PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - LEARJET 60 - flight and service experience
Old 27th Mar 2012, 07:29
  #7 (permalink)  
cldrvr
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: MAN
Posts: 769
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
You are obviously looking at price point, or else you wouldn't contemplate the 60 or VII. Forget about pretty pictures you find on the web, you first need to pinpoint your mission profile, then find the aircraft that suits that profile. You either pay for it now or pay for it later, earlier models are cheaper to buy, but will cost you more over time. Only a spreadsheet based on your hours and trips can answer that question for you.

Do you really need the cabin size of a VII? Could you get away with a smaller cabin, the pax sit down for most of the flight. You also need to consider the part of the world you are in, what are the maintenance providers like. There is a reason you don't see many 60's on AOC's in Europe, with the landing factors you just can't go anywhere, especially when it rains.

What kind of flights will you mainly perform? Business? Pleasure? Will they bring loads of kids or luggage. What sized airports will you use? What is your average trip length? What is your average loading, etc. All these questions can be put into a spreadsheet and the obvious airplane will come out at the bottom of it.

A G150 is a great airplane, but based on your choices so far will probably be outside of your budget.

You should seriously think about getting a professional to help you in the process, the cost of that will pay for itself many times over.

Just don't think that buying the biggest sized cabin for your budget is the way to go. A cheaper and older aircraft if you don't fly a lot of hours a year may well bet he way the go, if you plan on flying lots of hours and smaller sectors to smaller airports, then a newer smaller model may be the best choice. Only you can answer that question based on your requirements.

Keep in mind that as soon as the owners have their first aircraft, they will quickly change the mission profile and either use it a lot more for trips that you hadn't planned for, or if you get it wrong will quickly realise that they can't use it as they bought the worng airrcraft and are stuck with a lemon. Buying the right aircraft for current and future use is not as easy as it first seeems. Just make sure you buy one based on the numbers and not on cabin size and purchase price alone.

When one of my principals first went shopping for an airplane, he wanted a 5/550, once we ran the numbers it made a heck of a lot more sense to buy a 604 and charter a 550 for the occasional trips requiring one. We are now looking for a replacement and once again the 550 is coming up but the mission profile hasn't changed significantly to warrant one, so we probably end up with a 605 this time around. Our research and number crunching will give us the obvious choice to go for. Cabin comforts and size obviously play a minor part in that decision process.

Forget about getting the "most" airplane for your budget, get the right one based on your requirements.
cldrvr is offline