Lear Jet
Lear Jet was a company which produced
business jets for civilian and military use. It was founded in 1960 by
William Powell Lear Jr. as
Swiss American Aviation Corporation. The company was formed to manufacture an executive twin-engined high speed jet to be known as the
Learjet 23 (SAAC-23).
The starting point for what became the very symbol of the "biz jet" started life as an abortive attempt by a Swiss aircraft company to build a new ground-attack fighter aircraft, the FFA P-16 of 1955. Although this effort proved unsuccessful and by 1960 efforts to produce the warplane had ceased, the basic structure of this aircraft was seen by Bill Lear and his team as a good starting point to the development of a business jet. In fact, the wing (with the distinctive tip tanks) and landing gear of the first Learjets were little changed from those used by the Swiss warplane prototypes. The tooling for building the aircraft was purchased and moved to
Wichita,
Kansas,
United States, in 1962.
In 1963, the company was renamed the
Lear Jet Corporation.
The original Learjet 23 was a six to eight seater and
first flew on
October 7,
1963, with the first production model being delivered in October 1964. Several derived models followed, with the Learjet 24 and 25 first flying in 1966. In the same year, the company was renamed
Lear Jet Industries Inc.In 1967, all of Bill Lear's assets â€" he held approximately 60% of the company (US$27,000,000) â€" were acquired by the
Gates Rubber Company of
Denver,
Colorado, United States. However, he remained on the board until 1969. Later in 1969, the company was merged with
Gates Aviation and in 1970 the company name was changed to
Gates Learjet Corporation.
In 1974, the worldwide Learjet fleet had exceeded the one million flight hours mark and in 1975 the company produced its 500th jet. In both instances they were the first manufacturer to do so. By late 1976, the company had increased the number of aircraft being produced each month to 10.
In 1984, the Gates Learjet Corporation announced the start of their Aerospace Division, a high technology endeavour. However, by the end of the year the company had ceased production of its commercial jets in an effort to reduce inventories. This lasted until February 1986, when the company headquarters were transferred to
Tucson,
Arizona, United States, and production was restarted both in Wichita and Tucson.
In 1987, the Gates Learjet Corporation was acquired by
Integrated Acquisition, Inc. and the next year the name was changed to
Learjet Corporation. By January 1989 all production had been moved from the Tucson facility back to Wichita. The next year, 1990,
Bombardier Aerospace purchased the Learjet Corporation.
Later models of Learjet aircraft generally have a greater range and capacity and are produced by
Bombardier and marketed as the "Bombardier Learjet Family". These have a swept back wing rather than the straighter wing with prominent fuel tanks on their extremities that characterised the early models, being reminiscent of the
Lockheed T-33 military trainer. These later variants bear the model numbers 45 and upwards and are far quieter.
The
ICAO designators as used in
flight plans are for the various models are as follows. The ICAO listing of the company name is in parenthesis:
*
Lear Jet 23 â€" LJ23 (Lear Jet)
*
Lear Jet 24 â€" LJ24 (Lear Jet & Gates Learjet)
*
Learjet 25 â€" LJ25 (Lear Jet & Gates Learjet)
*
Lear Jet 28 â€" LJ28 (Gates Learjet)
*
Lear Jet 29 â€" LJ28 (Gates Learjet)
*
Lear Jet 31 â€" LJ31 Lear Jet & Gates Learjet)
*
Lear Jet 35 â€" LJ35 (Learjet, Gates Learjet & Shin Meiwa)
*
Lear Jet 36 â€" LJ35 (Gates Learjet)
*
Lear Jet 40 â€" LJ40 (Learjet)
*
Lear Jet 45 â€" LJ45 (Learjet)
*
Lear Jet 55 â€" LJ55 (Gates Learjet)
*
Learjet 60 â€" LJ60 (Learjet)
*
C-21 Learjet â€" LJ35 (Gates Learjet)
*LearStar 600 became the
Bombardier Challenger â€" CL30
On October 25, 1999,
Payne Stewart and several others (Jerri Gibbs of Leader Enterprises of Orlando, and Robert Fraley and Van Ardan, officers of Leader who acted as agents for Payne Stewart, and the pilots, Michael Kling, 43, and Stephanie Bellegarrigue, 27) were flying in a
Lear Jet 35 plane from
Orlando, Florida to
Dallas, Texas. The plane suffered a loss of cabin pressure, which was not acted upon by the flight crew. Jacksonville's Air Traffic Control Center attempted to contact the plane and got no response. The jet contined to fly over several states on autopilot until all fuel was exhausted. It is estimated that all aboard were dead from
hypoxia before the plane left the Florida radar. The plane crashed near
Mina, South Dakota. Later, Learjet was cleared of responsibility in the accident.
McLaren race driver
David Coulthard escaped death in a
May 2000 plane crash. The Learjet in which they were travelling developed engine trouble, and crashed while attempting to land at
Lyon-Salotas Airport near
Lyon,
France. While
Coulthard luckily received only minor injuries, the front of the aircraft disintegrated upon impact, killing both pilots.
On June 2, 2006 a Lear Jet 35 registered to Christian televangelist
Pat Robertson crashed a half-mile short of the runway at Groton-New London Airport in
Groton, Connecticut. Both pilots were killed, however the three passengers aboard escaped without injury. Robertson was not aboard the plane.
*
Short Brothers*
Canadair*
de Havilland Canada*
Bombardier Aerospace*
Bombardier Learjet website
