In December of 1965 a Lear 23 set a time to climb record of 7 minutes and 21 seconds to 40,000 feet....with two pilots and 5 passengers onboard. The Lear was the first civilian jet to be certified for flight at 51,000 feet in 1977. The Lear has been spelled two ways, Lear Jet and Learjet; it was Lear Jet until Bill Lear merged the company with Gates Aviation Corporation in 1969 and it became the Gates Learjet, and later in 1990 it became the Bombardier Learjet. The Learjet type rating designation is LR-Jet from the 23 through the 35 then the model number, LR-45, LR-60, etc. There's a world of difference between the 23 and 35.

Edit: The Lear Jet in the picture is the second prototype of the Lear 23. The airframe was damaged by severe vibration during a test flight of an experimental control system and was retired to the National Air and Space Museum in 1977 after being restored by Gates Learjet. Some of the early Lears were not approved for flight in icing conditions. They can be recognized by having no white radome alcohol nipple on the nose to keep ice from shedding into the engines; they also didn't have the electrically heated horizontal stab leading edges, but had hot wing leading edges by bleed air and hot electric engine nacelles. The 24B I flew was a non-icing Lear, but was never a problem, as pushing the throttles up to high speed the ram rise kept the ice off, but in the event of ice, landing configuration was flaps 20, ref plus 20 for ice on the tail.

Well, if maintenance and fuel were free. And a copilot.

Also, TBO is not death. Part 91 can HSI and keep flying without an OH.

I see another 24D for $90K as well. Buy both, make one usable airplane from it with lots of spares.

Mike C.

1994 Learjet company video.

Excellent inflight footage.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/umAszPwn8WM[/youtube]

Sad news for sure.

The Lear was my very first jet and ten months later, my first jet command. And although I've probably got over 100 hours in Simuflite's Lear 35 level D sim, my type ride was actually in the airplane, the only time that ever occurred. There were two of us upgrading that day, I got to go first, then ride through my buddy's evaluation. He almost killed us when he started pulling back the power on the good engine right after we got airborne during his V1 cut. The Check Airman saved our life - fortunately, the Learjet had an excess of thrust. I was facing rearward in a jumpseat and thankfully never got to see how close we came to dying.

My friend passed his rating ride when he retested a few days later. That's the problem with conducting training in the airplane. No margin for error.

I flew the 24, 25, 31, 35 and 55. Ridiculous that the FAA allowed that all under one type rating without much more vigorous differences training.

With the crappy autopilots and no auto-throttle, I was easily the best instrument pilot of my life during the six years I flew them. The 31 was the nicest, most refined one of the lot, probably the only one that could have been flown safely single pilot.

I wonder if someone could STC it as SP with a newer panel?

Sounds like your next project, Adam! Sign me up.

Sounds like your next project, Adam! Sign me up.

I’ve heard good things about the Westwinds. Aren’t they the entry level Gulfstreams now, or is that just the Astra?
Anyway, I’ll follow your lead when it comes to picking airplanes: I wish I’d bought a P.180 a few years ago when you first mentioned them!

Much cheaper would be to get one of the Mystère 10, and a french licence. Off you go, single pilot!
The absolute best looking jet. What, am I biased?

I’ve been flying Lears for over 30 years and the 60 for 20. The key to dispatch reliability with complex airplanes is crews and maintenance personnel that know how to fly and maintain the aircraft. We have missed 3 trips in 20 years in our 60 and I experienced similar reliability with the others that I have flown.

I’ve been flying Lears for over 30 years and the 60 for 20. The key to dispatch reliability with complex airplanes is crews and maintenance personnel that know how to fly and maintain the aircraft. We have missed 3 trips in 20 years in our 60 and I experienced similar reliability with the others that I have flown.

EASA does not. But there is still a bit of grey area if you have retained your old French licence. Overall, to be honest, it would be difficult to do it for two reasons:
-if you cross the border and get a SAFA check, they expect to see an EASA licence
-I fear very few places could still train you for your LPC.

And if it were my plane, I could get in trouble for what I would do with it. I've seen it being used by the Navy for some rather...intense... flight manoeuvrers. Fun to see what it can do against a SEM. The Mystère is really a small jetfighter. An old gen one, but still...

Dassault makes excellent aircraft. Here's an old YouTube clip of a guy taking a Falcon to almost Mach 1 with no buffeting, full roll control, no mach tuck, no vibration and even hands off. Impressive stuff.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/c7ojhYSSMKc[/youtube]