BOMBARDIER LEARJET 40 - AvBuyer.com

50 WORLD AIRCRAFT SALES MAGAZINE – August 2004
BOMBARDIER
LEARJET 40
Shorter and lighter, a 45 derivative with punch expands
customer choices among Learjets. by Dave Higdon
I
t wasn’t hard to figure that
Bombardier’s Flight Test
Center was closing in on
certification of the newest
Learjet when the examples started flying
overhead my office without a flying-billboard
paint scheme with the numbers
"4" and "0."
In the year since the FAA awarded
initial certification to the Learjet 40,
Bombardier Aerospace delivered at least
nine to customers and achieved certification
by Transport Canada – just in
June of this year.
The Canadian approval continues a
string of milestones for Bombardier’s
newest incarnation in the continuing
Learjet lineage of this business jet
pioneer. The Learjet 40’s certification in
2003 came during the 40th anniversary
year of the first Learjet, Bill Lear’s
groundbreaking Learjet 23, an event
itself worth noting in the annals of business
aviation history.
Compact yet capable, the original
Learjet 23 offered seating for two on the
flight deck and four aft in the cabin with
speeds all but unheard of in personal
aircraft.
Today the Learjet 40 supports that
tradition in style, with a cabin and capabilities
among the best in its competitive
range. However, that historical consistency
should be no more surprising than
the family resemblance that starts at the
nose cone and stretches to the top of the
T-tail. The Learjet 40 descended directly
from its larger sibling, the Learjet 45
which itself broke new ground for
Learjet as the first all-new design from
the company since the first Model 23
way back in 1963.
When Learjet’s designers and engineers
started work on the Learjet 45 a
decade ago, they devoted considerable
effort to improving on a strong product
while retaining that singularly rakish
profile that shouts "Lear."
HISTORY AT PROLOGUE
The 45 sported an all-new fuselage
designed to yield a cabin with dimensions
beyond those of the prior lightclass
Learjets, such as the high-speed,
low-cost Learjet 31A, the 35, 25, 24 and,
of course, the 23.
Learjet’s designers and the
company’s development partners also
collaborated on an all-new wing; one
that greatly reduced the number of
parts that, in turn, brought about lower
assembly time. New systems, new
engines and all-new digital solid-state
avionics rounded out the Learjet 45 and
helped the company create a success ✈
WORLD AIRCRAFT SALES MAGAZINE – August 2004 51

BOMBARDIER LEARJET 40 UPDATE 2
that already numbers more than 240 flying.
Still, not every jet achieves its
maximum potential in its original form;
many evolve into one or more larger
variants to answer market demand.
MOVING UP BY DOWNSIZING:
Such an evolution befell the Learjet 45 –
but in this case the market wanted something
less. To answer market demand for
a smaller, lighter, less-expensive Learjet,
Bombardier Aerospace approved a
different tact in model expansion, opting
to grow the product lineup larger by
shrinking the Model 45.
Yes, that shrinkage is the biggest
difference between the Learjet 40 and its
progenitor, the Learjet 45. Pretty much
everyone with time in business aviation
recognizes the benefits of "stretching" one
model to make a new one. Shrinking a
successful model to make a new one
happens less often, but the Learjet 40 is
proof positive that it can and does happen
– and for good cause: Costs – cost of entry
and cost of operation.
Furthermore, when a manufacturer
leaves well enough alone – or makes
changes that keep both models uniform –
those changes can also help drive down
manufacturing costs. In the case of the
Learjet 40, it appears Bombardier
Aerospace hit its marks.
COMMONALITIES:
To make the Learjet 40 out of the Learjet
45, Bombardier’s engineers essentially
did nothing more than take out two feet
of fuselage and position the wing accordingly.
This change gives the Learjet 40 a
overall length of 55.6 feet versus 58.4 feet
for the Learjet 45.
Internally, the Learjet 40 stretches 17.7
feet inside the cabin, two feet shorter than
the Learjet 45. But both models’ cabins
share their other dimensions, at 4.9 feet
tall and 5.1 feet across. Both airplanes
otherwise share the same wing, engines,
avionics, pretty much the works
throughout the airplane.
The same Honeywell Primus 1000 integrated
flight-display and flight-control
hardware fills the cockpits of both aircraft.
That sharing also necessarily includes the
powerplants, with the Learjet 40 employing
a pair of Honeywell TFE731-20AR, each
making 3,500 pounds of thrust – the same
power output as on the Learjet 45.
With both airplanes certified to a
maximum altitude of 51,000 feet, both are
capable of cruising at Mach 0.81, and the
Learjet 40 able to cover more than 1,700
miles non-stop, versus about 1,800 for the
Learjet 45. However, the couple of
hundred pounds difference in empty and
operating weights does take its toll up at
the flight levels where these birds
perform their best.
ECONOMIES OF SCALE:
Loaded to the max, the Learjets 40 and 45
tip the scales within 150 pounds of one
another – with the Learjet 45 capable of
carrying more fuel and/or more people
than the Learjet 40. Nevertheless, these
differences don’t work to produce any
noteworthy differences in the balance
between cabin payload and fuel, in
cruise, climb or consumption numbers. In
fact, so similar are the performance
numbers that it’s almost a waste of space
to highlight any, as you may have noticed
above.
52 WORLD AIRCRAFT SALES MAGAZINE – August 2004 www.AvBuyer.com
Aircraft Index see Page 2
✈

