MooneyMitch Posted January 1, 2020 Report Share Posted January 1, 2020 Aviation News Last JetStar Retires Marc Cook December 31, 2019 5 Retirement came this week for what is believed to be the last flying Lockheed JetStar. An unnamed Florida family, which has been using it for the last three decades, has donated the four-engined bizjet to the Marietta Aviation History and Technology Center. Built in 1966, this JetStar has just short of 11,000 hours’ total time and was once owned by the Saudi royal family. According to a report in the Marietta Daily Journal, the JetStar’s pilot, John Poffenbarger, has been flying the aircraft for the last 21 years and more than 3,000 hours. “We were able to preserve a piece of art,” he said after the Lockheed’s likely last flight on Monday. “The pilots I’ve talked to over the years have always had one common comment about Lockheed, that it was always the best flying aircraft,” Poffenbarger said. “I’m kind of jaded because for 21 years I’ve been flying this and I’ve become accustomed to it. She’s a crotchety old lady, she’s 53 years old, but she flew up here today just fine. Our director of maintenance Eric Boyd is a genius.” The JetStar will be dismantled and moved to the museum, to be seen again sometime this summer. “There is already a JetStar at the museum, but it’s a little older, it’s not operational and it’s not in as good of a condition as this one,” Mark Morgan, the Marietta museum director, told the Daily Journal. The display will allow visitors to sit in the cockpit and sample the eight-seat interior. Originally flown with two Bristol Siddeley Orpheus engines in 1957, the JetStar was re-engined with four Pratt & Whitney JT12As for production. N313JS had been re-engined with the quieter, more fuel efficient Garrett TFE731. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian E. Posted January 1, 2020 Report Share Posted January 1, 2020 That's a beastly looking machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinwing Posted January 1, 2020 Report Share Posted January 1, 2020 I can’t imagine the gas bill to fuel this monster!Max out your credit limit with every fuel up!I saw an ad where Elvis old abandoned jet star was for sale recently...red velor upholstery,flat tires ,missing engines...300 k for the honor of owning a part of history Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinwing Posted January 1, 2020 Report Share Posted January 1, 2020 Land it at most stage 2 airports and recieve noise complaint fines 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MooneyMitch Posted January 1, 2020 Author Report Share Posted January 1, 2020 31 minutes ago, thinwing said: I can’t imagine the gas bill to fuel this monster!Max out your credit limit with every fuel up!I saw an ad where Elvis old abandoned jet star was for sale recently...red velor upholstery,flat tires ,missing engines...300 k for the honor of owning a part of history Yep! Saw it at Graceland a few years ago....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeBee Posted January 1, 2020 Report Share Posted January 1, 2020 2 hours ago, thinwing said: Land it at most stage 2 airports and recieve noise complaint fines Actually this one is re-engined with TFE 731s. Stage 3 compliant. Sweet flying machine too. I amazed this one still flies. Most got drop sheared when they failed the "tank and plank" inspection. The old -6 units were good flying too......once they finally left the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thinwing Posted January 1, 2020 Report Share Posted January 1, 2020 I was thinking of the engines on the Elvis mobile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeBee Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 Oh yeah, I think they were -8s which was a small step up from -6s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeBee Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 By the way this was the JetStar's competition for the Air Force contract. The prototype sat at center field at KABQ for years. I don't know where it is now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raptor05121 Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 22 minutes ago, GeeBee said: By the way this was the JetStar's competition for the Air Force contract. The prototype sat at center field at KABQ for years. I don't know where it is now. Its in El Paso in storage. Someone on FB a few months back was trying to find it a new home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LANCECASPER Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 https://www.statesman.com/NEWS/20161007/Piece-of-flying-history-lands-on-LBJ-ranch Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddy Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 About 25 yrs. ago I remember Mario Andretti brought his Jetstar into ISP for some work N500MA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeBee Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 It gets expensive on a 731 JetStar. To work on just about anything on the inboard engines, even to replace a starter/generator requires removal of the outboard engine. I laughed when I read the MM because the first thing it always said on engine related work was, "If inboard engine, first remove outboard engine". