Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Airplane

I have another question. As you probably guessed by the title of this thread, it's about airplanes

Okay, so here's the question. If you were purchasing or leasing a luxury airplane, what type of airplane would you lease? It needs to be a fast plane. (Money isn't a real object - although it would be nice to have some idea about what I could expect to spend.)

I'm thinking about a plane which is about the same size as the plane in which Lex proposed to Lois.

Thanks,

ML

not sure about fast (personal planes don't always go for speed), but, afaik, the airplane of choice for personal and buisiness use is the learjet . i think that was the plane lex had, but i'm not certain. not sure what model, exactly, but the learjet 60 seems to be the top of the line (and has been around since '93). it can carry up to 10 passengers and has a maximum cruising speed of mach 0.84 (also listed as 887kph, although http://www.onlineconversion.com says that's actually mach 0.72. in any case, 887kph, according to the same converter, is 551mph). the site says that their planes have set some world speed records over the years, but i don't know the details.

as for price, learjet's site declines to offer prices. they say they customize each plane for the individual purchaser, so costs vary. this site is offering a 1993 learjet 60 for just under 7 million US dollars. it is pre-owned, but there's also 10 years of inflation to account for...

of course, if you want to go for speed, you might have to go with a custom plane, instead. some kind of modified military plane (i don't know of any non-military craft other than the recently-decomissioned concorde which is capable of supersonic flight) or, if money is really no object, then a custom-designed one-of-a-kind luxury super-speeder. we're talking leather couches, minibar, and padded chairs with harnesses for when you want to go supersonic. oh yeah, and probably swing wings. heck, if you're setting it post-s4, you could make it an experiemental suborbital personal transport rocket jet. talk about speed and style...

hope that helps.

Paul

Paul, can you tell me if a learjet could be flown between continents? Because it could work but I need something that can be used to get from the US to anywhere in the world.

ML

yes, it can. remember those speed records i mentioned? i do have some details. one of them was LA to paris with one stop to refeul (presumably on the east coast of the US). took 12 hours, 37 minutes. then, in 97, the learjet 60 set a world record for an 8 hour nonstop flight from pitsburgh, PA to paris.

the details i'm missing are the ones that explain how these are considered records when the concorde did paris to NYC in (iirc) 3 hours. i guess the concorde just never flew to pitsburgh. <shrug>

Paul

Thanks, Paul. I'll go with the learjet then. It should work for what I have in mind.

ML

There are a few different companys that manufacture personal and corporate jets, but Lear Jet is the best known.

Tank (who remembers the history channel's Modren Marvels on private jets and found it quite fasinating)

late as usual, but, as far as speed is concerned, I'll go for the Concorde, even if it's not flying anymore (and not only because the avatar image and location says it all <g>).

I don't know for US jet brands, but here, we'll go for Dassault's jets, starting with the Falcon, the most sold private and/ or corporated jet (at least, last time I checked ). The Falcon 7X is their last and fastest trijet so far. With a range of 10,556 km and reaches Mach 0,80.

And as I don't suppose you want to take it on the military side, I'll stop there.



Carole (aviation girl since 4)

The photo is taken from Matra/Aerospatiale
supersonic plane projects