Learjet is a manufacturer of business jets for civilian and military use. It was founded in the late 1950s by William Powell Lear Jr. as Swiss American Aviation Corporation. Learjet is now a subsidiary of Bombardier and marketed as the "Bombardier Learjet Family".
History
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. Development started in 1952 and prototypes were ordered the next year. The first prototype flew in 1955 and construction and testing continued until 1958 when an order for 100 was placed. This was reversed soon after due to a crash of the third prototype. Two additional prototypes were finished, the last in 1960, but the project was ended at this point. 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, which was originally intended to be called the SAAC-23. The wing with its distinctive tip fuel tanks and landing gear of the first Learjets were little changed from those used by the fighter prototypes. The tooling for building the aircraft was purchased and moved to Wichita, Kansas in 1962. On February 7, assembly of the first Learjet began. The next year, 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. Just over a month later, Lear Jet became a publicly-owned corporation. Several derived models followed, with the Model 24 first flying on February 24 1966 and the Model 25 first flying on August 12, 1966. On September 19 of the same year, the company was renamed Lear Jet Industries Inc. On April 10,1967, all of Bill Lear's assets – he held approximately 60% of the company (US$27,000,000) – were acquired by the Gates Rubber Company of Denver, Colorado, United States. However, Lear remained on the board until April 2, 1969. Later, in 1969, the company was merged with Gates Aviation and the company name was changed to Gates Learjet Corporation. In 1971, the first Model 25 powered by a Garrett TFE731-2 turbofan engine was flown. This aircraft later became the successful Learjet 35. That year, the company was awarded the President's "E" Award for promoting export sales. 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. On April 19, 1979, the prototype for the Model 54/55/56 series had its first flight, and on July 7, 1983 a standard production Model 55 set six new time-to-climb records for its weight class. In 1984, the Gates Learjet Corporation announced the start of their Aerospace Division, a high technology endeavor. 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. On September 10, 1985, the Aerospace Division was awarded a contract to produce parts for the Space Shuttle's main engines. In 1987, the Gates Learjet Corporation was acquired by Integrated Acquisition 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. The aircraft were then marketed as the "Bombardier Learjet Family". On October 10, 1990, the Learjet 60 mid-sized aircraft flew its first flight, followed on October 7, 1995 by the Learjet 45.
Aircraft
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:
Incidents and accidents
On October 25, 1999, a Learjet 35 carrying Payne Stewart and several others passengers experienced a loss of cabin pressure for undetermined reasons, which incapacitated the flight crew. The jet continued to fly over several states on autopilot until all fuel was exhausted and the plane crashed near Aberdeen, South Dakota. (See 1999 South Dakota Learjet crash) On May 2, 2000, F1 race driver David Coulthard survived a Learjet 35 crash. His chartered aircraft was travelling from Farnborough Airfield to Côte d'Azur International Airport when it developed engine trouble, and crashed while making an emergency landing at Saint-Exupéry International Airport near Lyon, France. While Coulthard received only minor injuries, the front of the aircraft disintegrated upon impact, killing both pilots. On June 2, 2006 a Learjet 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. On November 4, 2007, a Learjet 35A crashed in São Paulo, Brazil, after a failed take off attempt. It destroyed a house in a residential area near the Campo de Marte Airport, killing the pilot, co-pilot and 6 people of the same family who were in the house.[1]
See also
References
External links
