Learjet 40

[h25b]

Anyone here done any research with the Learjet 40 ?? I've seen nightmarish scenarios with early serial number Lear 45's and would think that all of the major bugs with the type would be worked out with the 40. Does the Lear 40 have any issues of its own ??? We're not in any hurry, but it seems like a good progression for us from the 31A.

Anyone with input would be appreciated...

 

[LJ45]

Lj 40

The 40 is a 45 minus: two feet of fuselage, two seats, a little less fuselage fuel and no APU (freon air). It has all the proven systems that was worked out with the early 45's.

We came out of a 31a also, It is like night and day. Big outside baggage, real potty, more fuel, more room inside and easier to fly with the new systems.


The 40 and the 45 are very capable machines with no big problems!

 

[FL350]

Easier to fly than the 31A?? I have flown the 45 and the 31 and, IMO, the 31 is a better flying airplane hands down. The 45/40 are not Lears at all. They are Bombardiers. The 45 flies like a truck. In addition, the autopilot is pretty bad. It will chase altitudes, S-turn across localizers and is not very smooth....not what you would expect from a brand new jet.

I will say that the creature comforts of the 45 are hard to argue with. We have put bags and clubs for 8 in that airplane without breaking a sweat. The APU is nice to have as well.

Good luck with whatever you do.

 

[LJ45]

Easier to fly than the 31A?? I have flown the 45 and the 31 and, IMO, the 31 is a better flying airplane hands down. The 45/40 are not Lears at all. They are Bombardiers. The 45 flies like a truck. In addition, the autopilot is pretty bad. It will chase altitudes, S-turn across localizers and is not very smooth....not what you would expect from a brand new jet.

I will say that the creature comforts of the 45 are hard to argue with. We have put bags and clubs for 8 in that airplane without breaking a sweat. The APU is nice to have as well.

Good luck with whatever you do.

I agree yes the control feel is better and the autopilot is better in the 31a...after that, the engine controls (ie FADEC like detents) the anti ice systems, fuel system, pressurization, windshields, gear, brakes,...etc all 45/40

 

[FL350]

The engine controls are nothing more than DEECs with detents built into the throttle levers. Fuel system I will give you. The brakes are pretty impressive as well but the problem is that the airplane relies too heavily on the wheel brakes. Your contaminated runway data is pathetic. You can get the airplane into a 5000 foot strip easily but if it rains you are stuck. As I recall, if you have a wet runway and a moderately loaded aircraft, you are going to need 7000 ft. (according to the book) to get out. I guess the pressurization is a little easier to set, but it can be a problem if you are doing a short flight between airports with moderately different elevations. The rest of the systems, I would say are equivalent to the 31A.

In case you hadn't noticed, I'm not a big fan of the airplane. I just feel like Bombardier tried to put too much into this airplane and ended up cutting a lot of corners. They should have let the Lear engineers finish the airplane they started.

 

[LJ45]

The engine controls are nothing more than DEECs with detents built into the throttle levers. Quote

Well, you set TO pwr and forget about it, MCT and forget about it, MCR and let it rip...Oh and turn on the anti ice automatic pwr adjustment...I would say that it is a lot more than DEEC's...By the way I have 1200+ hours in the 31a and 1900+hours in the 45, I'll keep the 45 any day

 

[thatpilotguy]

I just did a pilot demo in the 45XR. It’s an impressive airplane. I started my career in Lear 20 series and 30 series. There are similarities if you look real hard, but they are totally different aircraft. As it stands now the operating cost of the 45XR is hard to beat. I'm a little concerned about the customer service with regard to maintenance. Anyone have any input here?

 

[h25b]

The 31a is a blast to fly and the Learjet 40 looks like a good upgrade in terms of range and baggage space. We currently have 31A Serial 232 which is practically new. It does the job but we are finding that the exterior baggage along with the extra range of the 40 could be worth the upgrade when more of them hit the pre-owned market. The 31a would be a great aircraft for us if we were in the Midwest but being in central NC makes getting out west tough especially in the winter...

 

[vixin]

"I will say that the creature comforts of the 45 are hard to argue with. We have put bags and clubs for 8 in that airplane without breaking a sweat." FL350

How did you do this and stay under your zero fuel? Did you leave some people behind. At flex our 45's have this problem, with a 14300 BOW and 16000 zero fuel weight. We have to do trips in the 60 to cover this. Basically we send 2 planes, when it is 8 pax with clubs and bags.

 

[LJ45]

45 Bow

"I will say that the creature comforts of the 45 are hard to argue with. We have put bags and clubs for 8 in that airplane without breaking a sweat." FL350

How did you do this and stay under your zero fuel? Did you leave some people behind. At flex our 45's have this problem, with a 14300 BOW and 16000 zero fuel weight. We have to do trips in the 60 to cover this. Basically we send 2 planes, when it is 8 pax with clubs and bags.

Our 45 BOW is 14000 lb, APU, no cabin audio or video!