2:04 “we’re very enthusiastic about it.” Haha!! I guess in 1962 that was what an enthused person looked and sounded like!

2:01 yes we can tell how enthused you are! 😂

In the end of the '60 and beginn of the '70 i flow with my Mom and Dad from TXL to PMI very often in Summer Holidays! They Aircraft was an CV 990 Coronado from Modern Air! Very fast Aircraft!

I’m old enough to have flown on AA Convair. Boy on take off, it felt as though it was like being in a rocket. 👍🏻

An early high bypass ratio engine design, incredible!

When I went to Colorado Aero Tech back it 1990, they had several of these engines. They were acquired from Denver Ports of Call travel club. They had several of these ex American 990s. They also had a ex American 707. One of the 990s was made into a restaurant that was located at Erie air park near Lafayette Colorado.

'Geez! My Dad smoked less than this bird' was my first impression when watching this film. CV880/990 were amazing, along with the 4 engine Douglas

I flew on the Balair Coronado in June 1968.

Love listening to Engineers explain their creations! Takeoff like the 727’s and more!

Good heaven we have today much more environmentally friendly engines. :-)

- Contact, 50 nautical miles - Did you get It in the radar? - No, it's in visual range.

I love the Clutch Caro danger music that starts this out.

This is entertaining on many levels :-D Thanks to whoever preserved these films.

I wonder what the engine guy in the vid would think about the GE9X lol.

Beautiful. So sad it didn't sell well

My father flew the 990 in the early '60's for AA. Said it flew okay but he much preferred the 707.

Howard Hughes had influence on the design of the Convair 880 snd 990. He also had influence over TWA..and he wanted TWA to have a fleet of Convair 880s for domestic routes and 990s for international routes. He wanted it to be faster than the 707 and the DC8 so he suggested that Convair make the fuselage narrower...in fact a whole row of was taken our. The DC8 and 707 had 3 by 3 cross section seating but the 880 and 990 only had 3 by 2 cross section seating. Howard Hughes and Convair were only going by the jet engines that were available during the time that it was being designed. Once the turbo fan engines appeared and were placed on the DC8 and 707, the airlines lost interest in the Convair jetliners. American airlines wanted to cancel the entire order of 990s because they could not fly as fast as promised by Convair. The problem was with the outer engines numbers 2 and 4.....when the speed increased to 635mph....the airplane would start to vibeate.....American airlines agreed to take delivery anyway but under protest because they had to fly the 990 at a much slower speed until the vibration problem was solved. After a year, the entire fleet was modified..the number 1 and number 4 engines were recessed....look at pictures of the 990's outer engines when it first flew and then compare to the 990s when in service a few years later .you will see the difference in the outer engines That modification solved the vibration problem but it was too late...American airlines demanded a huge discount...other airlines went with the DC8 or 707 instead....so these jetliners were not successful in terms of business. Besides having a much narrower fuselage than the DC8 and 707, the 990 entered into service 4 years after the 707 and 3 years after the 707....although the airlines were extremely interested in buying jetliners at that time, the DC8 and 707 had the market cornered so the Convair jetliners couldn't compete. Boeing produced a scaled down lightweight version of the 707 abd called it the 720. It was about the size of the 880..just a little bigger but it had the larger 707 fuselage. Boeing priced it just a little bit less expensive than the 880 in order to drive it out of the market and Boeing succeeded. Convair lost major sales when United airlines and Eastern airlines purchased the 720 instead. The 880 and 990 were popular with passengers and pilots loved to fly them. The owners of Spantax airlines of Spain, abdolutely loved the 990 and began purchasing them from other airlines in the late 1960s. They were successful flying the 990 throuout European routes throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The 990s were doing a great job during that time periodin the midst of 727 s, 737s, and Arbusses. So the 880 and 990 left their mark in the airline history. They were certainly beautiful to look at and when jets were new they were smokey indeed...but that was cobsidered normal in their day. Fuel prices were cheap and loud engines were the standard. The people who were around back then, remember the 880 and 990 with a certain nostalgia.

This is awesome. The announcer couldn't get away from the area rule talk fast enough. 😂

The first turbofan aircraft and the fastest airliner of its time, soon to be passed by the 747 in 1969 and then the Concorde in 1976.

That's just too cool. I never had a chance to fly on a Coronado (United used DC-8's) but remember seeing them at BWI, LAX, and San Francisco. The engines had a distinct sound unlike anything else, very unique. Beautiful aircraft though. Another Classic Aviation grand slam, thanks!

What a beautiful old beast!

Educational and entertaining! Thank you for the upload!

Fastest cruising jetliner of its day until the 747 came out.

I went to work for AA in 1967 but never got a chance to fly on a Convair 990. I think AA was pretty happy to get rid of these things around that era. One thing that sticks out in my mind was how much they polluted the air.

Great video. Good info especially when showing how the rear fan worked.

I'm grateful for this movie!! Very nice!!

I was surprised the aft fan was a power turbine, but makes sense after learning a bit more about the process.

So basically this plane is a giant flying race car since it’s made for speed.

