Lear 40xr

[janusz]

I am considering an option to work on one of these.

If anybody would be so kind as to provide some brief information as to day-to-day line operations I would be extremely grateful. I am simply after a general overview from a pilot's perspective.

Thanks in advance.

Happy New Year and Safe Flying to you all!

[CMN]

I had a demo flight in a brand new. From a pilots perspective - Very impressive. Brilliant cockpit layout.

It's a clean sheet aircraft, not a derivative from a 20-30 year old design. The pilot mentioned the 777 several times - a lot of the redundancy is apparently taken from that a/c. And something about certification being up to 777 standard.

Ext. lav. service port, large heated rear cargo hold - but....NO APU! That's a very big issue I think. That and the rather small (but roomy feeling) cabin, makes a C560 a better choice from a customers perspective. But definately a pilots plane.

And the price tag is 9M$...you can get a lot of midsize jets for that money. But again thats for the investor to decide.

But to answer your question, I'd definately go for the job. But depends on your other choices...

[HS125]

I'd agree with most of that. Most of my experience relates to the 45 but my thoughts are:

I'm not personally convinced that the APU is such a problem. It is an option to have one so it may be included on the aircraft that you fly. The 45 had the option to have an APU or Vapour Aircon or neither but not both. The benifits of the APU are somewhat reduced given that:

1. It cannot be used in the air

2. There is a 'Clearance Delivery' Radio Bus which operates COM 1 on a timer. You'd have to be seriously short of power if you couldnt use this to get the ATIS/Clearance as the consumption is relatively low.

3. Engines can be started with all the avionics powered, It is therefore possible to start one engine and set everything up and start the second with eveerything still powered. This is achieved by 'splitting' the electrical system fore and aft so the avionics are powered by the smaller emergency battery, protecting the avionics from surges in a way that is not possible in, say, a Citation.

4. I found you could get everything up and running in a very short time, especially if yyou had the flight plans for the next sector available so that you could store them at quieter moments on preceeding flights.

Overall I think it's a great aircraft although an intimate knowledge of the systems is required. For example and again with regard to the APU, If the annunciator lamp test is held for more than 6 seconds it will discharge the APU fire bottle! there are many 'software' quirks like that.

I also believe that there are C of G position issues relating to loading of the 40 that do not exsist on the 45.

[CMN]

But can you order a 40xr with an APU ?

From where I stand, the main advantages from having an APU is that you can control cabin/environmentals without the need for ground power. So the cabin has the right temp. when pax arrives. And during a 1 hour turnaround have all the avionics and lights going without draining the batteries.....and still not needing a ground power. But I guess it depends on your kind of operation.

[FLEXJET]

I believe the 40 can't get an APU fitted. Not even an option.

[HS125]

I believe the 40 can't get an APU fitted. Not even an option.

I must admit I didn't know that, I know of a locally based operator so I'll ask them in the morning.

HS 125

[Mike Echo]

Just to confirm (from our personal experience!) that the Lear 40XR cannot have an APU fitted and there is/was no option for it.
Mike Echo

I just had a look at our option list as we did very briefly look at the vapour cycle system but it weighed in at 159lbs and required either a GPU or BOTH generators operating. For us it was a non starter.