Future of the Hawker 4000

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When our embarrassment in chief, Barry Hussein opened his pie hole a few years ago and castigated corporate aviation, the handwriting was on the wall. How many corporations sold their fleets because of Hussein's opening his pie hole?

 

[gern_blanston]

When our embarrassment in chief, Barry Hussein opened his pie hole a few years ago and castigated corporate aviation, the handwriting was on the wall. How many corporations sold their fleets because of Hussein's opening his pie hole?

I'm not an Obama fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I reckon the answer to your question is, well, Zero.

 

[jonjuan]

Another tenant in our old hangar purchased a 4000 about a year ago. My reaction was how could someone smart enough to amass that much wealth make such a foolish business decision to buy that plane. I don't care how good some may think it is as an airplane, anyone with half a brain in this industry knew that this model and HB was a risky move for the last 18-24 months or more.

Because they were selling them for less than $15Mil (versus a list of 22). Sa,e with the 900XP-a 16 plane dumped for 10. Lots of rich people are still blinded by the "deal of the century."

 

[PMVULB AvMgr]

From what I've heard Talon Air operates 4 of them, and their dispatch reliability absolutely sucks. Two of theirs are owned by Talon's CEO - good, because they are constantly used to back up the other two which are owned by management clients. If it weren't for the back up airplanes, the other owners would likely throw those pieces of ..... out.

 

[con-pilot]

Well the future of the Hawker 4000 is up to the Chinese now.

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/HawkerBeechcraftAgreesToOfferFromChineseCompany_206946-1.html

 

[johnsonrod]

From what I've heard Talon Air operates 4 of them, and their dispatch reliability absolutely sucks. Two of theirs are owned by Talon's CEO - good, because they are constantly used to back up the other two which are owned by management clients. If it weren't for the back up airplanes, the other owners would likely throw those pieces of ..... out.

Just read that Talon now operates 9 H4000 airframes and will get 2-3 additional airframes before the end of 2013. Why would Talon operate so many if the airplane were so unreliable? Are they all back-up airplanes for each other? Sounds like they have maybe figured out how to operate them. I think I read all had the Block Point upgrade...

Won't apply but just curious - what are they paying newhires on the H4000? Sounds like they will need more pilots for the expanding H4000 fleet in the near term...

 

[Pattern-Master]

Just read that Talon now operates 9 H4000 airframes and will get 2-3 additional airframes before the end of 2013. Why would Talon operate so many if the airplane were so unreliable? Are they all back-up airplanes for each other? Sounds like they have maybe figured out how to operate them. I think I read all had the Block Point upgrade...

Won't apply but just curious - what are they paying newhires on the H4000? Sounds like they will need more pilots for the expanding H4000 fleet in the near term...

As a born and raised Long Islander, probably not enough. They do have a nice facility and operation, but that doesn't pay the bills.

 

[BEfly]

I was in training with some talon air guys in Wichita, they seem to have success with them. They were using them to fly rck stars around...on tour. They weren't boasting about the pay thats for sure.

I really like the airplane, powerful, fun to fly, but it's easy to love with less than 500 hours on it. still lots of players involved in buying the type. We are glad to have other planes to fly if the s... Hits the fan with HBC ( now Beechcraft) or the plane itself.

We get a lot of neg comments on the road with it. Lots of pilots like to hate this thing and know nothing about it...... We expect curiosity but some of the myths that people believe are really funny. The company is an American icon. They don't have to buy the product or like it but I expect some more thought to take place before pilots opening their mouths....Yeah right...Some mismanagement and corporate greed really messed things up for that company. If hawkers, beechjets, and king airs were wiping out around the world due to production flaws then the comments I get would be warranted. Cheers

 

[ultrarunner]

Just read that Talon now operates 9 H4000 airframes and will get 2-3 additional airframes before the end of 2013. Why would Talon operate so many if the airplane were so unreliable? Are they all back-up airplanes for each other? Sounds like they have maybe figured out how to operate them. I think I read all had the Block Point upgrade...

Won't apply but just curious - what are they paying newhires on the H4000? Sounds like they will need more pilots for the expanding H4000 fleet in the near term...

Johnson, that's approximately the number of white-tail and nearly-completed airframes that HB owned at the time of BK.

Shortly after the filing, HB got BK authorization to dump all remaining airframes on the market. At that time, they were being offered for 8 million each, with no warranty and all had the block-point upgrade.

Guess Talon decided to take the risk, or sold it to their customers to take the risk. But at some point, they will break and be very expensive to fix out-of pocket. But if there are spares readily available, I suppose for some it's a good risk....

Wouldn't be for me...

 

[CDogg]

Just read that Talon now operates 9 H4000 airframes and will get 2-3 additional airframes before the end of 2013. Why would Talon operate so many if the airplane were so unreliable? Are they all back-up airplanes for each other? Sounds like they have maybe figured out how to operate them. I think I read all had the Block Point upgrade...

Won't apply but just curious - what are they paying newhires on the H4000? Sounds like they will need more pilots for the expanding H4000 fleet in the near term...

They actually have 14 now... pay is around $70k for a SIC and $110k for a PIC (not at talon, but industry wide)