With a crop of very light jets (VLJs) in development it’s interesting to look back at another would be revolution in airplane design, the Lear Fan. In the late 1970s inventor and promoter Bill Lear conceived a turboprop airplane that would have twin engines driving a single propeller mounted on the tail. The airplane was made entirely from carbon graphite material which was expected to give it an unprecedented light empty weight. Maximum cruise speed was projected to be 350 knots, faster than Cessna’s new Mustang light jet.
The Lear Fan garnered a pot full of orders, several prototypes flew many hours in flight test, but in the end unsolvable problems with the gearbox that combined the output of the two turbine engines, and other issues with weight and aerodynamics, doomed the project. One difference between the Lear Fan and some of today’s proposed small jets is the price which was $1.6 million in 1981. That was a lot of money, but then the Lear Fan promised to do things never before possible. This story was written not long after the first prototype Lear Fan flew. FLYING 1981 Article: AIRCRAFT DESIGN: LEAR FAN BITES INTO THE BUSINESS FLEET By J. Mac McClellan
