Lead Sled
Sitt'n on the throne...
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2004
- Posts
- 2,066
I have fond memories of the time I spent in the 35 as well. It is a good airplane and it was a blast to hand fly. What I don't miss is the cramped cockpit, the baggage issues, the fuel bubbles in the wing, the fogged up windshields, the cold feet, and the small cabin. Other than that, it was pretty near perfect.
I point was (is) that the Lears were built using the best technology that money could buy back in the late '50s and early 60's. The fact that they are still viable after nearly 40 years is a testiment to the genius of the original design.
That being said, they are getting long in the tooth. Earlier, I mentioned the IAI Astra. That airframe was designed using 1980's technology. With that technology came the ability to fly about 1000 nm further, 20 ktas + faster, in a cabin approximately 2.5 larger using engines that develop just 200 pounds more thrust each.
The Lear always has been and always will be one of my favorite airplanes, but like I said earlier, there are other airplanes out there that are much easier to live with on a day-to-day basis.
The original thread was about the 31. IMHO, it's little more than a 35 with fuel imposed limitations in addition to all of the others that are inherant with the airframe. If I were in the market for a 30 series Lear I would be looking for the latest s/n 35 that I could find and go have a ball flying it. I'd just hope that I would never have to sit in the beast for more that about 3 hours and that we never had to carry more than about 4 passengers.
LS
I point was (is) that the Lears were built using the best technology that money could buy back in the late '50s and early 60's. The fact that they are still viable after nearly 40 years is a testiment to the genius of the original design.
That being said, they are getting long in the tooth. Earlier, I mentioned the IAI Astra. That airframe was designed using 1980's technology. With that technology came the ability to fly about 1000 nm further, 20 ktas + faster, in a cabin approximately 2.5 larger using engines that develop just 200 pounds more thrust each.
The Lear always has been and always will be one of my favorite airplanes, but like I said earlier, there are other airplanes out there that are much easier to live with on a day-to-day basis.
The original thread was about the 31. IMHO, it's little more than a 35 with fuel imposed limitations in addition to all of the others that are inherant with the airframe. If I were in the market for a 30 series Lear I would be looking for the latest s/n 35 that I could find and go have a ball flying it. I'd just hope that I would never have to sit in the beast for more that about 3 hours and that we never had to carry more than about 4 passengers.
LS
