Y-shaped pushers
January 1, 2019 11:00 AM   Subscribe

Today, the 32nd of December 2018, is the 38th anniversary of the maiden flight of Bill Lear’s LearFan aircraft. The LearFan was based on the Planet Satellite, an experimental magnesium aeroplane that nearly became a helicopter. (The LearFan never received approval by the FAA, but the design was later re-used for a more sinister purpose.)
posted by chappell, ambrose (8 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Some light reading on wikipedia for you all: List of unmanned aerial vehicles

A significant percentage of these are rear-propped.
posted by lalochezia at 11:38 AM on January 1, 2019


I don't see where the Reaper was based on the LearFan (other than a superficial resemblance)... do you have a ref?
posted by phliar at 12:35 PM on January 1, 2019


I don't see where the Reaper was based on the LearFan (other than a superficial resemblance)... do you have a ref?

From the second link:
The celebrated aviation writer Bill Sweetman noted (in an article for Air & Space) that:
“The LearFan ran out of cash before the problems were solved, but it left a historic echo. With its slender wings, pusher propeller, and Y-tail, the LearFan resembles today’s Reaper drone—and Linden Blue, co-owner of the Reaper’s maker, General Atomics, was the last CEO of LearFan. I’m not sure it’s a coincidence.”
The article referred to is here. The relevant section:
Another notable might-have-been, from the early 1980s, was an elegant victim of ambition: The twin-engine, eight-passenger LearFan 2100, Bill Lear’s last design. The whole airframe was carbon fiber, which in turn permitted a slick compound-curved fuselage and sailplane-like, efficient wing. The engines were standard Pratt & Whitney PT6s, but they were buried in the rear fuselage and geared to a single propeller. The result was near-jet speed and altitude with propeller-like fuel burn.

Starting up an airplane company is a huge challenge in itself. Carbon fiber problems such as delamination (the splitting apart of the material’s plies) were barely understood, and federal airworthiness authorities were reluctant to sign off on the coupled engine.

The LearFan ran out of cash before the problems were solved, but it left a historic echo. With its slender wings, pusher propeller, and Y-tail, the LearFan resembles today’s Reaper drone—and Linden Blue, co-owner of the Reaper’s maker, General Atomics, was the last CEO of LearFan. I’m not sure it’s a coincidence.
posted by chappell, ambrose at 1:21 PM on January 1, 2019 [1 favorite]


From the Planet Satellite article:

It was a true monocoque design, for those unfamiliar with the term- this does not mean it was single-penised (in fact, the aircraft had no penis).

Well, quite.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 1:35 PM on January 1, 2019 [3 favorites]


So the LearFan was sort of the 8-track tape of business aircraft?
posted by TedW at 1:51 PM on January 1, 2019


One thing about pushers: they are all noisy.
posted by bz at 12:53 PM on January 2, 2019


To add a little:

Here is legendary aviation and automotive journalist J Mac McClellan's 1981 Flying Magazine article about the LearFan, whose continued development Bill Lear left in his wife, Moya Lear's, hands.

Upon the 1985 collapse of the LearFan project, which had been moved to Ireland as LearAvia, the NYT wrote this obituary of sorts. (NYT archive link)

Here is an image of one of the prototypes as it hangs in The Museum of Flight on Seattle's Boeing Field.

WGBH Boston and the BBC produced a 1984 episode of Enterprise, a 28-minute documentary about the development of the LearFan. Included is footage of the maiden flight. (YT link)
posted by bz at 1:56 PM on January 2, 2019 [2 favorites]


Thanks bz!! I have to admit that I’m not an aviation buff (at all) and I mostly posted this because I read the “Planet Satellite” link ages ago and the date stuck in my head. Many thanks for the extra context!
posted by chappell, ambrose at 5:53 PM on January 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


« Older Queer Kids Wish You a Happy New Year   |   Each day will allow you to explore another... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments