Tag Archives: Hawker 4000

Someone Forgot to Close the Gas Cap

Talon Air’s Hawker 4000 came to Boeing Field and my shots of its arrival have already had their own post.  However, while I was reviewing the shots when I got home, something seemed a little odd between the shots.  Something seemed to be flapping around on the lower rear fuselage.  I zoomed in to the shots and there was an access panel that was unsecured.  Its angle was changing between shots, so it was clearly moving around in the airflow.  From what I can gather, this is probably where the fueling port is located.  These doors are tough, so it was probably fine, but I wonder whether any damage was done on a long flight.

Woohoo! – Another Hawker 4000

A few times a year, Boeing Field is treated to the arrival of a Hawker 4000.  This was not a successful jet for Hawker and so they are far from common.  I have shot them on occasions, and they have probably got blog posts when I did.  I saw this one coming in one weekend so headed over to see it.  When I looked up the operator, Talon Air, I was interested to see on their website that they have quite the collection of 4000s.  I guess owning a bunch of them makes supporting them a little easier.  Annoyingly, another one was at BFI while I was there and got towed near me before I realized what it was.  It didn’t fly while I was there unfortunately.

A Trip Is Worth It For The Rare Hawker 4000

Until recently, I had only got one good shot of a Hawker 4000.  This was Hawker’s effort at a larger bizjet and it also made extensive use of composites.  It originally came under the name Horizon and the development program was very long requiring a couple of extensions to the certification application because it was expiring.  The plane did not sell well and it was discontinued.  They are so rare, the first time I shot one, I didn’t even realize what it was and figured it was a Challenger 300.  Aside from one high overhead, I hadn’t seen one since.

When I saw one was due in to Boeing Field on a Sunday, in figured that was worth a trip on its own.  I didn’t have anything going on so I headed over.  As it happened, there was plenty of interest at BFI that day so the trip was very productive.  However, even if that hadn’t been the case, it would still have been worth it to catch this unusual and rare type.