At 9:20 in the evening ,Flight 401 took off from New York. The aircraft model was the Tristar L 1011. One could recognise it by its three engines; two under the wings and one at the tail.
Its length and breadth (wings) were about 50 meters. At take off it could weigh as much as around 200,000 kilograms.
At its time , the Tristar was a very advanced and comfortable aircraft. It had revolutionary flight control systems.
Quite uniquely it also had an "underground" kitchen that was connected to the cabin via elevators !
The Tristar that was used for Flight 401 was very new, being only about 4 months old. On that evening there were 160 passengers and about 70 empty seats.
A Lockheed Tristar aircraft about to land. You can see the front wheels (which were very significant for Flight 401) and the two sets of rear wheels. You can also see two engines , one under each wing. The third engine is at the tail of the aircraft and is not very visible in this photograph. (Photo thanks to Mike Kay)
