Tag Archives: corporate

Legacy 600 and a Close Relative

When you consider the large cabin corporate jets, there is one jet that has not had as much success as it deserves. The Legacy 600 from Embraer is a derivative of the E135 regional jet but transformed into a longer range and far more comfortable jet. It hasn’t done much to dent the market that Gulfstream, Dassault and Bombardier have been operating in. It doesn’t have the super long range of some of the competitor products but, given that many operators never go off the US East Coast, that range is not a big deal for many customers. Prestige is though and the Legacy has never had the same cachet given its regional jet heritage.

This one showed up at San Jose on a sunny winters day. The interesting thing was that something very similar was also flying that day. The second aircraft is not a Legacy, though. It is an E145 that is operated by Intel. They have outfitted it as a corporate shuttle. It runs their staff between their locations. I don’t know what the interior is like but externally it looks a lot like a bizjet which, I guess is what it is.

BBJ at Medford

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Directly opposite our hotel during our overnight stop in Medford Oregon was a Boeing BBJ. There was no way I wasn’t going to try and get a shot of it despite the fence. The initial shots were when we first arrived because I didn’t know what the timing of the rest of the day would be. However, after dinner, the light was getting so much better so I wandered back out to have another go. No idea whether it is based there or whether someone was just visiting. We left before it moved.

Learjet and a Global Through the Fence

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San Jose has a little park next to the airport which provides a good place to watch the approaching aircraft. It is also situated right next to the taxiway that the corporate jets use to get to the threshold for departure. You get a really good view of them and, as the day progresses, the light is on them nicely. Unfortunately, although not surprisingly, there is a big fence in the way. It is a high fence and there are no spaces to photograph through. The only option is to get very close to the mesh, try and align with the holes as well as you can and then shoot wide open to blur out any wire that does get in the shot. It works surprisingly well.

In this case a couple of Bombardier’s jets showed up. The Lear was nice to see but I do prefer the big corporate jets and the Global Express has been a favorite of mine for a long time. I think it is an elegant jet and this one was painted nicely to enhance the lines. I await the first chance I shall get to see the Global 7000 to see whether it shares the family looks. I should pay my friends in Wichita a trip – to see them of course!

Falcon 20s

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The Falcon 20 was a ground breaking corporate aircraft. It sold well and has been sufficiently flexible that it has also found a lot of secondary uses including FedEx package carrying and electronic warfare support. However, its use as a bizjet was its main role. Now, it is a dated airframe so it doesn’t show up very often. As a result, when we were heading around the perimeter of McCarran I was pleasantly surprised to see one parked up on the ramp. What really caught me unawares was to find another one a short distance away. This must be the place that old Falcon 20s gather! Sadly they weren’t in a position to shoot but I did see one depart while I was there so it will have to do to represent the type at McCarran.

Citation Xs

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Today’s post is for my buddy Pete. Pete flies for a living and for fun. He loves to fly anything he can have a go with. There is one bizjets that he hasn’t got his hands on (yet) but which he really has a soft spot for. That is the Cessna Citation X. When it was introduced, the Citation X brought a far higher top speed than the competition. It did this by having two honking great engines strapped to a relatively small fuselage and a highly swept wing. It has been a popular seller.

It has been attractive to fractional programs as well as individuals so it is not unusual to see one show up at an airport that has regular bizjets traffic. Certain angles look good on the jet. Anything that emphasizes the size of the engines appeals to me but the sweep of the wings and the fin also give it a going fast while standing still feel. Here are some shots for you Pete.

FAA Jets With Extra Bits

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The engineer in me is always pleased by a plane with extra bits added. This Learjet 60 was departing San Jose. As it taxied out, you could see a lot of extra probes on the front fuselage and some antennae on the fin. It is a Federal Aviation Administration jet, hence its abbreviated registration number. I assume it is used for flight checking services when the performance of things like instrument landing systems is calibrated. Whatever it does, it has a few added extras compared to the average bizjet.

One More JetStar

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Considering how few JetStars there are around, they seem to make a disproportionate appearance on the blog. This one is another active example. My friend, Paul, was telling me how he had seen an example at McCarran on a previous visit. Just as he pointed to where it had been, a short distance away was the same jet. It was away from the fence which was helpful so I figured I should get a shot and add it to the archive. Not a great place to get good shots but better than nothing. Cheers mate!

Customs Citation

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Cessna Citations are not the most exciting business jets. The original versions are particularly uninspiring with their simple design and unswept wing. Normally I might not even bother if I came across one. This example showed up at Davis Monthan while we were on the ramp and it obviously wasn’t a standard version. It belongs to the Customs people. I imagine it spends a lot of time looking at what is going on along the border. Flying out of Tucson would support that idea. I imagine the sensors on board are a lot more interesting than the plane itself.

The French Government Comes to Town

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Catching a cool bizjet is nice but coming across one that is a bit special is even better. I almost missed this one. I was focused on something else when I looked up and saw something on the approach. At first I thought it was a parallel approach but I lifted the camera up to my eye and saw it was a colorful fun that was getting my attention. It was a Dassault Falcon 7X. It was in French government colors. The fin was the French tricolor. This was a cool thing to catch and quite a surprise.

At Last a Lineage

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Embraer is a company that has made a phenomenal transformation in the last decade or so. From being a small, state owned company that met local needs, it became a power in the regional aircraft sector. Once they had become established there, they took a step into the corporate aircraft sector. They started out by making corporate versions of their regional jets but now they are designing specific jets with the Phenom and Legacy types being hugely successful.

One of the regional jet conversions was the Lineage. Based on the E195 jet, the Lineage provides a large fuselage but doesn’t provide the extreme range of other large cabin jets. However, many customers do not go that far and don’t need the extreme range. (This doesn’t stop a lot of Gulfstream and Global customers of course!). It has been reasonably successful but not a big seller and I had not seen one until recently. I was at Las Vegas when this example took off. Good to finally see one.