The Convair 990 Coronado is a retired American
narrow-body
A narrow-body aircraft or single-aisle aircraft is an airliner arranged along a single aisle, permitting up to 6-abreast airline seat, seating in a aircraft cabin, cabin less than in width.
In contrast, a wide-body aircraft is a larger airliner ...
four-engined
jet airliner
A jet airliner or jetliner is an airliner powered by jet engines (passenger jet aircraft). Airliners usually have twinjet, two or quadjet, four jet engines; trijet, three-engined designs were popular in the 1970s but are less common today. Air ...
produced between 1961 and 1963 by the
Convair division of American company
General Dynamics
General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...
. It was a stretched version of its earlier
Convair 880
The Convair 880 is a retired American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller but faster, a niche that f ...
produced in response to a request from
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...
: the 990 was lengthened by , which increased the number of passengers from between 88 and 110 in the 880 to between 96 and 121. This was still fewer passengers than the contemporary
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...
(110 to 189) or
Douglas DC-8
The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is an early long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jetliner designed and produced by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. Work began in 1952 towards the United States Air Force's (USA ...
(105 to 173), although the 990 was faster than either in cruise.
Design and development
American Airlines asked Convair to design an aircraft for coast-to-coast flights, able to fly nonstop from
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
against the wind. They wanted a larger passenger capacity than the
Convair 880
The Convair 880 is a retired American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body jet airliner produced by the Convair division of General Dynamics. It was designed to compete with the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 by being smaller but faster, a niche that f ...
, which was the smallest of the first-generation U.S. jet airliners. The design was known as the Convair 600 and was redesignated the Convair 990 in the month of its first flight. The 990 began flight testing on January 24, 1961.
One change from the 880 was the large
anti-shock bodies on the upper
trailing edge
The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...
of the wings, to increase the critical Mach by reducing transonic drag. The inboard shock bodies, which were larger, were also used for additional fuel tankage. Later during the design period, Convair modified the design to include fuel in the outboard pods as well, but during the initial test flights the extra weight caused the outboard engines to oscillate in certain conditions. The pods were redesigned once more and shortened by , causing increased drag. The inner set of pods were used to route the fuel-dump tubes from the fuel tanks, terminating in a prominent outlet.
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 engines, compared to the fan stage at the front of the engine found on the
Pratt & Whitney JT3D
The Pratt & Whitney JT3D is an early turbofan aircraft engine derived from the Pratt & Whitney J57, Pratt & Whitney JT3C turbojet. It was first run in 1958 and was first flown in 1959 under a B-45 Tornado test aircraft. Over 8,000 JT3Ds were prod ...
that powered the 990's competitors. The engine was a simplified, non-afterburning civil version of the
J79, used in supersonic military aircraft. Like most versions of the J79, the CJ805 and CJ805-23 were smoky, although secondary operator
Spantax eventually had their engines refitted with low-smoke combustion chambers in the 1970s.
Like the 880, 990s incorporated a dorsal "raceway" added to the top of the fuselage to house the two ADF antennas and one
VHF antenna.
Operational history

The 990 did not meet the specifications promised, and American Airlines reduced its order as a result. The 990A was developed by adding fairings to the engine nacelles, among other changes. Despite the modifications from the basic 880 and those in response to drag problems in testing, the aircraft never lived up to its promise of coast-to-coast nonstop capability from JFK to LAX. American Airlines' timetables show little or no difference in scheduled time between 707 and 990A flights. AA began to dispose of its 990As in 1967.
During May 1961, one of the pre-production 990 aircraft, while demonstrating the margin between its operating speed and its capability during a dive at .97 Mach from 32,000 ft to 22,500 ft, reached at an altitude of : the fastest true airspeed ever attained by a commercial jet transport at that time. However, in level flight the maximum speed, 0.84 Mn, was less than that guaranteed to American Airlines, 0.89 Mn, because the drag levels with the anti-shock bodies were much higher than predicted. A drag reduction program was instituted during which streamlining of the engine pylon/wing interface and addition of nacelle fairings achieved 0.89 Mn.
In 1963, the 990A was reported to burn per hour of fuel at at at a mass of . In contrast, a modern
Boeing 737 MAX
The Boeing 737 MAX is a series of narrow-body aircraft developed by Boeing Commercial Airplanes as the fourth generation of the Boeing 737. It succeeds the Boeing 737 Next Generation and incorporates more efficient CFM International LEAP engin ...
