What is flying a Lear 23,25,35 like?

[LearCrj]

The Lear is passing through FL 340 indicating .78 Mach and climbing better than 2000 FPM and this is in the Lear 35,the slow climber of the group, mind you.

On a cool night (less than ISA) I have climbed the 24 to FL 390 in less than 9 minutes Yahooooooo!

My current airplane, the RJ, has wet dreams about this kind of performance.

 

[TurboS7]

Best climb

Stripped cargoLR23 going out of YIP with 2500 lbs of fuel, cleared to climb to 390 going to MCI. Took-off to the Northeast and did a right turn to 260 degrees our asigned heading. When we got to the heading with a half standard rate turn we were level at 390. Almost an averge 7000fpm all the way up.

 

[banned username 2]

Re: Best climb

Stripped cargoLR23 going out of YIP with 2500 lbs of fuel, cleared to climb to 390 going to MCI. Took-off to the Northeast and did a right turn to 260 degrees our asigned heading. When we got to the heading with a half standard rate turn we were level at 390. Almost an averge 7000fpm all the way up.

How much fuel did you land with at MCI? 2500 lbs doesn't sound like much departure fuel, even for a fairly short flight as that....

 

[bigD]

2500 lbs doesn't sound like much departure fuel, even for a fairly short flight as that....

Sigh...about half the time in my logbook is in planes with gross weights less than that.

::shakes head::

someday....

 

[banned username 2]

Sigh...about half the time in my logbook is in planes with gross weights less than that.

::shakes head::

someday....

Hehehe... don't feel bad, I have about 1,600 hours of C-172 time... You'll get there!

In the Falcon 900EX we usually target 3,000 lbs for landing fuel (fuel remaining)... gives a nice comfort factor... we can go as low as 2,000 but thats about it for our company...

 

[bigD]

You'll get there!

Heh - thanks! I know. I'm just coming up on a birthday that also marks 7 years from my private, but am still looking to fly a plane grossing more than 4K. I'm sooo close with the Duchess though!

 

[banned username 2]

Heh - thanks! I know. I'm just coming up on a birthday that also marks 7 years from my private, but am still looking to fly a plane grossing more than 4K. I'm sooo close with the Duchess though!

3,900 lbs is pretty close! I also have about 500+ hours in a Duchess.... Nice plane to fly!

 

[Toad4]

Re: Best climb

Stripped cargoLR23 going out of YIP with 2500 lbs of fuel, cleared to climb to 390 going to MCI. Took-off to the Northeast and did a right turn to 260 degrees our asigned heading. When we got to the heading with a half standard rate turn we were level at 390. Almost an averge 7000fpm all the way up.

We fly Lear 23, 24, and 24D's. After flying 99% cargo for the past 12 months and 680 hours, I can safely bet that you landed with between 500-800 lbs. I don't know if you were the PIC, but if you were, you are a FO's nightmare. I had one Capt. who decided that we could go from FWA to DRT non-stop in a 24 with the trunk tank pump inop. I begged and pleaded, but we went anyway. About the time we past GKY he started to get nervous. I explained that if we couldn't do it, now was the time because there is basically nothing within 75 miles of DRT. He said, and I love this, "I think we can make it". We landed with 650 lbs. of fuel and 400 of that was unusable in the trunk. If you don't know, we burn 900 lbs an hour with both running at idle on the ground and approx. 4000 lbs./hr. at T/O power. I figure with 250 lbs. of usable we could have taxied for about 17 min. with both running (if the gauge was right in an airplane that was built in 1967 and still has original wiring).

Another fun story:

Imagine taking of from Mexico at night and your Capt. rolling the aircraft after a low transition T/O (stay low, suck the gear up) at night without telling you. Makes you want a new job real fast.

As far as flying the early 20 series (we actually have a 23 with serial number 34 built in 1965 and our newest is a 24D built in 1969) they are a kick in the pants. One of our stripped 24's has 5800 lbs of thrust and an empty weight of 7100 lbs. If you put on 2000 lbs. of fuel (enough for about 20 min. flight with the ability to go around once) it give a thrust to weight ratio of .64/1 and you will be able to climb at 10,000 ft/min. The controls are light and have good harmony (about like a Bonanza). The airplane has the power to do anything you want and can get to FL410 in 11 min. at gross and from FL 410 to 10,000 in about 3 min. The auto-pilot is the best boat anchor I have ever seen installed in an aircraft so hand flying is the norm. At FL 390 and above, if you think it, it happens (thumb and forefinger only on the controls).

When I was 12 yrs old I thought that cargo Lear pilots had the best job in the world, and I was right for about 6 months. After that everything becomes numbers and you wish you had a better quality of life, more pay, and newer equipment. This becomes painfully evident when the "hot freight" in back over-rides all reasoning in the front.

If you get to fly a Lear for fun there is no better light jet to be in. If you fly it for a job, I recommend the Citation with expensive people in the back who will pay you not to take chances instead of boxes that pay TO take chances.

 

[HueyPilot]

I love the Lear 35. I flew what was essentially a Beechjet prior to flying the 35A. While the Beechjet had better avionics and more room the 35A is faster and has more power than the Beech.

My favorite climbs include one where we climbed out of Cherry Point MCAS with about 4000 lbs of gas, no pax, and it was about 50 degrees outside. That, and we decided to practice an obstacle climb profile, where we leave our flaps at 8 degrees and rotate to about 20 degrees nose high, and climb out just above V2. We asked for a departure clearance straight to 10,000 feet, and we were there in less than a minute.

Another time we did the same thing at Barstow-Daggett (DAG), and the departure procedure said to depart runway 27(??) and make a turn direct to the VOR and climb to 7,000 feet in a holding pattern before turning on course. We were passing 7,000 abeam the departure end of the runway, and center cleared us on course way before we even got to the VOR.

My favorite descent in the Lear 35A was into Ft. Stewart, GA (LHW). The Restricted areas were hot, so they kept us high (270) to pass by the ranges, and once we were clear the restricted areas, they cleared us direct to 4,000, and a 180 degree turn to the west where the field was. I popped the spoilers, banked it to 70 degrees, and nosed it down to Mmo. We were screaming down, and the Flight Surgeon we had on board thought it was some kind of theme park ride!

But ya gotta be careful and start mellowing it out down at the bottom....it's easy to get carried away and forget about the 250 below 10K rule and also descend so fast that your level off is ugly if you don't start reducing the descent rate.

When we're empty, we turn-n-burn...that plane will bank fast, and it'll respond quick with power down low. But at altitude it's kinda a pig unless you're pretty light. If you are heavy-weight and climbing to the high 30s or low 40s, don't lose too much airspeed in the climb because you'll never get it back!

Anyone looking for a good place to get some jet time, the Learjet is a great place to be. But it can bite ya in the arse pretty quick if you're not on top of things.

 

[LR25]

I tell ya, theres alot of Lear fans out here.

I'm glad to see such a positive responce to something.

Huey Pilot, I see you have flown other jets in the military, but I must say, if you havnt flown a 20 series yet, do it, they make a 35 look ill after about 10K ft.

Have fun all.