learjet 20th anniversary

8/13/2019 Learjet 20th Anniversary

1/6

10 Aviation Convention News Midland Park N.J. November 15 1983

Learjet m rks 20thlooks to strong future

by om liss

Some 20 years and 1 300 Learjets ago, the world's first designedfor-business jet flew for the firsttime. It was the beginning of anew form of transportation,another remarkab le ach ievementfor inventor Bill Lear.

At Gates Learjet's 20th anni

versary ceremonies held in WichitaOct. 7, Lear's widow Moya talkedabout the modern Learjet and thecompany her husband founded,

I t 's fantastic. My husband hadsuch a strong spirit-it 's still here.The who le project was terriblyexciting.

Mrs. Lear , who still is involved in efforts to finish certificationof the Lear Fan, said that no jet

manufacturer has yet improvedupon the basic design of past andmodern Learjets, but she avoidedcomparison between the Lear Fanand Learjets. Regarding competition from new composite-pusherturboprop designs (including theju s t-announced Gates LearjetPiaggio GP -180) Mrs. Lear graciously commented, Bravo , go for'em. She also pointed out that

Bill Lear had written severalpapers about a pusher turbopropconfiguration as early as 1954 ,but that everyone in the industryhad become so enamored of jetengines that the pusher had towait until fuel prices rose drastically.

Mrs . Lear ' s comments weremade at a press conference followed by a dramatic formationflyby of four Learjets , led by aMod el 55.

Low Ceilings

Low ceilings, estimated at 200to 300 feet just an hour before,lifted to ne arly 700 feet just intime for the flyby - as if Bill Lear'sstrong spirit had intervened .

Some 1,2 00 Learj et employees,invited guests, and members ofthe press were on hand to hearMrs. Lear , Gates Learjet PresidentBib Stillwell , and others recallthe achievements of the companyand the records Learjets have setin most business jet categories.

Although the past year hasbeen perhaps the darkest for thecompany after sales and employment fell to record lows , the current economic ·upturn , a $ 175 -million Air Force order for Model35As , and introduction of thenew Gates Learjet-Pi agg io GP-180 have brightened Learjet 's outlook considerably .

Regarding the company's newjoint development of th e GP-18 0 ,which Piaggio announc ed at theNBAA Convention, Stillwell said,

We fee l very enthusiastic. ehave taken some orders . . . wehave lots of prosp ects o ur salesmen are calling on.

Stillwell added th at the newdesign's time has come because itoffers 100 per cent mor e fu el efficiency than comparable j ets . Although Gates Learjet has not builta turboprop airplane before , Stillwell said, We didn ' t want to gobac kwards ; we want ed to be onthe leading edge.


2/6

So far , customer reactions tothe new GP-180, which uses composite and convenbonal construc-tion with a canard or forwardwing, has been very good , theLearjet president remarked. Therea c tion we got was at least asgood as or better than we expect-ed. Our marketing people are up,up , and away .

Discussions Startedwo Years go

Still well revealed that first discussions ab o ut a possible team effort on the radical GP-180

occurred two years ago whenitalian aircraft designer Dr.Rinaldo i ag gio m ade a visit toopen the door. Talks becamemore serious last spring, when adelegation of senior Learjet manu-facturing and engineering peopleinspected Piaggio facilities in It a ly.

Howev er, it was only in thetwo months preceding the NBAAConvention that Learj et andPiaggio ca me to terms. Learjetofficials co nfirmed that until thattime Pi aggio h ad discussed sim ilararrangements with other manu-facturers.

Stillw ell said that a Learj etPiaggio coop erativ e effort on theGP-180 was logical becau se de -sign studies in house were veryclo se to Piaggio 's . We had beenworking on a similar program forfour years. Stillwell also notedthat getting together when theydid will save considerable time-tomarket for the new airplane.

Stillwell did not reveal thefinancial considerations nowunder negotiation between Learjetand Piaggio, saying that financingis as yet very fluid and is to beworked out. Similarly , productionlocations for various parts are tobe determined , but probab l y willinclude final assembly at Lear-

During the 20th anniversary ceremonies Maya Lear, wife o the late Bill Lear whocreated the Learjet, and Bib t i l l w e l l ~president o f Gates Learjet, reminisced aboutthe past and speculated on the fu ture Mrs Lear remarked that m y husband hadsuch a strong spiri t i t ' s still here.


3/6

i d a n ~Park , N .J. November 15 , 19 83 Aviat ion Con ven tion News

Formation flyb y o L earje ts was led by the co m pany s Mo d el 55 flagship with a Modei35A on its eft, a Modei25G on itsright and a M odel 23 behi n d

je t 's T ucso n facility. Still we ll saidmanufacturing locations will bebase d on where the bes t economicscome into play, a very i mpo rt antco nsid era tion in a phases ofmanufactu re for the new-te chnology airplane.

Al though the n ew turboprop ispriced at $2.695 million in 1983dolla r s, the G P-180 is for theentr y-leve l part of t he market ,acco rding to St i llw ell. t e e xplained that the new turboprop is anin-between airplane; not a .8 1Mach tr a nscon t in enta l jet. Henoted that the GP-180 will be agood sho rt- field airp lane withgoo d fue l efficie ncy a nd ov e r-theweat her ca pa bility.

