight attendant went forward to report to the Captain that nothing unusual had been observed, when the vibration increased in intensity.+

As the flight attendant left the flight deck she looked out the right hand window and saw N°4 propeller separate and strike the fuselage. 

This caused a rapid cabin decompression which resulted in partial collapse of the cabin floor, jamming some engine and flight control cables.

The flight attendant could see the ocean through the gash in the passenger cabin floor.

The crew began an emergency descent but found that control was difficult and they could not reduce engine power from the cruise setting. 

After much experimentation the crew established the Auto pilot could provide minimal flight control and lowering and retracting the undercarriage with N°2 engine shutdown enabled them to descend and climb the aircraft.

Despite these difficulties which initially indicated a ditching in the sea, the crew managed to divert to Anchorage some hours later.

On their second approach, with the two operating engines still stuck in Cruise Power, the aircraft touched down at high speed, nose wheel first, then the crew shutdown the remaining two engines (runway stopping distance consideration) which deprived them of hydraulics and thus nose wheel steering. 

The Electra had a brake pressure back-up via an hydraulic accumulator, operated by a cable and lever system just under the glare shield. A one shot full braking application in this case resulting in burst tires and brake fires.

The aircraft departed the runway at slow speed, partially entering a ditch. The aircraft remained on its undercarriage and further damage was limited to that caused by brake fires. 

Aircraft was subsequently repaired and returned to service.

On-sold to Air Spray Tankers Alberta Canada on 28th April 2001. Stored then converted to a firebomber tanker at Chico Municipal Airport California by Aero Union in April 2004. 

Re-registered on the Canadian register as C-GHZI, it is still flying today in 2015.

This video arrived on YouTube in 2015 and shows N1968R landing following the N°4 propeller loss incident.
8th June 1983. Anchorage Alaska.


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Copied from ‘The Lockheed File’
VH-ECC "Pacific Endeavour"                            
Type: L-188C Electra
Msn: 2007

Subsequent Identities:
·                     ZK-CLX
·                     N1968R
·                     C-GHZI (Tanker 484)
               


                                                                                                                       
                       VH-ECC                                                                 N1968R








C-GHZI

History:
01APR58
Ordered by Qantas
10AUG59
Application for C of R and C of A by Qantas Empire Airways Ltd. (Note:1)
19NOV59
First flight
23NOV59
Accepted by Qantas at Burbank
24NOV59
C of R 3278 and C of A 3278 issued to Qantas as VH-ECC (Note:1)
28NOV59
Arrived Sydney on delivery as "Pacific Endeavour" (Capt. K. Nicholson)
08NOV60
T.T. 1900.42 hours (Note:1)
25JAN61
Due to depart for Lockheed, Burbank for wing and engine mount modifications
31JAN61
Entered LEAP as LEAP #73 QEA-3
27FEB61
Completed LEAP
03OCT61
Operated inaugural service Sydney to Wellington (Capt. J.S. Ross
04OCT61
Operated inaugural service Sydney to Auckland (Capt. J.S. Ross
07OCT61
Operated inaugural service Auckland to Melbourne (Capt. F.S. Furniss)
31OCT61
T.T. 4018.35 hours (Note:1)
18OCT62
T.T. 5523.36 hours (Note:1)
01NOV63
T.T. 7238.38 hours (Note:1)
26OCT64
T.T. 9355.46 hours (Note:1)
15APR65
The New Zealand Minister for Civil Aviation announced that Air New Zealand would purchase an Electra from Qantas to replace the crashed ZK-TEC. (Source: Australian Air Log Vol. 1 No 4, April 1965, p.33)
17APR65
Operated its last Qantas service
18APR65
Cancelled from Australian register. Change of ownership to Air New Zealand as ZK-CLX. Departed for Auckland all on the same date. Departed Sydney on its first commercial service for Air NZ as ZK-CLX in full Qantas livery but with the Australian flag and registration removed. (Source: Australian Air Log Vol. 1 No 4, April 1965,p.33)
28APR65
Noted at Sydney with the name Qantas painted out. (Source: Australian Air Log Vol. 1 No 4, April 1965, p.33)
10MAY65
Noted at Sydney still in Qantas colours but with Air New Zealand titles.
(Source: Australian Air Log Vol. 1 No 5, May 1965, p.49)
Re-named "Akaroa"
16FEB68
Sold to California Airmotive Corp as N1968R
22FEB68
Sold to Reeve Aleutian Airways Inc. Anchorage, Alaska as N1968R
08JUN83
Enroute Anchorage to Cold Bay, the crew noticed an unusual vibration while climbing from FL190 to FL250. The flight engineer went aft to inspect the engines and propellers but noted nothing unusual. A flight attendant went forward to report to the captain that nothing unusual had been observed, when the vibration increased in intensity. As the flight attendant left the flight deck, she looked out the right hand window and saw the number 4 propeller separate, striking the fuselage. This caused a rapid decompression which resulted in a partial collapse of the cabin floor, jamming some control cables. The crew began an emergency descent but found that control was difficult and that they could not reduce power from cruise setting. The autopilot provided minimal control while lowering and retracting the undercarriage with the number 2 engine shut down enabled the crew to descend and climb. Despite these difficulties, which initially indicated a ditching, the crew managed to return to Anchorage. On their second approach, the aircraft touched down nose wheel first at high speed and the crew shut down the remaining two engines which deprived them of hydraulic braking and nose wheel steering. The aircraft departed the runway at slow speed, partially entering a ditch. The aircraft remained on its undercarriage and further damage was limited to that caused by main gear brake fires which were extinguished by the fire services before spreading. The reason for the propeller separation could not be determined as the propeller had fallen into the ocean.
[Extracted from NTSB Report DCA83AA029]

