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Thoughts on the Convair 990 from an engineer who was there.

Article Excerpt
Your recent article on the Convair 990 by Jon Proctor was excellent, and brought back memories of the 'Golden Age' of aeronautical engineering. Turbine engines, supersonic fighters, composite materials and the beginning of the space age ... What an amazing time! I was supervisor of the Jet Transport Aerodynamics Group at Convair in San Diego when the Convair 880 became a program, having worked with TWA and Howard Hughes in the period leading up to that airplane, and I'd like to take this opportunity to expand on a few points made in Mr. Proctor's story.

"Sadly, the 990 never became as successful as either the 707 or DC-8 ..."

The main reasons for this lack of success, in my opinion, go back to choices made by Convair management at the very beginning of the CV-880 program. They had been having great success with their twin-engine propeller-driven short range aircraft, the CV-240, 340, and 440 Metropolitan, and did not really understand the fundamental difference between the props and jets. Maximum allowable take-off gross weight was limited by the FAA requirement for a specified minimum rate-of-climb with one critical engine inoperative. For the propeller-driven twins, the maximum takeoff weight was so low that...

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