The Convair 990 Coronado was a jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics, a "stretched" version of their earlier Convair 880 produced in response to a request from American Airlines. The 990 was lengthened by 10 feet, which increased the passengers from between 88 and 110 in the 880, to between 96 and 121 (depending on the interior). This was still considerably smaller than the contemporary Boeing 707 (110 to 189) or Douglas DC-8 (105 to 173), although the 990 remained some 25 to 35mph faster than either in cruise.

The 990 entered production in 1961. One interesting change compared to the 880 was the addition of large bulges on the upper wing, in order to make the plane follow the area rule more closely, and thus reduce drag. This allowed the heavier 990 to gain a small amount of speed over the 880, cruising at about Mach 0.91. The inner set of bumps also served a secondary role as fuel dump for the fuel tanks in the fuselage. The engines were also changed to the uprated General Electric CJ-805-23s, which were unique in that they used a fan stage at the rear of the engine in addition to the small one found in the original 805-3's. Like the 880, 990s were later modified with a "raceway" added to the top of fuselage to hold the wiring for additional instrumentation.

The 990s market niche was soon to be destroyed entirely by the Boeing 727, and by the time the line was shut down in 1963 only 37 had been produced, bringing General Dynamics' entire production of commercial jetliners to 102 airframes.

Specifications (Convair 990)

General Characteristics

• Crew: 3
• Capacity: 96 to 121
• Length: 139 ft 5 in (42.49 m)
• Wingspan: 120 ft (36.58 m)
• Height: 39 ft 6 in (11 m)
• Wing area: m² ( ft²)
• Empty: 120,560 lb (54250 kg)
• Loaded: 255,000 lb (114750 kg)
• Powerplant: 4x General Electric CJ-805 -23 turbojets, 16,100 lbf (71.65 kN) each

Performance

• Cruising speed: 570 mph (912 km/h) at 35,000 ft (10,000 m)
• Range: 5,400 miles (8690 km)
• Service ceiling: 41,000 ft (12330 m)
• Rate of climb: m/min ( ft/min)
• Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
• Thrust/Weight:

Operators of Convair 990 (unsorted): Swissair, American Airlines, SAS, Thai Airways International, Spantax , Middle East Airlines, Morden Air Transport , Aerolineas Peruanas S.A. , Denver Ports of Call , Lebanese International Airways , Alaska Airlines, Morden Air , AREA Ecuador , Nomads Travel Club and NASA

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