It was the hotrod of private jets

Even at 68, I’m still a huge adrenaline junky. Not only do I love fast cars but also fast jets. Did I mention I’m a private pilot? I remember one day sitting in a lowly Cessna 152 with my instructor during my training. The plane was a great trainer, sturdy to handle my occasional hard landings and forgiving enough in the air to give me a break when I got too slow or heavy on the controls. If it was a car, it’d be the equivalent of a Toyota Yaris. The Cessna goes nowhere fast cruising at 111 knots or 123 mph. That would be fast for a car but slow for a plane.

Ok, back to my training session. We were number two for takeoff behind a Learjet. Tower cleared the Learjet for takeoff and instructed us to taxi into position and hold meaning we line up on the runway and wait for the jet to clear the runway. My instructor said to me to watch that hotrod accelerate quickly and rocket into the sky over Central Illinois. I was mesmerized and even though that was about 35 years ago, I remember it vividly and I think of it every time I see this Learjet parked on the ramp abandoned at Crites Field located in Waukesha, WI about 10 minutes from my house.

The Learjet was the invention of Bill Lear. The first one took flight in 1963 and pretty much created the private jet market as we know it today. Before that, he was big into radio electronics inventing the 8-track tape player. Remember those? Now I’m really dating myself. The Learjet 23 could carry eight passengers at 560 mph and cost about $650,000 fully equipped, about $400,000 less than its competitors at the time.

This year Learjet, a Model 24e, manufactured in 1973, was parked and abandoned years ago by its owner. Most likely because its owners couldn’t afford the upgrades needed to keep it airworthy. According to the FAA, it has been deregistered. Owning a jet is not cheap. The purchase price is just the beginning of the huge money hole needed to own and operate a private jet. The engines need instructions and overhauls when reaching a certain amount of hours. All maintenance in airplanes is measured in hours, not miles. Smaller turbines can cost between $200,000 to $300,000 while the big ones can cost 3 million.

What is this plane worth now? Almost nothing. I know the airport manager and he told me that they have stripped the avionics and other parts and sold them to raise money for special events. What’s its fate? The airport is planning on building hangars on this end of the runway so most likely it will be chopped up and end up in a dumpster. Yes, this really happens to old jets. I know this because of the time I worked at Midwest Express Airlines in Milwaukee, they had a DC-9 that they had retired and stripped, and that’s how that aircraft’s life ended. So this jet sits, for now, baking in the sun, like the Cessna 152, going nowhere fast.

Be sure to check back each Friday for another car spot, or plane spot, and have a great weekend.