[maddy42]

The iconic learjet will cease to exist. No more production of this jet.

An iconic image of the "lifestyles of the rich and famous" has always been the Learjet, the private jet of choice for celebrities and the well heeled. On February 11, 2020, Learjet's owner, Canadian airplane maker Bombardier, announced that at the end of 2021, after 60 years, it will be ceasing production of the jet.

The reason for this change: the Learjet isn't big enough or luxurious enough for today's customers.

Among the first private jets
The Learjet was created by American engineer and inventor William Lear, who based his design on Swiss military jets. The original Learjet, which could fly as fast as a Boeing 707, was first flown in 1963, and since then over 3,000 have been built. William Lear also invented the automobile radio and the eight-track stereo tape player for automobiles.

The public first became aware of the Learjet during the 1960s when celebrities such as Frank Sinatra and his "rat pack" began appearing in photographs that showed them either boarding or stepping off the planes.

In 1967, Frank Sinatra famously lent his personal Learjet to Elvis Presley so that Presley could fly from Palm Springs, California to Las Vegas in order to marry his sweetheart, Priscilla. A 2012 photo of tennis star Novak Djokovic shows him posed next to his Learjet 45 XR on a tarmac in Bermuda.

Perhaps most famously, in October 1999, professional golfer Payne Stewart and four other passengers were flying a Learjet from Stewart's home in Florida to a golf tournament in Texas. When air traffic controllers couldn't raise the plane, Air Force jets were scrambled to intercept and examine the aircraft.

The Air Force pilots reported seeing the Learjet's windows iced over, which meant that the plane had failed to pressurize and that its occupants were likely incapacitated or already dead. When it ran out of gas, the plane crashed in South Dakota, far afield from its original course, killing all on board.

Learjet had competition
In 1963, Dassault Falcon released its first executive jet, the Mystere 20, and in 1966, that plane made an appearance in Audrey Hepburn's movie, How to Steal a Million. In 1966, Gulfstream released its Gulfstream II, which set the standard for large-cabin private jets.

In September 1969, Cessna released its first Citation small jet, and in 1976, the first private jet having three engines, the Dassault Falcon 50, took its maiden flight. In November 1978, the Canadair Challenger took flight, forming the basis for Bombardier's CRJ family of regional aircraft.

It wasn't until 1993 that Cessna released its Citation X, and the current version of that aircraft is now the fastest private jet in the world, capable of flying at Mach 0.935 or just under the speed of sound.

The 1990s saw the release of the Learjet 45 and the Beechcraft Premier I. In 1996, Cessna released its Citation XLS, which became one of the world's best-selling private jets, with over 600 aircraft currently in service.

In March 2001, Embraer's Legacy 600 first took to the skies, and in August of that year, Barbardier released its Challenger 300. In 2005, Cessna released its Citation Mustang, and that same year at the Paris Air Show, Dassault displayed its first fully fly-by-wire business jet, the Falcon 7X.

In 2008, Gulfstream upped the ante with the launch of its Gulfstream G650, which is one of the longest range private jets. In 2013, a G650 set an around-the-world speed record for a non-supersonic aircraft by circling the globe in 41 hours, 7 minutes.

Embraer released its midsize, fly-by-wire aircraft, the Legacy 500, in 2012, followed by the Legacy 450 in December 2013. In 2016, motor car company Honda released its unique HondaJet.

According to an analysis of the business aviation market made by FlightGlobal, today's private jet fleet is dominated by Textron Aviation, maker of Beechcraft and Cessna aircraft, with 43.9% of the market. Following Textron, with 22.4% of the market, is Bombardier, followed by Gulfstream with 13.0%, Dassault with 9.6%, and Embraer with 5.8% of the market.

Credits: https://interestingengineering.com/b...iconic-learjet

[GTO]

Thanks for sharing! Moving to the CV forum where we discuss these bad boys!

[V.Narayan]

An iconic aircraft that for all practical purposes was the first jet powered business executive aircraft in the world when it first flew in 1963 and entered service in 1964. The US Air Force had a Lockheed business jet developed for various uses including executive travel of its Generals and VIP politicians but that was not available to the public at large.

When William Lear designed the Learjet small fuel efficient turbofan engines were non-existent. The only powerplant was a small turbojet which consumes almost 15% to 30% more fuel. So he designed a very very narrow fuselage cross section. The inside dimensions of the cabin were just under 5 feet width and just over 5 feet height! In flight, drag & weight are supreme - every ounce counts, literally. This super slim design reduced both. Lear's contention was the, "you don't need to stand up in a E-type Jaguar".


