Lear 31A

[sydeseet]

Exactly. I flew a Lear 24 & 25 prior to the 31A and the fuel management mentality is the same in all three. Fuel is always a concern if the leg is greater than two hours and you absolutely must make it into the 40's to go anywhere. A delayed climb or early descent is a potential disaster or diversion in the making.

Control harmony? Huh? You engineers are all the same...... It is a blast to fly for 180 minutes at a time, no question about it.

 

[LJ45]

also...The 31a has one of the finest autopilots...The Learjet 45 Honeywell autopilot is pathetic compared to the KFC3100.

 

[GVFlyer]

also...The 31a has one of the finest autopilots...The Learjet 45 Honeywell autopilot is pathetic compared to the KFC3100.

I'm familiar with that autopilot. It was deveolped by famed Kentuckian Colonel Sanders and comes with two sides.



GV

 

[Lead Sled]

I'm familiar with that autopilot. It was deveolped by famed Kentuckian Colonel Sanders and comes with two sides.

Also, you can choose between original and extra crispy - maybe not a good thing when it comes to avionics.

 

[Lead Sled]

Exactly. I flew a Lear 24 & 25 prior to the 31A and the fuel management mentality is the same in all three. Fuel is always a concern if the leg is greater than two hours and you absolutely must make it into the 40's to go anywhere.

That may not be a bad thing - I don't know anyone who can endure a 20 or 30 series Lear cockpit for much more than 2 hours anyway.

The 35 was the exact opposite - the only fuel concerns we ever had was the occassional concern with maximum landing weight on some of our shorter hops.

The problem with all of the 30 series Lears is that they're getting a little long in the tooth now. In their day they were pretty cutting edge,but how far can you take 1950's technology? For Pete's sake, straight-wing Citations are essentially just as fast and a whole lot easier to live with on a day to day basis.

LS

 

[frog_flyer]

In their day they were pretty cutting edge,but how far can you take 1950's technology?

Ask the USAF.

 

[Lead Sled]

Ask the USAF.

Bombardier ain't the USAF.

 

[GVFlyer]

I really like the Lear 35A, Sled.

When I was assigned to Headquarters U.S. European Command in Stuttgart Germany, our Area of Responsibility (AOR) was from The Hebrides, to the Azores to the Horn of Africa, throughout the Mideast and up to Moscow as our Eastern boundary. We had three C-21As, the military variant of the Lear 35A, and they were perfect for our mission. We never had to sweat fuel.

The fuel dump is a nice feature as well. Under our rules, we could file to a destination below minimums as long as we had two alternates above minimums. We frequently did so and would pack fuel on accordingly. When it became apparent that we would make in in to our destination, it was not uncommon for us to be coming down through 15,000 feet streaming fuel from both tip tanks to get down to landing weight.

We had a kick-ass tactical program where we got to do low-level high speed navigation, overhead approaches, pop-up approaches, high performance take-offs riding the burble and so forth.

We could fill the seats, put 6,238 lbs of fuel in the tanks and go 1,850 nm as a no-brainer. At my follow-on assignment at Andrews AFB, with a little actual planning I've flown the jet from Washington DC to San Francisco.

If I hit Powerball today, I'll have a late model Lear 36A in my garage tomorrow. I could go anyplace on Earth in the jet and still have the capability to roll it like a little acrobat.


GV

 

[CRAZY LEGS]

I really like the Lear 35A, Sled.

We could fill the seats, put 6,238 lbs of fuel in the tanks and go 1,850 nm as a no-brainer. At my follow-on assignment at Andrews AFB, with a little actual planning I've flown the jet from Washington DC to San Francisco.


very true. can' t think of another light jet that can do that.

and you can pick a nice 35 up for around 2 million, the price of a VLJ.

whats the powerball up to? cash option for me

 

[2dumb2drive]

We could fill the seats, put 6,238 lbs of fuel in the tanks and go 1,850 nm as a no-brainer. At my follow-on assignment at Andrews AFB, with a little actual planning I've flown the jet from Washington DC to San Francisco.

GV

As someone that occasionally flys a 35a i would like to know how this was accomplished. Straight line from ADW to SFO is 2124 nm. Going west ive never seen anything close to this, even high and pulled back. Curious as to what alt, what mach, what you landed with, and flight time. If you recall, thanks.