As for market in g plans,St i llwell did sa y that Gates Learjet will ha ve rights to the U.S .,Ca nad a , and Mexico, an d thatPiaggio will se ll the GP-180 exclus ively in Italy . The remainderof the world marketplace has yetto be ap portio ned. Stillwell promised t hat a nnouncem e nts o nfinancing , production, and market-ing will be made by t he en d of thefirst quarter o f 198 4 .

NBAA R eact ion :A Rev it alize d Indu st ry

Addressing the overall industrysituation, the Lea rjet presidentsaid the NBAA Convention showed that a turnaround for b usiness

air craft manufacturers is im mine n t. .. Without question, NBAAgave every evidence of a re vita lized industry . it was all upbeat, he said.

Much of Learjet's upbea t viewof N BAA came from order s tak e nat th e convention for existingModel 35 and 55 airp lanes. Learj et salesmen, said Stil lwe ll , ca meaway happy from the show.St i ll well emphasized that he , too,was very pleased with the mood a tNBA A and that he believes t hindustry is on the upswing. 1 feelvery co nfi dent of t he fu t ure ofthe industry we've turned theco rn er.


4/6

BE IRD RETURNS

Surprise visitors to the Learjet first-flight anniversary ceremonieS were the Omac-1, s ingle -engine turboprop pusher, andHank Beaird, the pilot of the Lear jet prototype on its first fligh tin 1963. Beaird qu1pped that the reason he dropped in was he happened to have an emergency la n ding in the Omac -1 and Wichita'sMid Continent Airport happened to be the most suitable field.Asked about the natu re of his emergency, Bea ird said, Our heater went ou t .

19

Beaird, the original test p ilot for Lear Je t Industries, qu itshort ly after Bi ll Lear sold his interest in the company to GatesRubber. He dropped out of f lying for a number of years whilerunn ing a Western Auto store in Texas . He returned to fly ing aschief of flight test for LearAvia , then moved ac ross the f ield a tReno's Stead Airport to his p r esent position as director of flighttesting at Omac . 0

L e f t : Looking conspicuous on th e Gates L earjet ramp during the ceremonies wasthis Citation l l tha t was traded brand new, along with cash for a new Model 55.L ea rjet officials wouldn t identify the owner, but said the new C it a t ion l l wa sto wed directly f rom the Cessna f ac to ry across th e field a t Wichita s Mid ContinentAirpor t . L earjet s resale division has pu t the new C it ation up for sale.


5/6


6/6

LORE O THE LE RJET

While it wasn't the first business jet, the Lear Jet (original name) has done more to expand thelength and breadth of business aviation than any other propless turbine transport. The airplane, whichhas written one of the longest and liveliest chapters in bizjet history , had its genesis in Switzerland,where, in 1960 , in the town of St. Gallen, Bill Lear and a sma ll engineering team began converting aprototype Swiss fighter into a jet transport.

Two years later Lear moved his small group to Wichita, Kans., and, in 1963, changed the name ofthe compan y from Swiss American Aviation Corp. to Lear Jet Corp.

The granddaddy of all Learjets, the Lear Jet 23, made its first flight on Oct. 7, 1963, from Wichita.It was certified, under FAR 23, the following year on July 31.

Three months late r, Lear Jet delivered its first jet to a customer, Chemical and Industrial Corp. ofCincinnati, Ohio, for a price in the vicinity of 500,000.

In March 1966, the Learjet 24 became the first a ircraft to be type certificated under FAR 25 , at thetime, a new set of airworthiness regulations stemming from the old CAR 4b . All subsequent 20 and 30ser ies Learjets have their certifications based on amendments to this type certificate .

Learjet n dustries became the compa ny s new name in September 1966, and not too long afteron April 10, 1967-Gates Rubber Co. bought a controlling interest in the near ly bankrupt company.T hat same year the Model 25 was certified and, at the end of 1969, the firm was again renamed-thistime to Gates Learjet Corp., the name that stands today.

Once regarded as a brash young kid and an upstart in the adult ranks of blue·chip corporate aviation, the Learjet has been a pacesetter among the jet set . Besides winning dozens of speed recordsdomestically, internationally, and globally, it became the first civil aircraft to be approved for normaloperations at altitudes up to 5 1 ,000 ft, as well as the first to have winglets on production models.

It was also the first known business jet to become involved in combat. During the Falklands war atleast two were used by the Argentinians . One was shot down.

Like the omnipopular Piper Cub came to be the only name of a lightplane known to the masses ofnon-aviation people, the name Learjet is fast becoming synonymous with all business jets in the lexiconof the layman. Helping this image has been the consistent use of the airplane 's effigy as background orprop for thousands of advertisements for everything from high-brow fashions to low-brow punk rock.

Moreover, the airplane has probably starred in rriore mo vies, TV shows, and commercials than all of itsbusiness jet peers combined.

A Learjet enjoyed the singular honor of being the first business jet enshrined in the prestigiousSmithsonian museum-the second prototype of the Model 23 .

Recently, the airp lane and its manufacturer were given a badly needed infusion of bus iness whenUSAF announced it the winner of an SO-airplane lease contract for the replacement of the service saged T·39 Sabrclincr opcraticnal support fleet.

To date, the Learjets have flown a combined total of more than 4.5 million hours . Some 19 of theo riginal 102 Model 23s built are still flying-more than a few of them having individually amassed over12 ,000 hr aloft.

learjet 20th anniversary

Documents