8 typically carries 162 passengers and burns per hour at at sub-optimal parameters.
Swissair
Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...
bought eight 990As beginning in 1962, operating them on long-distance routes to South America, West Africa, the Middle and Far East, as well as on European routes with heavy traffic. Their fleet was withdrawn from service in 1975.
Scandinavian Airlines
The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna, Sweden.
Including its subsidiaries SAS Link and ...
(SAS) also operated 990A Coronados on their long-haul schedules to Tokyo and other destinations in the Far East and also to South America and Africa.
The 990's niche was soon captured by the
Boeing 720 and
Boeing 720B, derivatives of the
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...
, and later by the
Boeing 727
The Boeing 727 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
After the heavier Boeing 707, 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter ...
. By the time the assembly line shut down in 1963, only 37 990s had been produced, bringing General Dynamics' entire production of commercial jet airliners to 102 airframes. The failure of airlines to broadly accept the Convair 880 and 990 led Convair's parent company, General Dynamics, to suffer one of the largest corporate losses in history. As a result, Convair exited the jet airliner business, although it later built fuselages for
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own ...
, specifically for the
DC-10,
KC-10 and
MD-11.
When the major airlines retired their Convair 990s, they found a second life on charter airlines.
Spantax of Spain had a large fleet until the mid-1980s, as did
Denver Ports of Call. In 1967,
Alaska Airlines purchased Convair 990 PP-VJE from
Varig
VARIG (''Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense'', 'Rio Grandean Airways') was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went into judici ...
, and operated it as N987AS in scheduled airline service until 1975.
Variants
* 600: Designation used for conception, design and build of first aircraft.
* 990: Initial production version.
* 990A: Higher cruising speed and longer range.
Operators

*
Aerolíneas Peruanas S.A.*
*
Air Afrique
*
Air Ceylon
*
Air France
Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...
(one aircraft leased in 1967)
*
Alaska Airlines
*
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...
*
[Wegg 1990, p. 218]
*
Aerovías Ecuatorianas[Proctor 1994, p. 123]
*
Balair (leased from
Swissair
Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...
)
*
Ciskei International Airways- no revenue flights made
*
Christ is the Answer (leased from
Galaxy Airlines)- no revenue flights made
*
Denver Ports of Call
*
El Al Israel Airlines
*
Galaxy Airlines
*
Garuda Indonesian Airways*
*
Ghana Airways (leased from
Swissair
Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...
)
*
Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España (leased from
Spantax)
*
Internord Aviation
*
Lebanese International Airways
*
Middle East Airlines[Wegg 1990, p. 219]
*
Modern Air Transport
*
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
*
Nomads Travel Club
*
Nordair[Proctor 1994, p. 80]
*
Northeast Airlines
*
Paradise 1000 Travel Club (leased from
Modern Air Transport)
[Proctor 1994, p. 117]
*
Scandinavian Airlines System
The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the Flag carrier, national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna Municipality, Solna, Sweden.
Including ...
*
*
Spantax
*
Swissair
Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...
*
*
Thai Airways International (leased from
Scandinavian Airlines System
The Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), commonly known as Scandinavian Airlines, is the Flag carrier, national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It is part of SAS Group and is headquartered in Solna Municipality, Solna, Sweden.
Including ...
)
*
VARIG
VARIG (''Viação Aérea Rio-Grandense'', 'Rio Grandean Airways') was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went into judici ...
*
''*Original operators.''
Accidents and incidents
* May 28, 1968:
Garuda Indonesian Airways Flight 892 (PK-GJA) crashed after takeoff from
Bombay-Santacruz Airport, killing all 29 people on board and one person on the ground.
* January 5, 1970: A
Spantax Convair 990 (EC-BNM)
crashed at Stockholm-Arlanda Airport outside
Stockholm
Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
, Sweden while taking off on a three-engine ferry flight to
Zurich
Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, Switzerland, killing five of seven passengers; the three crew members survived.
* February 21, 1970:
Swissair Flight 330 (HB-ICD) crashed near
Würenlingen
Würenlingen is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Baden (district, Aargau), Baden in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau in Switzerland.
Geography
Würenlingen has an area, , of . Of this area, 29.2% is us ...