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yetti Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 Apparently there are still several flyable examples around North Houston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy0681 Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 On 1/1/2020 at 12:56 PM, thinwing said: I saw an ad where Elvis old abandoned jet star was for sale recently I wonder if Pussy Galore is still flying hers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeBee Posted January 2, 2020 Report Share Posted January 2, 2020 Single pilot no less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Elder Posted April 29, 2021 Report Share Posted April 29, 2021 I have 2800 hours in the last flying Jetstar.... I designed the paint job and flew for the unnamed Florida family. It was a great airplane. Stable as all get out. And regardless of modern technology the systems (controlled by switches and relays) were light years ahead of its time. Regarding another post, you do not have to remove the engines to change the starter generator.... You simply drop the lower cowl... I had 5 s/gs... They last about 600-700 hours... I used to just take the high time one off of the airplane and send it out for O/H... There was a kit box in then hell hole.. I used to take the O/H sg on the road when I went to Europe. The Apu had the same S/g but a slightly different P/N... In a pinch it could be used on an engine... Long live Kelly's memory... He was the best... 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Elder Posted April 29, 2021 Report Share Posted April 29, 2021 Btw A320 B737 IA JET N265 and the best one L-1329 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeeBee Posted April 29, 2021 Report Share Posted April 29, 2021 3 hours ago, George Elder said: I have 2800 hours in the last flying Jetstar.... I designed the paint job and flew for the unnamed Florida family. It was a great airplane. Stable as all get out. And regardless of modern technology the systems (controlled by switches and relays) were light years ahead of its time. Regarding another post, you do not have to remove the engines to change the starter generator.... You simply drop the lower cowl... I had 5 s/gs... They last about 600-700 hours... I used to just take the high time one off of the airplane and send it out for O/H... There was a kit box in then hell hole.. I used to take the O/H sg on the road when I went to Europe. The Apu had the same S/g but a slightly different P/N... In a pinch it could be used on an engine... Long live Kelly's memory... He was the best... Was that a 731 or a dash-8? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyboy0681 Posted April 29, 2021 Report Share Posted April 29, 2021 Some pictures might be nice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Elder Posted April 29, 2021 Report Share Posted April 29, 2021 2 hours ago, GeeBee said: Was that a 731 or a dash-8? 5086 was a significant sn break... All the manuals have 5086 and subsequent (of 5162) in the instructions... They didn't have the jt12 - 8s (3300 lbs of thrust) but the airframe had all of the - 8 mods... Jt 12 - 6 had 3000lbs thrust. It was either 5094 or 96 that came off the line as a - 8. 5086 on the data plate had - 6. Of the 162 straight pipe jetstars 65 were converted to 731 by garret airresearch LAX. 5086 was the 45th one. It was known as pick up unit # 45 and was owned by Johnson and Johnson at the time. The 731 had 3700 lbs thrust. 500 gallons an hour for the airplane. Lockheed started the line again in the 70's and made 40 JS 2 with 731's from the factory. The only real way to tell the difference from the outside is the 2 has a dorsal inlet for ram air and the originals it was on each side in the pylon.... And the other difference was that the 2 had rounded cowlings underneath the engines like a Falcon 50 the conversion cowl was sculpted to the accessory area...mine fit very well but some others struggled. Just as a side note the aux tanks (the big bullets) on the straight pipe airplanes were sort off mid wing... Some on top some on bottom... On all of the 731 aircraft the tanks were dropped below the wing. This was due to airflow interference for the outboard engines at high AOA. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Elder Posted April 29, 2021 Report Share Posted April 29, 2021 Most of my good pics I put on flightaware 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Elder Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 Another side note.... Jetstar s were JT 12 - 6 or - 8.... And the preceeding engine the JT-11?......... Well that was on the SR-71 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Elder Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 One other interesting story... The Skunk Works took an off the shelf design to respond to the airforce request of a 4 engine utility aircraft contract. P+W didn't have the engines available so Kelly decided to fly the airframe with the Orpheus engine... Approximatly the same total thrust... He said he was so happy with the Orpheus performance that he decided to make the pylons adaptable for either a two engine installation or a four engine installation.... He glowed with "and we could do all of this for only a 35lb built in weight penalty"...... Amazing 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will W Posted April 30, 2021 Report Share Posted April 30, 2021 (edited) I have to share my Jetstar -731 pictures. My dad flew one as I grew up and it is the reason I became a pilot. Nothing else like it. His aircraft was modified with GPS and moving map display before it was scrapped once the owner died. It was the first aircraft I actually got to fly at the controls of and I got 2 takeoffs and landings in. Sadly, if I had one more landing, I'd apply to get the SIC type rating on my pilot cert. to save the memory forever. This one was TCAS II and RVSM Certified. Fun fact, there was a drogue chute! Edited April 30, 2021 by Will W 5 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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