This is designed to be a narrative type explanation of how we fly the LR35 from an everyday operations standpoint. I’d consider it more valuable for reference and familiarization than I would for instruction. And as always, everything I write here is for reference use only, and is limited to the context of desktop flight simulation. It is not to be used in any real world application for training, familiarization, technique, or aircraft operation.

I’ll spare each of you the detailed description of how we get the catering, coffee, ice, etc. J

So let’s start with arriving at the airplane.

I’m usually the first one to arrive at the aircraft. Once I get the door open, and put my bag in the airplane, I’ll head around to the ground power unit which the FBO usually already has standing by the airplane, plug it in, and fire it up. I can ask them to do it, but I can just do it myself and not have to wait for somebody to come over and do it for me. It’s important to note that we use ground power for every flight, as long as it’s available. Now that we’ve got external power on the airplane, I can hop up front and get things started.

I have a very simple memory flow that I use to bring the airplane from a cold and dark state to a sustained power state. It goes like this:

1.       BATT 1&2 – On

2.       DC Volts – Confirm 28V. If all you get is 24V, the GPU is no good.

3.       Primary Inverter – On

4.       Autopilot Master – On

5.       Radio Altimeter – On

6.       Standby Battery – On

7.       Avionics Master – On

8.       Yaw Damper Power PRI and SEC – On

9.       Radar – Standby

10.   AC or Heat – As Required

11.   Standby Gyro – Uncage

12.   Aux Hyd Pump – On

13.   Flaps – Set 8 or 20 (99% of takeoffs in the Lear are Flaps 8, more on this in a bit)

14.   Parking Brake – Set

15.   Aux Hyd Pump – Off

Once you have that down, you can bang it out in about 20 seconds. The flow makes more sense if you follow that list while looking at the cockpit, and once you’re done, you’ve effectively woken the airplane up. The procedure is totally different if we’re leaving from an airport where no GPU is available. But I won’t get into that, since you always have the benefit of one in the FSW Lear!

Next, I hop out, remove the covers from the engines, pitot tubes, AOA vanes, and Rosemount probe, then place them all in the big red bag, drag the big red bag through the cabin back to the baggage area, and stow it. You? You just click the mouse a few times.

Here is normally where we’d grab the coffee, ice, newspapers, catering, and put in our fuel order. You can always grab a clearance and go if the people show up early and food is already taken care of, but you have no choice but to make them wait if you haven’t put the food on board yet. Food before clearance.

Now that you’ve gotten the cabin set up, it’s time to finalize the cockpit setup. Hop back up front.

First thing we do is grab the ATIS. Once we’ve got it, give clearance a call and get your IFR. No CPDLC, ACARS, or PDC in this airplane.

You’ve written down your clearance, now it’s time to program the box. We have Universal UNS-1’s in our airplanes, for the time being the Flysimware replica still has the GTN750 as the go-to navigator. This won’t be the case too much longer, but for now, it’s the closest thing we’ve got to an FMS. Get the departure and route programmed, get your frequencies pre-tuned, bug your altitudes, set the transponder.

Now it’s time to post the speeds. Pull out the QRH, and calculate V1, Vr, V2, flap retraction, and balanced field length. V1 is based on weight, temperature, and elevation, whereas Vr and V2 are based exclusively on weight. After a while, you start to remember what speed set is associated with what scenarios, but its always best to pull the book and make sure your memory is as good as you think it is. Flap retraction speed is always V2+30KIAS. There’s really no such thing as a Learjet with excellent runway performance, but the 35 is on the better end of the spectrum. Most of the time, assuming the runway is dry, 5,000ft is the minimum to be comfortable, 4,500ft is the shortest I’d ever consider. In a jet, everything is about margins, and what the book says the airplane will do. Is it theoretically possible that you can get the airplane in and out of a 3,000ft runway? Yes. Would I ever try? Only if it was my last option in an abnormal situation. But in general, the airplane is a pretty decent runway performer. The only time things get a little interesting is during hot and high scenarios. If you’re departing Denver on an 85 degree day, don’t be surprised if your balanced field length is over 8,000 feet, and your takeoff ground roll is over 7,000 feet. Yes I’ve done it, yes it’s a bit unsettling.