This is the first model of the Learjet series, the Lear 23. It set the trend for business executive jets ever since - high rear mounted engines that reduced cabin noise and helped with engine out assymetery by being so closely placed together; T-tail; low moderately swept wings and the famous tip tanks that were often the visual hall mark of a Learjet. The wing in itself was a top class design - moderately swept to aid low take off and landing speeds and thus enable operation from short airstrips and yet thin enough to give the aircraft a jet airliner like speed. The fuselage was too narrow to accommodate fuel tanks beneath the cabin floor so all the fuel was in the thin wings and these tip tanks. The tanks also served to reduce drag and help enable the aircraft fly at a jet airliner speed {cruise at 450 knots or ~835 kmph} and a reasonable distance {1500 nm or ~2750 kms} with 6 passengers.

William Lear kept the machine as light as practical weighing in at ~5700 kgs all up weight. With two small turbojets pushing ~2500 kgf the power to weight ratio was in the range of early jet fighters which accounted for its very fast initial climb rate of 6900 feet a minute or 35 metres a second. Those from the aviation industry would recall that a characteristic of a Learjet taking off was its nose up rapid climb. To give a comparison the Hawker Hunter which was considered the best all round fighter of the pre-supersonic era, and served with the IAF, RAF had at full take off weight an initial climb rate of between 8000 to 9000 feet a minute.

Source: Matti Blume
The interior here is of one of the last Learjet models the Learjet 75 - 150 cms in width and 155 cms in height. Imagine if you are over 170 cms tall trying to use that mini-toilet in the aft!!! Even if you were a man the common wisdom is the sit down and tinkle. :-). Today small turbofans have become both powerful and fuel efficient permitting wider full height cabins with economics. The fundamental premise of the need for a super narrow cabin has been eliminated by progress in jet propulsion. And that has led to the Learjet flying over the horizon.

Interestingly William Lear designed the Learjet when he was in his sixties. A reminder to all of us, young and not so young that everything does not need to be achieved before you turn 50.

[maddy42]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

An iconic aircraft that for all practical purposes was the first jet powered business executive aircraft in the world when it first flew in 1963 and entered service in 1964. The US Air Force had a Lockheed business jet developed for various uses including executive travel of its Generals and VIP politicians but that was not available to the public at large.

Interestingly William Lear designed the Learjet when he was in his sixties. A reminder to all of us, young and not so young that everything does not need to be achieved before you turn 50.

Well said sir. Which is the current set of business jet which is the most popular? I have heard the names of gulfstream and the embraer phenom. Your opinion on the same?

Maddy

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by maddy42

Well said sir. Which is the current set of business jet which is the most popular? I have heard the names of gulfstream and the embraer phenom. Your opinion on the same?

Maddy

I don't have the latest data. My last reliable data is from 2016. But quite likely the trend line has not changed. Like with cars there are various segments within business jets from small cabin & short range to large cabin and long range. Accurate data is also very hard to come by as OEMs often sell to their own associate companies and hold stock there while booking it as a sale to gain on the top of the pops charts announced at air shows!!! Understandably smaller jets sell in larger numbers than the big jets. Most sold - the simple answer is the Embraer Phenom 300 which falls in the category of "Light Business Jet". Total delivered so far over 500 and it was the most selling business jet from 2013 to 2016.

About half the world's market in this category has been captured by this fine aircraft.

Source: Aktug Ates
Carries 5 to 6 pax 3700 kms with reserves at 800+ kmph at 41,000 feet.

Source: Matti Blume
The interiors...

Just in case you are planning to buy one the generally accepted 5 categories are:

Very Light Jets, Light Business Jets, Mid-sized Business Jets, Super mid-Sized, Large and then for the really big guys or Heads of States there are the airliner based business jets.

[maddy42]

Pretty good video on flying the Phenom. The amount of data being displayed on these jets is insane for a newbie

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS3dNPcf01o

Maddy

[coolmel]

Originally Posted by maddy42

Pretty good video on flying the Phenom. The amount of data being displayed on these jets is insane for a newbie

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=vS3dNPcf01o

Maddy

Cool video. Thanks for this! A very Bat-Jet like cockpit. Loved it!

[ads11]

The War Zone did a nice piece on the LearJet
REF: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...ate-air-travel

The bit I found interesting is the fact it's inspiration was from a Swiss fighter.

It was part of the first generation of bizjets but, remarkably, its design was inspired by the indigenous Swiss FFA P-16 single-seat fighter, which William P. “Bill” Lear encountered after he retired to Switzerland in the late 1950s. While the P-16 was never ordered in quantity, the Swiss-American Aircraft Corporation Learjet 23, as it was originally known, became a breakout success story.

