By the way, the CHIEF ENGINEER for the Challenger was RON NEAL who worked at Learjet with me in Preliminary Design before leaving LJ and going to Canada. His influence was important, but the "real" engineering was done by Tom Boardman, who also was insturmental in the Harrier, Concorde, GII, Metroliner, SJ30 and other aircraft. Terry Panopalis is NOT CORRECT!! Bill Lear called it the "Fat Albert"!! It is and was a good aircraft though.
Angela, 20.06.2011 13:29
I have often said that the Challenger was a Greyhound bus while the Falcon (either model) was a Cadillac.
Terry Panopalis, e-mail, 17.01.2011 20:22
Scott I'd like to dispell a common myth surrounding the Challenger. I've been involved with the design and certification of Challenger (and Global Express, CRJ, etc)since 1982 as a stress engineer and have NEVER seen a Lear drawing or engineering report in our drawing store...and there are over 25,000 drawings on the Challenger! When Canadair acquired the rights to develop the Learstar 'name' in 1976, it got nothing more that a few bankers boxes of basic layouts. Although the supercritical airfoil section originated with NASA it was Canadair that designed, tested and certified the aircraft. The Challenger was also the first civil aircraft certified to the then new, damage tolerance philosophy first employed in the Rockwell B-1 bomber, and we teamed up with Rockwell on bringing that knowhow inhouse. Bombardier's name in aviation started in 1989 when they acquired Canadair, so their first aircraft project was the regional jet version of the Challenger which became the best selling CRJ-series (over 1200 sold and still going). Its also laughable that Canadair acquired Lear's systems design as that too was developed in-house. Having worked in this field I think I know what I'm talking about. Ironically, Bombardier later bought Learjet and so the latest Lear 85 currently being designed is being done...where else? At the present day Canadair facility in Montreal!
Robert W. Allardyce, e-mail, 10.08.2010 18:50
We, at PSF - Pittsfield, MA, are eliminating a planned parallel taxiway. This will require departing airfat to back taxi on the runway and make a 180 to get into positon for takeoff. What is the 604's taxi turning radius? Can it make a "U" turn in 90 feet?
Scott Boyd, e-mail, 13.04.2010 23:29
Originally the Learstar 600 designed by Bill Lear sold to Canadair in 1976 and Bombardier in 1990. Systems drew heavily on the innovations introduced on the original LearJet and state of the art materials just coming into use by Boeing and Douglas at that time.
Jock Williams, e-mail, 16.04.2009 09:50
The Challenger was the first Canadian designed and built "civilian pattern" aircraft I ever flew -although by the I had flown the Canadair F86 Sabre, The T33, The Tutor, and the CF104 -and loved then one and all!
So it was no surprise to me that the Challenger was a delight to fly -and a magnificent design. Instead of being a big business jet -it was a small large commercial aircraft -a formula that has served Canadair (and then Bombardier) extremely well!
As a former fighter pilot I never "fell in love" with any model of the Challenger -and I flew the 600, 601 and 604 -but I trusted and respected all of them completely.
The Challenger series of aircraft was never designed to "yank and bank" like a fighter -and like the Dassault Falcon 20 and 10 seemed to be able to do. Instead it was designed for minimum weight and maximum range -and this it could do in an unprecedented fashion.
I have often said that the Challenger was a Greyhound bus while the Falcon (either model) was a Cadillac.
Intuitively you might prefer the latter -but which one will make you more money?