At this point, the cockpit setup is basically complete, and all that’s left to do is our exterior walkaround. An interesting detail that separates airplanes like this one from other General Aviation airplanes, is that the exterior preflight is not terribly involved. There isn’t a whole lot to check, I won’t get into the details since you really can’t do it in FS, but I’ll mention one item. One of the most important things to check on the 35 preflight is that the fuel caps were properly closed after the airplane was fueled. The caps aren’t visible from the cockpit since they’re on the outer side of the tip tank, so if you were to lose one, it’s more than likely that your first indication would be a wing heavy scenario. There are a number of other fuel system abnormalities that can cause this, so a simple check on the preflight will allow you to rule it out if you find yourself climbing through 35,000 feet with an airplane that’s starting to feel really heavy on one side.

Walkaround complete, just waiting on the pass…oh they’re here…time to go!

The courteous thing to do when they show up is grab their bags, point them in the direction of the restrooms and coffee machine, and let them grab some coffee before you go. Because the LR35’s baggage compartment is behind the bench seat, and has no external access, you have to load the bags before you load the people. Which means if you bring them out to the airplane now, they’ll be standing out in the heat/cold/rain/snow/meteor shower while you sling bags. Better to just do that ahead of time, then go get them and bring them out to the airplane. Typically, one of the pilots is already up front, the other pilot allows the passengers to board, and that pilot closes the door. Verify two handles in the forward position, door annunciator extinguished, and we’re on our way. At this point, only one or two switches stand between you and an engine start. The first is the rotating beacon, the second, if required, is to turn the aux heat or air conditioning off. From there, you’re ready to start.

Place the Start/Gen switch in the start position, and we’re looking for two lights. The first is the red start light just below the switch, which tells us that the starter solenoid has closed, the second is actually non existent in the FSW Lear, and it’s the light down on the pedestal indicating that the respective standby pump is energized. The light was added as part of a mandatory AD from the FAA, and it somehow escaped the FSW Lear. This will be rectified soon. At 13% N1, move the thrust lever out of cut-off into idle. You’ll hear an audible “clink.” This is the latching mechanism in the lever engaging, which prevents us from putting it back into cutoff without lifting the latch. Now we’re looking for an additional light, the yellow light above the air ignition switch showing us that the igniters have energized. In many of these airplanes that have had electrical work over the years, you can actually hear the capacitor for the ignitor charging when its turned on. We’ve simulated this in the Professional Edition release, and I think it’s one of the many sounds you’ll really like! Now that you’ve placed the thrust lever in idle, things happen fast. A slight rise in fuel flow is quickly followed by a marked rise in ITT, indicating that lightoff has occurred. Check for N1 fan rotation, oil pressure within 10 seconds of lightoff, and an acceleration rate of at least 1% N2 per second. If all goes well, the engine should be up to idle in less than 30 second from the point of lightoff. Engine acceleration will be noticeably slower on a battery start.

There are five main start malfunctions you need to watch for. The first is a hot start, indicated by an ITT indication that is rapidly approaching the red line with no signs of stopping. Terminate the start by moving the thrust lever to cut-off, and let the starter continue to run for another 15 seconds or so. The second is a hung start, indicated by a failure of the engine to continue accelerating to idle once it has lit off. Terminate the start by closing the thrust lever and disengaging the starter. The third is a jammed fan, in which case you’ll see no N1 rotation. Fourth is a lack of oil pressure within 10 seconds of light-off. Shut it down. The last is the rarest of them all, which is a sheared tower shaft. This will be evident as soon as you engage the starter. N2 will instantaneously be all over the place and totally erratic. It will really get your attention. In this failure, the tower shaft that connects the starter to the engine accessory drive has snapped. Turn off the starter, because you aren’t going anywhere! It’s worth mentioning that in 700hrs of Learjet flying, I’ve only seen any of these start malfunctions in the simulator during training. The TFE-731’s tend to start very, very cool, and they’re bulletproof in design.