The aircraft was subsequently repaired and returned to service.
JAN01
Following the bankruptcy of Reeve Aleutian, N1968R was acquired by AIRSPRAY (Canada) for conversion to a fire bombing tanker. N1968R had served Reeve Aleutian for 33 years!
12JUN01
Registered C-GHZI to AIRSPRAY 1967 Ltd., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The aircraft is marketed by AIRSPRAY as a "Long Liner", a name derived from its ability to drop a long line of retardant.
28DEC04
Report that C-GHZI Tanker 84 has completed its first season as a tanker.
27 MAY 2010
Michael Hogan, an Electra captain with AIRSPRAY, advises that C-GHZI is now marked as Tanker 484. Although originally marked as T-84, the proliferation of tankers made it necessary to carry the full three digit call-sign on the aircraft. The aircraft operates as "AIRSPRAY 484".


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WHIRL MODE


Early in the Electra’s history two aircraft were lost to inflight break up, which was later proven to be caused by a phenomenon called ‘WHIRL MODE’.



A third broke apart in March 1960 killing all on board.



History of the Prop-Whirl-Flutter Phenomenon.

Source: Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis.

The Lockheed L188 Electra utilized four wing mounted Allison 501 turbo-prop engines. The first flight for the Electra was in December of 1957. The potential for the aircraft looked good.

However, on September 29th 1959 a Braniff Airways Electra disintegrated in-flight near Buffalo, Texas, losing the entire left wing.

A nearly identical incident occurred only a few months later, on March 17, 1960. 
The second crash involved a Northwest Orient Airlines Electra that lost its entire right wing, crashing near Tell City, Indiana. 

All crew and passengers were lost in both incidents, and the Electra fleet was grounded pending investigations.

The FAA, Lockheed, and Allison Gas Turbine Division of General Motors all participated in the investigation. 

The official FAA reports now describe the cause of the first accident as: “Structural failure of the LEFT wing resulting from forces generated by un-dampened propeller whirl mode.”

The second crash cause is given as “In-flight separation of the RIGHT wing because of flutter induced oscillation of the outboard nacelle.”

Accident investigators in Texas found evidence that the outboard nacelle on the failed wing had swung as much as 35 degrees out of alignment. 

Lockheed had designed the nacelle to break away in the event of large unbalances such as a propeller blade loss, and this had not occurred. Rather, the entire wing had separated from the fuselage while the nacelle remained attached to the wing.

Wing overload did not seem a likely cause, because such a structural weakness would have turned up during Lockheed’s extensive structural testing, or in the thousands of flight hours that Braniff, Northwest, and Eastern Airlines had seen on the Electras in their fleets.

Prior to this time, no one had ever considered that an engine/propeller system whirling mode could couple with a flutter mode of a structural airfoil such as a wing. 

However, with other explanations seeming even less probable, the investigation turned toward this possibility.

Peter Garrison describes the investigation, saying “Lockheed’s flutter analysts reprogrammed their computer to include whirl mode, and the mechanism of the accidents began to emerge. 

By an unlucky coincidence, the whirl mode frequency of the Electra’s big four bladed propellers happened to match the flapping frequency of the wing.

The propellers, like the child driving a swing ever higher by small movements of their body, had eventually caused the wing to flap so violently that in 30 seconds it broke at the root, without the propeller whirl ever overloading the nacelle structure.

This phenomenon became known as prop-whirl-flutter.

It was deduced that damage to one of the engine’s four mounts had caused a reduction in the stiffness of the engine/prop system, thus lowering the whirl mode until it was coincident with the wing’s flutter mode, precipitating the ever increasing excitation of the wing mode, and ultimately causing the wing failure.

