The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar are arguably the best aircraft of the trijet era . While both planes had several differences, what truly set them apart was the configuration of their third engines. The DC-10 and L-1011 came with three powerful high-bypass ratio turbofan engines, thus their classification under the trijet name.
However, the most significant difference between the two aircraft is that while the DC-10 had its tail engine above its fuselage, the L-1011 had its engine inside the tail cone. The trijet era saw a big boom in the mid-to-late 20 th century thanks to its planes' fuel efficiency and low cost of production. While the first three-engine aircraft, the Tupolev Tu-73, took to the skies in 1947, it wasn't until the 1960s that these planes started seeing extensive commercial use.
From the Hawker Siddeley Trident to the Dassault Falcon 900, these planes set a standard for air travel that is still emulated to date. Although many impactful planes came from this period, none surpassed the prominence of the DC-10 and the L-1011. The DC-10 jet was McDonnell Douglas Corporation's most controversial plane, given the bad luck that seemed to follow it.
The aircraft was built to replace the DC-8 quad jet, thanks to its long-distance capabilities and improved passenger capacity. Although it succeeded in this, gaining status for its fuel efficiency, auto landing system, and transcontinental travel, its reputation ultimately turned sour after seve.