Repeat for the other engine, and run the before-taxi checklist.

I like to say that you can tell an experienced Learjet pilot before he ever gets the thing in the air. Taxiing the airplane honestly takes longer to figure out than flying it does. The nosewheel steering is driven by a DC electric motor, and controlled by an AC electric computer. There is no mechanical connection between the rudder pedals and the nosewheel. For those of you that have used CH rudder pedals, that’s about how easily the real Lear pedals move on the ground. They have virtually no resistance, a relatively short range of travel, and no springs that center them. Couple those pedals to an analog nosewheel steering system that has two different ranges of sensitivity based on wheel speed inputs from the anti-skid sensors, and you end up with an airplane that has…interesting...ground handling characteristics. In high sensitivity, the steering is very, very sensitive. The speed threshold between sensitivities is 9 knots. Below 9 knots, you get high speed steering and 45 degrees of travel in each direction. Above 9 knots you get low speed steering, and 6 degrees of travel. So the real learning curve is developing a sense of when the steering is going to change sensitivities. If you’re taking a nice casual left turn in low sensitivity above 9 knots, and then you drop below the 9 knot threshold, the steering will go right into high speed steering, and the airplane will jerk to the left as the travel limit of the nosewheel increases to 45 degrees. Also, remember how I mentioned that there’s no mechanical connection between the nosewheel and the pedals? You’ll see the downsides to that the first time you try to taxi the airplane in gusty winds, and the rudder is getting blown all over the place. Wind blows the rudder around, rudder moves the pedals around, pedals move the nosewheel around, you go all over the place. Confused yet? I was too. A new Lear driver’s taxi-out will be jerky and erratic, an experienced guy’s will feel like any other airplane. Thankfully, the FSW Lear is significantly easier to taxi than the real thing.

The Lear requires no power to come off the blocks when its light, and you’ll inevitably end up riding the brakes a bit to keep it from going too fast. Even when its heavy, it just needs the occasionally shot of power to keep it going, but basically taxi’s at idle power.

On our way out to the runway, we’ll complete the taxi checklist and brief the takeoff. Unless you were literally parked next to the runway, you should be ready to go upon reaching. Plan for a rolling takeoff if you’ve got plenty of runway, static or partial-static takeoff if you don’t. Takeoff clearance, complete the lineup checks and put the steering under the thumb. The nosewheel steering is only used until the first indication of airspeed, and then turned off. There are two ways of engaging the steering. You can press the steer lock button once, or you can hold down the red button on the yoke, which only engages the steering as long as you’re holding it. Steer lock is on for taxi, and we mash the red button for takeoff. At the first indication of airspeed, the PNF will call “airspeed alive” at which point you just release the red button. The rudder now has enough authority to maintain directional control.

I mentioned earlier that most takeoffs are done at Flaps 8. Flaps 20 is a usable setting for takeoff, but it has minimal impact on runway performance, and a largely negative impact on your single-engine second segment climb performance. Basically, it's really never worth it to use Flaps 20. I've only made one Flaps 20 takeoff, and it was because we actually needed the ~300ft reduction in takeoff distance to make the numbers work. 

Fly the takeoff as you would in any other jet, adhering to your speeds. Rotate to 15 degrees, positive rate, gear up, YD on. V2+30, flaps up. There is an early and significant reduction in power required to keep the airplane under 200 knots, especially when it’s light. If your DP has an early crossing restriction, like 1500 or 2000 feet, stay on your toes because it usually comes less than 30 seconds after rotation.

