Lear 25D: Pros and cons please

[NCherches]

You have to fly out of Billings Montana.... In my initial Clearance they said 'Maintain FL450'... never heard that before.

 

[con-pilot]

The only time we could get an unrestricted climb out of the DC area to 51.0 was when we left from Andrews AFB. Base Ops would get that for us, how I've not a clue.

I was not unhappy when they took that aircraft from us.

 

[Dizel8]

How I'd loved to try a 28, I dreamed of that thing the few times I saw it in Laredo. At least I think it was Laredo, it was the one with many colors.

As for the 25, I thought it was pretty heavy in pitch compared to the 24.

Like someone else said, you don't want to own one, you want to fly one and have someone else pay the bills.

If it has to be a Lear, I would certainly go for a 35 as opposed to a 25. However, depending on what the owner needs, a CJ might actually be a better bet. No, not as sexy as a Lear, not as big as a Sabre, but probably a lot more useful, depending on the persons specific need if course!

 

[Deskdriver101]

Rick1128 nailed it. I owned a 25 about 10 year ago. Good lucking getting out of SMO even with stage III hush kits (yes there are a handfull of 25's that were retrofitted w/hush kits) Aircraft was a fuel sucking whore. We routinely did trips out of LAX and taxiing from the north side of the airport to the south side the where the FBO was located it was not uncommon to burn 900- 1000# fuel just taxiing over! MX was a challenge, no lav, blah, blah, blah. Also, the 25 can be an unforgiving aircraft so transitioning from a turboprop may pose a bit of a challenge for your buddy.

There are a number of 35's out there for under $1m. Great range, fan engines, some model even have hard door enclosing the potty. Lear still provides decent. You'll still have to deal with a tiny cockpit and cabin and outdated avionics.

 

[Rick1128]

Also, the 25 can be an unforgiving aircraft so transitioning from a turboprop may pose a bit of a challenge for your buddy.

Deskdriver,

I trained several pilots who had just turboprop time, but no jet time. If they had a significant amount of MU2 or Merlin/Metro time, they had no problems flying the airplane. If you can handle one of the above aircraft, you will have no problem with a Lear. Except you will need to be able to think at, at least 8 miles a minute.

 

[LAZYB]

That would be the Lear 28 for a fact. If I could get an unrestricted climb to 51.0 I would have a maximum of a two hour endurance at .78 Mach and land with VFR reserves. Now try getting an unrestricted climb to 51.0 out of the Washinton D.C. and/or New York area.

How about a LR24E. No fuselage tank.