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onboard. In the older airplanes, you also hope your passengers came dressed for the conditions...it can be too hot or too cold depending on where they sit. Given the air distribution system, one might be feel- ing just fine, while his fellow passenger feels as though they are either in a sauna or deep freeze. Smart passengers board with a variety of clothing options at hand.
Often, the unlucky passenger sitting behind the cockpit gets the duty of dealing with the onboard hot coffee dispenser – a task which should have its own full page
checklist. The problem in an old airplane like the Lear 35 is the coffee spout has a button on the end that opens the valve to allow the coffee to run out via gravity. The distance from that button to the cabinet door is just fractions of an inch when the door is closed. While pouring coffee, if the container and coffee spout get moved just a tiny bit and the cabinet door is closed, it can press the button and over the next half-hour, two quarts of potentially cor- rosive coffee will silently leak out onto the carpet and down into hidden fuselage spaces containing complex (and difficult
to replace) electronic parts. For some reason, whenever this occurred on a trip, the frustrated mechanics always seemed to blame the co-pilot. One of the few per- sons in a Lear 35 that cannot even see or reach any part of the coffee system.
By comparison, the other Lears and Citations we have in the hangar are a good 20 years newer. They have single-point refueling, glass gauges for each tank, nice baggage compartments outside the cabin, simple door mechanics and a flight man- agement system which completes all of the pre-takeoff speed calculations on large computer screens. Not to mention, the cof- fee dispenser is designed such that anyone can operate it without spilling a drop, the cabin temperature is individually zoned, and finally, there is a nice bathroom in the aft end with both hot and cold running water. In spite of these nice amenities however, we still have an affinity for the old Lear, just like one might have with a faithful old dog.
So, after returning from our Spokane f light, we did our best to avoid the hangar the next morning. We almost felt like trai- tors as a strange crew showed up and flew the old Lear away to a place from which it will never return. It turns out the engines will be removed and sold separately, then very slowly it will be surgically dissected for its parts, with any unwanted remains finally being melted down – sort of an airplane cremation.
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Inanimate object or not, as the airplane left, we felt similar feelings as if we were watching our old dog enter the vet’s office for its final time – very sad and just a bit guilty. T&T
Kevin Ware is an ATP who also holds CFI, MEII and heli- copter ratings, has more than 10,000 hours and is typed in several different
business jets. He has been flying for a living on and off since he was 20, and currently works as a contract pilot for various corporations in the Seattle area. When not working as a pilot he is employed part time as an emergency and urgent care physician. He can be reached at kevin.ware2@aol.com.
32 • TWIN & TURBINE
October 2018