Complete the after takeoff checks and fly the airplane. We typically climb the airplane at 250 knots, and most of us set climb power based on ITT. I usually start at 800 degrees and see what it gives me, then add a bit or take off a bit. When its cold and light, 250 knots at 800ITT will easily produce an initial climb rate of 4500fpm. The passengers aren’t sensitive to rate of climb or descent, they’re really only sensitive to deck angle, so this should be your primary consideration in how fast you climb or descend. We climb this way until we reach M0.70, and then we climb the rest of the way at M0.70. When the airplane is heavy or its warm at altitude, you won’t be able to go right to FL410-FL430. By the time you get to FL380, the climb rate will be 500fpm or less, and you’ll have to level off for a few minutes to accelerate a burn a little bit of gas. You can usually get it up to 410 at that point. It’s worth noting that although the service ceiling of the LR35 is FL450, it’s almost impossible to get it there. The book says at ISA you need to weigh something like 13,000lbs to make it there, so you basically need to have no more than 80 minutes of fuel to tanks dry to be light enough to get up there. Most of the time it won’t go that high, and when it will, you’ll be wanting to go down, not up.

Climb check happens at FL180, AC off, recog light off, altimeters set to 29.92, and verify that the emergency pressurization switches are normal and the guards are closed.

Once you reach your cruising altitude, leave the power alone and let it eat for a bit. It will accelerate up to its normal cruising speed of M0.78 fairly quickly, at which point I set cruise power based on fuel flow. 600lbs/hr per side is where I start, tweaking it slightly if needed to get settled in at M0.78. If you’re really trying to max-range the airplane M0.74 is the place to be. Now you can sit there and watch it do its thing until it’s time to come down.

Managing the fuel in cruise is fairly straightforward, especially when you don’t have any fuel in the fuselage tank, or as we call it, the “trunk”. If you do, you’ll have to remember to transfer it forward, otherwise you’ll run out of fuel when the gauge still says that the total quantity is still 1300lbs. Why? Because you can’t use the trunk fuel unless you move it forward. It’s just a storage tank. The earliest you can move it is when the tip tanks have burned down to 600lbs per side. I prefer to wait until the tips are empty and move it forward then. This gets the tips lighter sooner and keeps them light which improves the stability of the airplane at altitude, and reduces the dutch-roll tendency. While we’re talking about the fuselage tank, I’ll mention that there’s no way to fill it externally on the ground, so if you’re planning on using it on your next leg, I’d start filling it as soon as you clear the runway after landing. It takes about 20 minutes to fill, so starting the transfer when the fuel truck shows up is going to tie up the line guys fueling you for twice as long as it should. Tip them well if you forget and have to tie them up waiting for you to finish filling the trunk.

30 minutes before TOD, flip on the windshield heat. That window is now cold-soaked from sitting at altitude for hours on end, and when you descend into warmer air, it will instantly fog up. You’ll be wiping the windshield with a cloth every 2 minutes to see where you’re going. So don’t forget to warm up the windshield!

Descents are fairly straightforward. Spoilers are almost never necessary even for the tightest of crossing restrictions. The Lear is a rocket ship with the power up, and a brick with the power at idle. It really, really, comes down. Constant airspeed, idle thrust descents of up to 4000fpm are easily attainable without the use of drag devices. The emergency descent procedure, which calls for an idle thrust, 250 knot descent with the spoilers up and the gear down, produces descent rates of over 10,000fpm.

On arrival below 10,000 feet, we’re usually doing 250 knots unless ATC, airspace, or a published restriction prevents us from doing so. A few miles from the IAF, pull the power to idle, let it slow down to 180 knots, and select flaps 8. When the glideslope is one dot above, flaps 20, gear down, call for the landing checklist. At this point, you’ll arm the TR’s, turn on the igniters, and turn on the landing lights. Crossing the FAF, flaps 40, join the glideslope.

