Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Friendliest aviation Ccmmunity on the web
  • Modern site for PC's, Phones, Tablets - no 3rd party apps required
  • Ask questions, help others, promote aviation
  • Share the passion for aviation
  • Invite everyone to Flightinfo.com and let's have fun

Beech 400 Vs LJ35

Welcome to Flightinfo.com

  • Register now and join the discussion
  • Modern secure site, no 3rd party apps required
  • Invite your friends
  • Share the passion of aviation
  • Friendliest aviation community on the web

LearjetGA

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Posts
61
Good morning everybody.

I hope things are going pretty good on your side.

I couldn't help myself looking at a Beech 400 this week. It was a new one from Flops. A Beautiful plane. I don't know much about it. What is the difference between a 400 and a 400A.
What is its performance, major sqwaks, and past experience.

Do you prefer a Learjet or the Beech ?

I haven't seen many in part 135 ops, are they expensive to fly. DOC ? Are the parts as expensive as in a King Air ?

Fly safe

LearjetGA:D
 
Falcon Capt said:
I think the Lear 35a outperforms the BeechJet 400A in every way (Speed, Altitude, Range, Useful Load) by a fair margin....

..........................Beechjet 400A................LearJet35a
Mmo........................M0.78............................M0.83
Vmo........................320 KIAS.......................359 KIAS
Hi-Spd Cruise..........449 KTAS.......................464 KTAS
LRC........................391 KTAS.......................420 KTAS
TTC FL410...............24 Mins..........................19 Mins
Range LRC FL410......1,412 NM.......................1,927 NM
Full Fuel Payload......473 lbs..........................1,762 lbs.
Thrust per engine.....2,965 lbs........................3,500 lbs.
MGTOW...................16,100 lbs.....................18,300 lbs.
BOW........................10,915 lbs.....................10,300 lbs.
Max Fuel..................4,912 lbs.......................6,238 lbs.

Hope this helps....
 
I have never flown either but have ridden in both as a passenger and sat in the cockpit of both. Like Falcon Capt said the 35a will beat the 400a in virtually every aspect EXCEPT comfort. Neither cabin is huge by any means but the Lear is tiny and very uncocmfrtable for those of us on the bigger side(6'4")

CL
 
Beechjet 400

I used to fly a 400A as a part-time copilot. I can't speak to its comparison to the Lear, but I've always been somewhat partial to the BE400 series since it was the first pure jet I ever flew. It was sort of a dog in the higher flight levels, it took quite a while to reach Mmo once you got there, and it didn't carry a lot of gas for anything beyond about a two hour leg, less with a lot of stuff. That said, I'd certainly take it over the Citation series.

As for the 400 and 400A differences, I believe the major changes were the engine size (the 400A has 2900 lbs/side, I can't remember what the 400 model has), and the fuel system went through several changes from the Diamond to the 400 and 400A. There's also some changes in the yaw damper, if memory serves. Even within the 400A series, though, there's a lot of variation by serial number; some didn't have thrust reversers, some don't have windshield wipers, some don't have the freon air conditioning. Of course, it's been a few years, so I could be entirely full of crap!
 
I fly the 400a, yes it is kind of a dog at high altitudes, but what i do love about the acft is the collins ams 5000 avionics. It really makes it easy to fly!
 
BE400A

it didn't carry a lot of gas for anything beyond about a two hour leg, less with a lot of stuff.

From what I recall, I was able to top off with 2 pax which would give me about 3:45 to 4:00 hours. It really could have used another 1000 lbs. of gas. But, even the Diamond was better than a 2 hour airplane.

The straight 400 was a product of the change to the 400A as we know it from the Mitsubishi Diamond. Yaw system was like the Diamond. The fuel system was similiar to the Diamond but had a higher capacity and had some features found only on the 400. Steam gauges like the Diamond. The engines were the same JT-15D-5 Pratts. The Diamond had JT-15D-4 which was very similiar to the engines hung on the lighter C550.

For some reason unkown to me, any 400 I flew seemed to out perform the 400A as far as climb and acceleration. The cabin is nice for the class of airplane. Pax like it.

Hope this helps.
 
Performance

The reason the 400 appears to perform better than the 400A may have something to do with the fact that the 400's MGTW is 400 pounds lighter.
 
BE400

The reason the 400 appears to perform better than the 400A may have something to do with the fact that the 400's MGTW is 400 pounds lighter.

I did consider the 320 lbs. difference in MGTW but most takeoffs were not at gross weight. The BOW's are very similiar, so a 15000 lbs. takeoff should be pretty similiar with either aircraft. It might have been my imagination but when I really noticed it was climbing with engine and wing anti-ice on. The 400's seemed to perform very well with the reduced power settings.
 

Latest resources

Back
Top