, Switzerland while trying to return to
Zurich Airport
Zurich Airport is the largest international airport of Switzerland and the airline hub, principal hub of Swiss International Air Lines. It serves Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland, and, with its surface transport links, much of the rest o ...
after a bomb detonated in the aft cargo compartment, killing all nine crew and 38 passengers.
* August 8, 1970: A
Modern Air Transport Convair 990 (N5603) was being ferried from New York to Acapulco when it crashed on approach to
Alvarez International Airport, Mexico. No one was killed, but one of the eight crew was badly injured.
* December 3, 1972: A Spantax Convair 990 (EC-BZR)
crashed at Los Rodeos Airport in
Tenerife
Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...
while taking off in an almost-zero visibility, killing all seven crew and 148 passengers.
* March 5, 1973:
Spantax Flight 400, a Convair 990 (EC-BJC) on a flight from Madrid to London, was involved in a
mid-air collision
In aviation, a mid-air collision is an aviation accident, accident in which two or more aircraft come into unplanned contact during flight.
The potential for a mid-air collision is increased by Aviation communication, miscommunication, mistrus ...
with
Iberia
The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...
Flight 504, a
McDonnell Douglas DC-9
The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast, single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced as the Douglas DC-9 prior to August 1967, after which point the company had merged with McDonnell ...
, over
Nantes
Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
. The Convair 990 lost part of its left wing, but its pilots managed to land safely at
Cognac – Châteaubernard Air Base. The DC-9 crashed, killing all 68 passengers and crew on board.
* April 12, 1973: A
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
Convair 990 (N711NA) collided with a U.S. Navy
Lockheed P-3C during the approach to
NAS Moffett Field
Moffett Federal Airfield , also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located in an unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, United States, between northern Mountain View and northern Sunnyvale. On November ...
in
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale () is a city located in the Santa Clara Valley in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States.
Sunnyvale lies along the historic El Camino Real (California), El Camino Real and U.S. Route 101 in California, Highway 1 ...
. Both aircraft crashed on the Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course, half a mile short of the runway, killing all aboard except for one Navy crewman.
* July 17, 1985: A NASA Convair 990 (N712NA) suffered a blown tire during take-off at Riverside-March AFB, California. While attempting to clear the runway, the rim shattered and punctured the right-wing fuel tank forward of the right main gear. All 19 occupants survived, but the subsequent intense fire destroyed the plane, its equipment and documentation.
Preserved aircraft
* 30-10-2 – N990AB – Aircraft in storage since 1980 with
Scroggins Aviation at the
Mojave Air and Space Port
The Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field is in Mojave, California, United States, at an elevation of . It is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, being certified as a s ...
in
Mojave, California. This aircraft was formerly operated by
Aérolíneas Peruanas.
* 30-10-12A – HB-ICC – Aircraft on display at the
Swiss Museum of Transport in
Lucerne, Switzerland. This aircraft was formerly operated by
Swissair
Swissair (German language, German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French language, French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne, stylised as swissair) was the Flag carrier, national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and ban ...
.
* 30-10-18 – EC-BZP – Forward fuselage preserved at
Sabadell Airport in
Sabadell
Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...
,
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
for cabin crew training. This aircraft was formerly operated by
Spantax.
* 30-10-29 – N810NA – Aircraft on display as a
gate guardian at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California. This aircraft was formerly operated by
American Airlines
American Airlines, Inc. is a major airlines of the United States, major airline in the United States headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, and is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the ...
,
Modern Air Transport and
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
.
* 30-10-30 – EC-BZO – Aircraft in storage at
Palma de Mallorca Airport in
Palma, Majorca
Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of M ...
since 1987. This aircraft was formerly operated by Spantax.
Specifications (Convair 990A)
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
* Gero, David. ''Aviation Disasters''. Yeovil, Somerset, UK: Patrick Stephens Ltd (Haynes Publishing), 1997. .
* Green, William. ''Macdonald Aircraft Handbook''. London. Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1964.
* Proctor, Jon. ''Convair 880 & 990''. Miami, Florida: World Transport Press, 1996. .
*
Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965-66''. London: Samson Low, Marston, 1965.
* Wegg, John. ''General Dynamic Aircraft and their Predecessors''. London: Putnam, 1990. .
External links
Team ConvairYouTube video of an American Airlines Convair 990
{{Authority control
990
1960s United States airliners
Quadjets
Low-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1961
Aircraft with retractable tricycle landing gear