BOMBARDIER LEARJET 40 UPDATE 3
Flying with four passengers, a crew of
two and allowable fuel, the Learjet 40
can fly more than 1,600 nautical miles
on a bit under 4,100 pounds of fuel.
Similarly, the Learjet 45 can, with the
same four passengers and bags, cover a
couple hundred miles more –due solely
to a larger fuel capacity. It takes the
Learjet 45 more than 4,600 pounds of
fuel to cover those 1,800-plus nautical
miles – but the specific fuel consumption
numbers are nearly identical, within
0.003 pounds per mile of one another.
So, what is the gain of the smaller
bird? How about nearly $2.5 million
difference: The Learjet 40, comparably
equipped, goes for about $7.8 million,
compared to just over $10.2 million for
the Learjet 45.
For a fleet operator flying Learjet 45s,
the Learjet 40 offers a smaller, lowercost,
just-as-capable alternative for a
second plane – and one that shares the
same type rating, a boon to training
costs. Maintenance issues also cost less
when a shop has two jets with identical
engines, nacelles, wings, gear, avionics,
environmental and auxiliary systems.
A company can get in a lot of flying
on the price difference alone. As a new
option for business jet shoppers, the
Learjet 40 fills a gap between the Learjet
45 and contenders made by other planemakers
- and buyers seldom complain
about excess choices.
FURTHER EVOLUTION:
With certification of the new Honeywell
TFE731-20BR engine secured in late
June, Learjet should soon start delivering
the second new derivative of the
Learjet 45 – the 45 XR.
Again sharing practically every
system and component – aside from
minor differences in the engine – the
Learjet 45 XR offers operators longer
range, speedier climb and, thanks to the
new engines, hot-and-high performance
almost 1,000 miles better than the original
Learjet 45.
The Honeywell TFE731-20BR engine
can make its full 3,500 pounds of thrust
at ISA+25 degrees Celsius, a full 9
degrees higher than the TFE731-20AR
LEARJET 40 LEARJET 45 LEARJET 45 XR
DIMENSIONS
Length ..........................55.5 ft .......................57.6 ft.....................57.6 ft
Height...........................14.1 ft .......................14.1 ft....................14.1 ft
Wing Span ..................47.8 ft ........................47.8 ft.....................47.8 ft
INTERIOR
Length ..........................17.7 ft ........................19.5 ft....................19.5 ft
Height...........................4.9 ft..........................4.9 ft ......................4.9 ft
Width.............................5.1 ft..........................5.1 ft ......................5.1 ft
POWER
Engines........................2x Honeywell .........2x Honeywell.......2x Honeywell
TFE731-20AR........TFE731-20AR ....TFE731-20BR
Thrust ...........................3,500lbs...................3,500lbs ...............3,500lbs
AVIONICS ................Honeywell................Honeywell ............Honeywell
Primus 1000...........Primus 1000 .......Primus 1000
WEIGHTS
MTOW ...........................20,350 lbs...............20,500 lbs...........21,500 lbs
Max Landing ..............19,200 lbs...............19,200 lbs ...........19,200 lbs
Max Payload ..............2,572 lbs..................2,271 lbs..............2,271 lbs
Useful Load................-...................................- ...............................-
Max Fuel......................5,375 lbs..................6,062 lbs..............6,062 lbs
AIRPORT PERFORMANCE
Take-Off.......................-...................................- ...............................-
Landing ........................2,660 ft ....................2,660 ft.................2,660 ft
CRUISE PERFORMANCE
High Speed................0.81 mach ...............0.81 mach............0.81 mach
Long Range................0.75 mach ...............0.75 mach............0.75 mach
Range ...........................1,700nm...................1,800nm...............2,000nm
CAPACITY
Flight Crew.................2 .................................2..............................2
Passengers................7 .................................9..............................9
Projected Price .........$7.8m........................$10.2m.................$10.85m
Note: These statistics are posted on www.aero.bombardier.com
that power the Learjets 45 and 40.
The 45 XR boasts a landing-gear
improvement to handle a gross take-off
weight of 21,500 pounds, exactly 1,000
pounds higher than the Learjet 45. With
more than 600 pounds of that higher
weight available in fuel – and thanks to
the higher elevations at which the
engines can make full power – the
Learjet 45 XR with eight passengers can
fly almost 1,000 miles farther than the
Learjet 45 coming out of a high-elevation
locale like Aspen, Colorado.
With full fuel, the Learjet 45 XR can
still carry eight in the cabin and cover
more than 2,000 nautical miles, nonstop.
So even though the Learjet 45 XR
is dimensionally the same as the Learjet
45, even with the same thrust, the XR is
arguably an example of getting something
more – for practically nothing.
In this case, the "nothing" equates to
about $600,000, the price difference
between the Learjet 45 and the $10.85
million price tag of the Learjet 45 XR.
■ More information from Bombardier Aerospace;
Website: www.aero.bombardier.com
54 WORLD AIRCRAFT SALES MAGAZINE – August 2004 www.AvBuyer.com
Aircraft Index see Page 2