Great explanation of how these (new) engines worked. Loved to see the Swissair plane ready to deliver in the background at 6:20 (they called it „Coronado“ @Swissair instead „Astrojet“😉).

Good one, Chris. Thanks for finding & posting it.

We are deeply enthusiastic that this airplane we bought to fly at 635 MPH can just about manage 575 MPH, thus making it no faster than the larger and much more efficient 707. We are just pleased as pleased can be!

It looks like they burned coal! Fantastic smokers on those wings.

The opening of this wonderful video does contain the most annoying music in the history of videos. Fortunately, it goes away quickly. As others have noted I too never knew there was a turbo fan engine in 1962. I often flew on the 880's and 990's (with their curious "speed pods" ...i.e., fuel containers, duh) on American Airlines -- ORD-LAS -- ORD-LAX, but never felt any difference between those aircraft and the 707. Also, I believe Elvis owned an 880 as well as a Lockheed Jetstar.

Wow look at that smoke!

Amazing classic footage other subscribers

There is a Convair 990 on public display at the entrance of Mojave Air & Space Port in California

The 990 was also known as the "Coronado," coined by Swissair to the best of my knowledge.

Boy. He is pretty enthusiastic about it.

I had no idea they fan jets in 1962 now one engine produces 100,000 ilbs of thrust

Astrojet because it makes the sky black like the starry night - still, wonderful and deeply missed in this sterilised composite world of modern aviation.

Thank you

And Kenny is so enthusiastic.........

Breathe in that smoke!

underrated plane, didn’t get the success it deserved

This video is just screaming for Mystery Science Theatre 3000 treatment.

Jesus, look at that smoke! Environmental regs? Not so much.

Early 70s on Delta, never flew any faster between Cincinnati and SLC.

Kelly sounds like Mr. Smithers lmfao

Kelly looks very enthusiastic.

What a beauty

Orgullosos de tanta contaminación que hacía y ellos felices

I wonder if they did make it 6 abreast seating if it would of had a better chance against the 707 and DC 8

Nice Video Parabéns 😍😍😍😍

No one could be bothered solving the combuster smoke LOL...I guess because it never caught on as a contender for the 707 or DC-8, they just never got around to it.

Just look at all that pollution! A good first 20 years of the jet age and we're denying climate change isn't real? The fact that jets don't spew out dark exhaust anymore has certainly helped reduce the amount of pollution today which is always a good thing. Air travel is also 100x's safer thankfully. I was born in 1970 and can remember when plane crashes were more frequent than today. I remember the 1982 Air Florida Potomac River crash, the 1989 United Airlines Sioux Falls crash landing, the Eastern Airlines Everglades crash and I believe the last major accident was the 2008 Continental Express crash in Clarence NY, just outside of Buffalo, where I'm from. I flew back and forth btwn Buffalo and NYC countless times and had taken that particular flight out of EWR several times!

Late years...👏👏👏👏👏🎼🎵🎶☕🛬✈

he does not look to enthusiastic

Looks like tom & Jerry's music 😍

What an interesting

Can anyone tell me why the walls of the bypass air duct - called "inner cowl" in this video - happen to be corrugated? I guess this was done for reasons of structural reinforcement, but wouldn't it distort the airflow and create unwanted turbulences in the bypass air stream?

"Gee, Dick isnt she running a bit rich"

Keep that flutter under control.

This acceptance pilot guy...something seems off with this dude. What planet did people come from back then?

An awesome piece of engineering that was ultimately a commercial failure. This happens frequently in the ultra-conservative aviation industry: Innovation is met with skepticism.

Jeebus. Watching this there's o question why Convair went out of business. Crazy old codgers running the show.

Did he say it had an _asthma engine_ ? Smoking like a chimney.

All those guys probably World War II veterans

Drank the hell out of kerosene!

What a dirty boid!

smoking ugly beast of an aircraft 😍

What a hideously filthy set of engines.

Surprised this could "promo" anything, let alone an aeroplane 🤣

Why old american films feature people with such thick nasal accent? Did everyone spoke that way back then in America?

What's up with that overly DRAMATIC cornball music?

The music they dubbed onto these old films was so very suckingly BAD!

WHY did they always use the CHEESY OVERLY DRAMATIC CORNY B MOVIE MUSIC?

If you gave me a choice today 2023 of flying on a 60 year old 990 Astro Jet American Airlines restored with the same spacing,food , rules regulations and service from 1962 American Airlines or today's Boeing 737 Max or 777 or 767 service, I will take the Old faster 990 ASTRO Jet along with the 60s service and at least I won't have to look at geriatric fat stewardess,oh sorry flight attendants! And I'll get there faster in style on the 60 year old Convair 990 ASTRO Jet!

Why did they all sound like they were about to fall asleep themselves? No matter how many times they said the word enthusiatic, we just couldn't feel it when they all spoke with such drowsy voice and sluggish pace!

Honestly a terrible production, this contained no information at all.

Dudes r so bad in interviews just like Ben in parks and rec

I've only flown on 707's, not the 990. I wish that I could have. An advanced, strong and fast airplane. I've always loved it. Thanks for this post.