Eventually, not only did analysis prove the cause to be prop-whirl flutter, but full-scale testing of a Lockheed Electra with reduced stiffness engine mounts demonstrated the phenomenon in a wind tunnel. 

Lockheed eventually redesigned the mount system for the Electra to ensure that reduced stiffness could not cause the whirl mode of the engine/prop to fall into this situation again.

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This video, a 1960 NASA Langley Research Centre Film conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center's 16-Foot Transonic Dynamics Tunnel, and uploaded to YouTube on April 6th 2011 shows wind tunnel testing and demonstration of Whirl Mode. The video is just under 9 minutes long. The actual whirl mode occurrence is at the end of the film at 8:14 to 8:58 minutes. There is no sound track with this video.




A 3:30 minute video titled ‘Double Gyroscope-Precession’ follows automatically. Very interesting!



For a second video in the same Whirl Mode series use this link. 33:41 mins



To fix the problem a Lockheed repair program L.E.A.P. was established and implemented.

The L.E.A.P. Program.

Not long after the Electra entered service, there were three crashes, two of which involved wing separation (the other was attributed to pilot error). 

As a result, performance restrictions were imposed and Lockheed instigated a modification program which came to be known as LEAP. 

Several references decode the acronym as "Lockheed Electra Achievement Program" but Lockheed sources state that the correct title is "Lockheed Electra Action Program".

The following account of LEAP is extracted from "Beyond the Horizons - The Lockheed Story" 



by Walter J. Boyne (St. Martin's Press, New York 1998):



Investigation revealed that under certain conditions of engine nacelle or power-plant damage, a phenomenon known as 'whirl mode' could occur.

'Whirl mode' refers to the results of the application of a force to gyroscopic characteristics of a rotating propeller. 

When such a force is applied, precession occurs; that is, like a gyroscope, the propeller reacts ninety degrees out of phase to the applied force. 

This causes the structural resistance of the engine mounting system to apply a nose-down pitching moment. This forces the propeller disc (as viewed from the rear) to turn to the left due to precession. This in turn causes a nose-down propeller disc yawing to the right, which causes a nose-up pitch, completing the cycle.

This combination of effects is termed the 'whirl mode', and its direction of rotation is opposite to that of the propeller. 

In a normal aircraft, the whirl mode could operate only within the limits of the flexibility of the engine mounts. If, however, some structural element of the power plant, the power-plant mounting system, or the nacelle was in a damaged or weakened condition, the whirl mode would not damp out, but could become more violent, increasing damage to the structure, and could approach the natural frequency of the wing. 

This would perpetuate the whirl mode in a form of induced flutter and lead to catastrophic failure.

John Margwarth, another University of Michigan man, was director of safety for Lockheed, and it was his insight that led to an investigation revealing that the Electra's fatal flaw was in the three member structure connecting the gearbox and the engine, a part supplied by the engine manufacturers. 

When one member of that structure failed, the engine mount became flexible. 

On an outboard engine, at the Electra's original cruise speed, failure of the strut induced immediate, violent flutter that tore the wing off.

Technically, Lockheed could have passed the problem off to the engine manufacturer, disclaiming responsibility. Instead, it redesigned the wing structure so that it would not flutter when such a failure occurred. (Allison also redesigned the strut so that it would not fail.) 

Additional mounts were added to stabilize the propeller in the event that any mount failed, or if breakage occurred between the gearbox and the power section. The nacelle structure was also strengthened by the addition of reinforcements and diagonal braces.

Lockheed was rocked by the three crashes and their adverse publicity. 

For weeks there was one meeting after another to handle the latest problem. It was soon evident that engineering the wing modification was not going to be as difficult as finding a way to pay for it. 

Carl Kotchian recalled coming out of a meeting with Robert Gross, the latter sunk deep in thought. (Gross had been under considerable strain for some time; he would die less than two years later.) 

In the garage, Gross asked, 'How much do you think the modification is going to cost?' Kotchian hesitated and said, 'Well, I think it's going to cost maybe $25 million.' Gross turned white, then replied, 'Well, we've got to do it.' 

And Lockheed did, instituting the Lockheed Electra Action Program (LEAP) and modifying all Electras at its own expense, whether they were within warranty or not. The LEAP program came in just under Kotchian's $25 million estimate.  n

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These links arrived on YouTube in 2014 and are 3 Lockheed Company Electra Promotion films.

Electra. Lockheed L-188A Electra Promo Film #1 - 1958 Propulsion Story. 24:36 min/sec

Electra. Lockheed L-188A Electra Promo Film #2 – 1958. 32:36 min/sec
Systems description and Maintenance procedures. (a refresher course for F/E’s).

Electra. Lockheed L-188A Electra Promo Film #3 – 1959. 17:15 min/sec 





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Click on this link.....  and click DOWNLOAD


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