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4 Lockheed L-500

W.R. RHOADS
Manager, Air Cargo Equipment Sales
Lockheed-Georgia Company

As the Lockheed-Georgia Company proceeds with the development of the L-500 Jet Transport System, the needs of the airlines and the airport operators are being given intensive study. The performance and physical characteristics of the aircraft are being carefully tailored to provide easy handling both in the air and on the ground.

A large amount of design effort is being spent to ensure ease of maintenance and high reliability, in order to provide the operator with capability to achieve high utilization at sharply reduced direct and indirect operational costs.

The L-500 can operate on any of the runways and taxi strips now used by the DC-8, and will induce less runway stress than many of the present jet aircraft. The design of the landing gear will permit the aircraft to execute a 180 degree turn, under its own power, on a runway or taxi strip 150 ft wide. It can be towed either forward or backward by conventional tow tugs, or it can be precisely spotted and aligned with the ground equipment by means of automatic, semi-automatic, or manual control of a self-powered, nose-wheel lifting tow tug.

The basic mission of the L-500 is to transport unitized cargo at high subsonic speeds over long distances, although the design of the cargo compartment will permit the carriage of many other types of air freight, particularly outsized unit loads.

Access to the main cargo compartment is gained by raising the visor nose and lowering the forward ramp to a horizontal position, at the level of the main cargo floor. Access to the cargo compartments in the upper lobes is provided by two large cargo doors on the left-hand side of the upper lobe, one forward, and one aft of the wing. A fixed or mobile loading dock, mechanized and automated for one man operation, will be required to insert or remove cargo from the main compartment. Upper lobe cargo will be inserted or removed on cargo elevators.

It is anticipated that cargo be transported in the L-500 will be unitized in standard demountable van containers designed for air transport but suitable for movement on trucks and rail cars. The loading of the containers will be done preferably at the shipper's plant or by a freight forwarder, although some unitization may be necessary at the air terminal to take care of inter-line transfers.

In order to ensure that operators of the L-500 can capitalize fully on the tremendous capability of this advanced cargo transport, ground facilities, equipment, and services should be designed to match the physical and operational characteristics of the aircraft, and provide for easy integration into the existing fleet. The Lockheed-Georgia Company is prepared to assist in the achievement of this objective.