The Swiss P16 that inspired Bill Lear to make the Learjet

As V.Narayan pointed out with the Hunter, the Learjet could pretty much outclimb some of the most contemporary fighters of its time.

Fast, sleek-looking, and capable of being operated by a single pilot, the Learjet 23 was powered by a pair of General Electric CJ610 turbojets — a non-afterburning adaptation of the J85 powerplant used in the T-38 Talon jet trainer — and quickly won orders. The new bizjet reportedly boasted a higher initial climb rate than the F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter and the highest cruising altitude of any aircraft in its class.

Bombardier, the current owners, have been cutting their losses recently haven't they? They gave away the C series, i.e. their passenger jet business to Airbus for a pittance (partly due to Boeing and the US Commerce Dept case). Ironic really considering the C series or now A220 is widely viewed as an ideal aircraft for the post COVID aviation market. Bombardier at the time said they'll focus only on business jets. Last year Bombardier even sold their locomotive business to Alstom. It's a sad decline for one of the titans of Canadian industry.

Post COVID I wonder if there'll be a rebound in the private jet industry considering wealthy customers would very much like to travel in their own bubbles so to speak. Although I don't expect this rebound to happen till international travel becomes a bit less restrictive. At the same time though I guess remote working etc further reduces the need for said executives to justify gallivanting across the globe. The following (https://www.wired.co.uk/article/coro...planes-bonanza) seems to suggest that middle class families are driving demand for charter flights using private jets now!

Even as Europe experiences a second wave of coronavirus, private aviation remains relatively resilient. According to research firm WingX, nearly half-a-million branded charter flights have left the runway in 2020. Although that’s down by 20 per cent on last year, it pales in comparison to the commercial industry, which has seen its total flight numbers nosedive by half. And whereas Heathrow recently reported an 84 per cent fall in passenger numbers over summer, chartered departures from July through to October 26 are down by a mere eight per cent.

Anyway, just for interest, one of my favourite explainer videos about the private jet industry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYPrH4xANpU

[WhiteSierra]

My Dad, a Cardio thoracic surgeon carried a donor heart from St. Vincent's Hospital Melbourne to St. Vincent's Hospital Sydney during one of the heart transplant surgeries in a Lear Jet belonging to Australian famous media tycoon Kerry Packer. He told me about the experience of flying in one of these. These are some great machines which can never be replaced.

[SmartCat]

Last year, Bombardier completely exited commercial aviation business when they sold the rights to manufacture and sell Bombardier C Series (regional airliner) to Airbus. Now Airbus is selling Bombardier C Series as Airbus A220



Now it looks like Bombardier is reducing the size of their business aviation division too.

[ads11]

Originally Posted by SmartCat

Last year, Bombardier completely exited commercial aviation business when they sold the rights to manufacture and sell Bombardier C Series (regional airliner) to Airbus. Now Airbus is selling Bombardier C Series as Airbus A220

Attachment 2124362

Now it looks like Bombardier is reducing the size of their business aviation division too.

I think the US Department of Commerce tariffs against Bombardier for allegedly dumping (selling planes below market price) to Delta were the final nail in the coffin. Boeing was willing to fight tooth and nail and the Americans were willing to force the Canadians into the ground on this one. Airbus was the solution at the time in the sense they had the marketing reach and power to really flog the C series, they didn't have anything in their own line up that would get cannibalised and crucially they had a new assembly plant in America that was coming on steam that would be perfect to build the jets and circumvent the tariffs, thus cutting the legs out from under the US DoC case. Indeed that's what happened. Boeing then scrambled to get a deal together with Embraer to acquire them for their E jet line in particular as that was the only way for Boeing to easily have their own competitor against the C series/A220. We all know how that deal ended..

Furthermore, didn't they sell their regional jet line to Mitsubishi wholesale?

It's a real shame about Bombardier because they really bet the farm on the C series. From what I've heard it's an excellent little airplane that simply came too soon for them perhaps (not that anyone could've envisioned the circumstances that would force the hand of the aviation sector). They were in the news during the David Cameron govt as the govt was wrangling to ensure Bombardier kept their Northern Ireland facility open, safeguarding those jobs. I believe that eventually fell through.

Bombardier also had a strong locomotive business. You'll see their logo on the doorsteps of a lot of European trams or subway trains. There too it seems they've ceded their position and exited entirely. Makes you wonder just how much smaller the group really is now in the aftermath, seeing as the only thing they've held on to that I know of is their private jet business..