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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 0728.PDF
FUGHT International, 19 March 1964 edges and fitting de-icer boots, Janitrol heating, swept tail and Lycoming power unit with Rayjay turbocharger, will cost approxi- mately £25,000 in the USA. When it is appreciated a conventional Dove can be purchased in good order for about £12,OOO-£15(OOO this makes a very attractive proposition indeed to any company looking for a replacement or even a new piston-engined aircraft. The full Riley conversion in essence does the following: Reduces the gross weight by 1,2001b, Almost doubles the range, Increases the speed by 70 m.p.h., Improves asymmetric handling, Reduces the stalling speed and improves the field performance, and Gives the aircraft a very much more up-to-date appearance. The conversion is about to be submitted to the FAA for re- certification. When that is completed, in perhaps a month's time, Jack Riley is to start a "Rocket" with the Dove. The Dove air- frame is still one of the most revered in the US corporate aircraft field. It has only needed a Jack Riley to make it into the best light twin piston-engined business aircraft obtainable. Lear Jot My first encounter with Bill Lear was over two years ago in Geneva, when he first announced the aircraft then known as the SAAC 23. At that time the project consisted of a few drawings and a partially completed wooden mock-up. Since then Lear has moved the entire organization to Wichita, Kansas, moved all the tooling then made in Switzerland, built and equipped a factory from scratch, and gathered around him over 500 enthusi- astic non-union staff as dedicated to this project as he is himself (evidenced by the amount of work going on all through Saturday and Sunday when I visited the plant). By the time this article appears over 100 hours test flying will have been completed on the prototype Lear Jet and the company should be well into the flying of the second machine. Static and hydrostatic testing is complete, and the fourth and fifth fuselages are well into construction. By the end of March his factory will be three times its size last month, fully tooled and in fiulscale production. For sheer drive and dedicated hard work, producing out of his own pocket what is the most aerodynamically advanced corporate jet aircraft in the air today, one would be hard put to to find a parallel. Unfortunately, because of the presence of an exalted gentleman who held the power to order perhaps 200 of these aircraft, I was reluctantly compelled to forego my chance to fly the Lear Jet during my visit. However, what I saw of the plant, its tooling and the aircraft itself left no doubt in my mind that Lear is going to make a very big mark on the corporate aircraft industry. Although the basic structural methods used on this aircraft are conventional its shape certainly is not. The machine has an area- ruled fuselage, with every skin panel stretch-formed. Every fuselage frame is hooped with a stainless-steel band sandwiched and bonded between frame and skin. Having passed its static and hydrostatic test schedule, the aircraft has been granted a 25,O0Ohr airframe 421 life by the FAA. The initial test of the airframe included 20,000 cycles at 8.81b/sq in, a repeat test at 17.61b/sq in and an accidental increase to 18.21b/sq in without incident. With 16 deliberately made ruptures in the fuselage and windscreen, a further 400 cycles were repeated at 8.81b/sq in and the frame was then taken to blow- up. The only failure then was from a 3in gash deliberately cut in the special plastic windshield. Static load tests of 460,000 cycles and wing torsional landing shock tests have been completed. In flight, after a mild aileron buzz at Mach 0.86 had been experi- enced, vortex generators were fitted to the wings, after which the aircraft went without incident to Mach 0.92. Although the fuselage of the Lear Jet is very small by some corporate jet aircraft standards, it is nevertheless very cleverly engineered, even to the extent of having swivelling seats. The original, somewhat public toilet scheme has been superseded by a more private arrangement, and the engineering of the cockpit and instrument panel has to be seen to be believed. Discontented with the weight and standards of most proprietary equipment and switchgear, Lear set about designing his own. A walk through Bill's avionics shop and design department soon make one realize why he is regarded as the outstanding electronics genius in US aviation. The entire radio and navigation control is carried out from a single centrally mounted panel designed by Bill Lear which con- tains no relays whatsoever. He has designed all his own switches, having in fact a "thing" about relays. The entire switch panel, mixer panel, etc, can be withdrawn from the main instrument panel to which it is attached by pre-set plug connectors. What normally takes most aircraft manufacturers a few square feet of space he has encompassed neatly and simply in a panel measuring approximately 12in x 8in. Discontented with all existing auto- pilots, Lear set about designing a new one for himself. Having built-in all the best features of his previous efforts, plus a lot more, he has finished up with probably one of the best autopilots on the market today. I used this in a Cessna 310 flight from Wichita to Kansas City and back, coupled on ADF and VOR and making a coupled ISL approach in a choppy crosswind. It was smooth, dead-beat and faultless. I think it is safe to say that Lear has not accepted any proprietary equipment in his aircraft without the most exhaustive examinations to see whether he can make it better himself—or make what is available smaller, lighter, simpler and cheaper. Since the Lear Jet's first flight, the only changes made to the aircraft are the fitting of two rows of vortex generators adjacent to the ailerons, a squaring-off of the wing root fillet and the fitting of a drooped leading edge (in the production aircraft manufactured very beautifully from glass-fibre). No other changes have been made and the aircraft is now ready for certification testing. Aerials are tucked away neatly inside a glass-fibre fairing in the tail fin and, when the flaps are retracted and the wheels tucked up, there is not an external blemish on the airframe. Hank Baird, chief engineering test pilot, who regularly knocks off two and three test flights a day, probably summed up this The first prototype Ltar Jet has now completed more than lOOhr flying and the second complete should fly very soon
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