August 2019
Good article. Captain Haynes belongs in the same company as Chesley Sullenburger with the “Miracle on the Hudson”. It is amazing that he managed to land as well as he did considering the only control they had was differential thrust on the wing mounted engines. Truly remarkable.
A former neighbor of ours has a cousin that was on flight #232 with her family. Fortunately, all survived, but the ironic part is that she was terribly afraid of flying. The family was planning to fly from Denver to Chicago to attend a family reunion, so she took one of those fear of flying courses to convince her about how safe commercial air travel is. I understand the family took the train home from the reunion and she has not set foot in an airport since.
August 2019
If you look up the word gentlemen in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Al Haynes.
Looking back on my 30-year career as an Aviation Safety Inspector, one of my fondest memories is meeting and having dinner with Al on two separate occasions. We were fortunate to have Al speak at two of our special events in the Safety Program in Connecticut. Amazingly, the only expense our sponsors had to pay was his hotel. He would travel by United Airlines non-rev and wouldn’t accept any other payment for himself, instead he suggested a donation to Little League Baseball in Seattle that he umpired for.
He was a genuine professional either giving his presentation to a crowd of over 300 or having a casual dinner with a couple of Feds. His sense of humor, his easy-going manner and his willingness to share his experiences made for truly memorable evenings and to this day make me feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet him.
Wishing Al - Blue Skies, Fair Winds and Soft Landings.
February 2021
End of an era. It’s safe to say if there had been no Lear, Bombardier’s (and probably everyone else’s as well) bizjet product line would be completely different - if it would exist at all.
February 2021
We had the NA265 and the L 329 from the late '50s. But the LR23 was a definite game changer. Rocket ship!
February 2021
I have 6 business jet type ratings. The Lear was fun to fly (what a climber!)–but a handful. There are all kinds of “gotchas” with the airplane that require pilot attention and compensation to fly it safely. As the first “purpose built” business jet, pilots had to fly the early Lears without benefit of good ground school or simulators. Most of these pilots were moving up from piston aircraft (there were no turboprops back then–Bill Lear opined “We’re going to skip that step”)
The accident record on the early airplanes was horrendous. Even today, many major corporations prohibit their people from flying on Learjets–though the new Learjets have little in common with the old. Bombardier was never able to eliminate the “Fearjet” stigma–though they tried. Lears are tough airplanes–they will be around for a long time–IF Bombardier keeps supporting them.
February 2021
Just as every single engine airplane is a “Piper Cub”, every bizjet will always be a “Lear Jet”
February 2021
In the late 80’s to the early 2000’s I had the opportunity to fly the -24B, -24D, -24E, -24F, -25 B, -25D, -28, -31A, and -35A; with the Mk II wing and the Century wing mods. Rocket Ship, at least compared to any other production light jet built then or since ( the Falcon 10 comes close)…the -35 had range, payload speed. Best advice I got was NEVER let the airplane get slower than 150 kts in the pattern and 130 on short final until over the threshold…and don’t try to hand fly it at altitude. Jim Raisbeck developed mods to make the airplane easier and safer to fly, and took most of the challenge out of the 35. Now its just another legacy type rating.
February 2021
February 2021
Nooow whata we gonna fly to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun??
February 2021
It’s appropriate here to give a nod to former test pilot and head of flight test at Bombardier Pete Reynolds. According to The Wichita Eagle Pete flew first flights of the 24E, 40, 55c, 60, 31 and 31A. I learned to know Pete at a different company after his retirement from Bombardier and found him to be someone who paid exquisite attention to detail, was a soft spoken gentleman and a genuinely nice human being. The Wichita Eagle quotes Dave Franson, Wichita Aero Club president as having said of Pete that he could “fly anything that didn’t have a beak and feathers.” Pete was to have been inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame prior to his death in 2014 at the age of 69 but his illness took him several days before the ceremony. He was inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame posthumously.
February 2021
Another aviation legend now becomes an orphan. Seems inevitable when the cost of development for a new airframe forces constant redevelopment of an existing airframe. At some point, the old becomes somewhat new and improved. However, inevitably, there are only so many tweaks and mods that can be done. Bombardier has scuttle the Lear jet series when making a small profit. At least it went out on a small, semi-positive note company wise. Maybe now, there can be a resurrection of a new and improved Lear Fan! Hope springs eternal.
February 2021
Bombardier is a prime example of the failure of corporate governance. Over the years it received over $4 billion in government handouts. It embarked on building business jets, airliners and trains. It failed miserably in every business it touched. But it gets worse. Shortly after receiving a massive government injection of free money, the controlling family and its executives paid themselves US$32.6 million in bonuses and then laid off 14,500 workers. This obscenity belongs not only to Bombardier’s dual share structure, ensuring control to minority Beaudoin family shareholding, but also Canadian governments who sought votes by shoveling money into a Quebec business which was of dubious character.