65% N1 produces 130-135 knots in this configuration on a 3 degree descent profile. Disengage the YD at 500 feet and make the landing. It’s super important to touch down in a wings level attitude. The tip tanks sit just 24-30 inches off the ground, and 7-9 degrees of bank is all it takes to drag one. Open the spoilers before applying wheel brakes, deploy the TR’s and get the airplane slowed down. Stow the TR’s at 60KIAS, and bring the steering on below 45 knots.

Clear the runway, complete the after landing checklist, and head on into the ramp.

 

If you want to ride along with me for a couple of excursions in the real jet, you can check out some of my stuff on YouTube:

 

 

Edited July 22, 20196 yr by capceo

This is excellent, just what I needed for my new bought Flysimware 35A. Thanks for sharing, appreciate it!

Daang! Thank you so much! I am an eager Lear flyer (mostly the XP Lear25 though) but this makes me want to take out the 35 again. Thanks, again 🔥!

Great write up brohamino. But you mean we are not going to dive into how to beat Signatures ramp fee after they bury the airplane during a quick turn? 

3 minutes ago, RyInTheSky said:

Great write up brohamino. But you mean we are not going to dive into how to beat Signatures ramp fee after they bury the airplane during a quick turn? 

Added content:

In the event Signature buries your airplane and doesn't have it online at your proposed departure time, simply refuse to give them a credit card to pay for any of the fuel or services until they waive the handling charge. Also, if nobody comes out to marshal you in or chock you, don't pay the fee. Also, just go to Atlantic instead.

Edited July 22, 20196 yr by capceo

Hi Joe,

Nice work - sir - thanks so much...

Regards,
Scott

Joe - you mentioned a Professional Release.  Is that with the new UNS?  Will the textures done by WickedBacon be in that or the old version?

Thanks for the writeup.  I'm ATC and I will consider the taxi performance of the LJ35 next time I work one.  At FCM our longest RY is 5000 ft...and I think we do have LJ35's periodically.

2 hours ago, ryanbatcund said:

Joe - you mentioned a Professional Release.  Is that with the new UNS?  Will the textures done by WickedBacon be in that or the old version?

Thanks for the writeup.  I'm ATC and I will consider the taxi performance of the LJ35 next time I work one.  At FCM our longest RY is 5000 ft...and I think we do have LJ35's periodically.

Hey Ryan. The Professional Edition release is the one coming soonest. It will include a number of systems fixes, a TON of new custom sounds recorded directly from the actual aircraft, WickedBacon's textures, remodeled seats, and several MAJOR corrections to the exterior model (primarily, the tip tanks are now angled down 4.5 degrees, the windows have been resized to the correct dimension, and the engine fans are now significantly larger to conform to actual measurements.)

The UNS-1 expansion will be a separate offering.

Yeah, 5000ft is fine as long as its dry. If it's wet, then it becomes a little more challenging. Where do you work?

Edited July 24, 20196 yr by capceo

On 7/23/2019 at 10:46 PM, capceo said:

Hey Ryan. The Professional Edition release is the one coming soonest. It will include a number of systems fixes, a TON of new custom sounds recorded directly from the actual aircraft, WickedBacon's textures, remodeled seats, and several MAJOR corrections to the exterior model (primarily, the tip tanks are now angled down 4.5 degrees, the windows have been resized to the correct dimension, and the engine fans are now significantly larger to conform to actual measurements.)

The UNS-1 expansion will be a separate offering.

Yeah, 5000ft is fine as long as its dry. If it's wet, then it becomes a little more challenging. Where do you work?

Ah excellent.  The Lear is one of my top 3 addons!  I'm here outside of Minneapolis at KFCM.

Great explanation  and very easy to understand (I agree with it all) , I have approximately 2200 hours on 24, 25 and 35, I have retired now, and taking to the sky in the Simulator and keeping up to speed, Enjoy

JD