cruseing sped of a convair 990?

bigred1970 · Post by **bigred1970** » 30 Aug 2006, 04:01

hey with some of you taking flights in vintage jets I thought I would do the same, my mount of choice is a Northeast convair 990. (I like the paint job, the trident I repeatedly crashed trying to get airborn at my home airport was a northeast...... )

the references are a bit vague though, I know it crused quite a bit faster than the 707 and the dc8 but not what that speed is. is it .85m, .9! I am just not sure....

BAe146 · Post by **BAe146** » 30 Aug 2006, 04:12

There's a nice comparison chart here:

http://www.air-and-space.com/Convair%20990.htm

cstorey · Post by **cstorey** » 30 Aug 2006, 08:50

As far as I know, max cruise was Mach 0.88

bigred1970 · Post by **bigred1970** » 30 Aug 2006, 13:16

cool that is about what the model feels confterable cruising at, I can see why this plane was not as economical as the 707 and dc8. it is Way overpowered for the amount of people it caries.... (not many more than the 1-11-500) though It makes a nice "hot and high" plane, I had no problem taking off from the cross wind runway at ksdf, I think that runway is only 6-7000 feet long....

hinch · Post by **hinch** » 30 Aug 2006, 17:45

if you had problems with the trident - always remember to set the trim! and use the more powerful first model

Kevin Farnell · Post by **Kevin Farnell** » 30 Aug 2006, 18:05

I believe that the CV990 was the fastest subsonic airliner in level flight (I have heard stories of a DC-8 breaking the sound barrier in a shallow dive), but can't tell you the exact speed.

Regards

Kevin

DispatchDragon · Post by **DispatchDragon** » 30 Aug 2006, 23:15

Kevin I can confirm the 50 series Dc8 would go supersonic in a very shallow dive

Leif

TobyV · Post by **TobyV** » 30 Aug 2006, 23:19

I think the trouble is (no one ever seems to know or agree on this) is that the occasion rarely arises to find out what top speed an airliner can reach. Obviously they all have a VNE quoted in hte flight manual, so theoretically, the pilot shouldnt be even trying to go beyond that. And then how does one compare the speeds? Would have to be same altitude/conditions I guess. Even if you go by Mach, the speed of sound varies dependent on temp (and therefore on altitude).

I remember a kid's spotter book I had quoting The 727 as being 625mph and hte 747 as 609mph I think, both sound pretty fast. Then of course the Trident, VC10, Convair 880/990 and probably a few Russians we have forgotten (Tu-154 perhaps?) are also contenders...

Post by **DaveB** » 31 Aug 2006, 01:00

Hi Toby,

VNE is one thing but in reality, VNO has to be taken into consideration too as in many cases, VNO is (or could be considered) much faster than an aircraft will operate at as wind and turbulence play a huge part. This means that VNO is somewhat above normal ops even though on the face of it VNO is just that! :roll: Makes sense doesn't it :think:

ATB

DaveB :tab:

Mark C · Post by **Mark C** » 31 Aug 2006, 15:14

I know it crused quite a bit faster than the 707 and the dc8 but not what that speed is. is it .85m, .9! I am just not sure....

OK .... The original CV990 could only manage 585mph without problems.

Once modified to CV990-A (as all 990's were) cruising speed was increased to 621 mph .... or .... 0.95 MACH to 0.97 MACH .... though only with horrendous fuel burn rates which consequently impaired the aircrafts range.

As the 1970's oil price shock started hit, most of the few airlines still operating CV990's by then had reduced cruising speeds down to 0.89 MACH .... then 0.79 MACH to promote fuel ecomomy .... and as a result the aircrafts range increased by more than 20%.

The HJG CV990 FDE will allow you to sit on 0.95 MACH .... no problem at all.

For those interested I've just completed writing another feature/article about the CV990, but, can't illustrate and post it until I return from home during October.

Mark C
Bogota, Colombia[/list]