Been looking at Lear 60s on Controller lately. Seem like a lot of bang for the buck and a very nice cabin. A person who managed one claims it’s one of the least expensive per mile two pilot jets.

What would one budget, annually, for operating one of these? 200 - 300 hours per year.

What else is that fast and also economical?

Curious from those who have run them what the cheapest two pilot jets are to run? Ignore the Ultra Bravo etc. familiar w those costs.

No specific knowledge and very little general knowledge ... but I will throw in this.

The pilot market has gotten really tight and expensive in the last year. Many of the captain candidates in that class airplane can now get hired directly into the captain seat of a regional jet making over $150/hr. Or to one of the big six.

Keeping pilots over the next several years is going to be expensive and challenging. I would look hard at what type ratings are common near your base. If you want to keep a captain in something niche, you might be paying over $200K.

I'll let any operators chime in with real world, as I haven't done a Lear 60 in a long time. I will say that overall, when you look at seat mile / speed, these jets stack up nicely. It's very common for people to get hyper-focused on hourly op cost and ignore actual trip cost which is what you should be looking at.

There are some negatives with the Lear 60, runway / brakes is one.

I'm a Learjet guy at heart, when I started out in the business selling airplanes a Lear 24D was the first jet I sold. I still miss those airplanes... they were special.

Having said that, my hands down favorite Lear is the Bombardier Learjet 45XR / 75! All of the other (true) Lears kind of morphed out of a previous design, the 45 was a clean sheet and is one hell of an airplane.

Here's the downside when you start comparing these airplanes to 550 / 560 Citations, they are a different class of airplane and some of the unexpected expenses can and will get your attention. We have a client that has a 45XR we helped them acquire in for an inspection, long story... but a new required inspection just found a problem that cost in excess of $300k to repair. We did our prebuy at Bombardier, but this inspection didn't exist when we bought the airplane. It's possible to spend that on a Bravo or Ultra... but you have to work at it!

The Lear 60 has that awesome 12 year inspection...

Lear 60 is a great airplane. Goes fast, carries a load.

Most professional crews use 5000’ as a rule of thumb minimum runway. Shorter, get out the pencil. Small wheels and brake energy is often the first limitation.

Very sensitive to tire pressure- needs to be checked on a very regular basis.

Starter/Generators are weak spot. PW305 is the heaviest engine that uses electric start. Many Start/Gens don’t make it to TBO and when the fail they can disintegrate. Many operators change them on time (400hrs ? Don’t quote me) while they still have a repairable core.

Not that I am shopping but if I were I would only want an SIC. Seems like that would be easier to find.

If it's always going to be you and a gear slinger, that is a much easier proposition from an FAA standpoint. Thing I would check then is the insurance situation. If they want somebody with in-type sim training, turbine experience, etc it's going to get difficult. Probably looking at six figures again or needing to be in a common model that has a decent number of typed guys floating around.

Easier to find, harder to keep. Most people who are willing to take an SIC job are looking to move up and on to something else.

I don’t know. Pretty much everything I see on ramps these days is flown by two pilots. Most pc12s have two guys up front. I have no idea what the second guy does.

It can’t be THAT hard to find SIC, especially if you have a reasonable schedule.

Bwthdik

Are you feeling the need for speed?

I agree that if you are really just looking for someone to fill the right seat for regulatory reasons, there should be a ready supply of young pilots with MELs wanting to build turbine time. At least there are here in Tulsa - lots of flight schools here and pilots wanting to build time. I assume that a Lear type is the same as a Citation - that an ATP can certify someone as SIC? IIRC it's systems knowledge and 3 take-offs and landings.

I do not believe that ATP's can do part 91 instruction. I used to sign off many CE-501 SIC's. What I was told at the time, by the FSDO is that it requires a CFI/MEI type rated in the plane and with more than 15 hours PIC in type.

Getting someone to "just" be an SIC for an owner operator is not going to be easy, and it will probably be a position with high turnover.

I don’t see anything in 61.55 requiring a CFI. It says “trainer”. Both of my 61.55 rides before I was typed were given by ATP captains.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/61.55

You should check with your insurance broker, but all of our two pilot jets require the SIC to be typed and 12 month simulator current. No one that is typed and available is paying for their training right now so add $15-20k a year for training for the SIC plus more for an initial.

Citation Excel is going to be hard to beat per mile, but not acquisition. It ran pretty close to the citation v.

What Steve said.

When I am cruising along in my Citation V at FL410, 415 KTAS, and 1100 pph, with no SIC, I feel just fine.

To go any faster would slow me down.

Needing an SIC is like chartering a human. It has all the annoyances that aircraft charter has which really takes away from the experience of having your own airplane.

Mike C.