This 1973 Learjet 25B Is a Fast Celebrity-Linked ‘AircraftForSale’ Top Pick

Inventor Bill Lear sensed a market for small luxury jets when other manufacturers hesitated.

This Learjet 25B displays the beautiful styling that helped make the brand a household name. [Courtesy: Fabio Lopez]

Each day, the team at Aircraft For Sale picks an airplane that catches our attention because it is unique, represents a good deal, or has other interesting qualities. You can read Aircraft For Sale: Today’s Top Pick at FLYINGMag.com daily.

The Learjet 23’s first flight in 1963 marked a new era in personal transport. Until that point, many aviation industry leaders doubted that the market for luxury private jets was large enough to warrant the expenditure needed to design and produce such aircraft. Convinced it would succeed if marketed to the right customers, inventor Bill Lear pushed ahead with development of the Learjet.

Learjets became so popular that for a time they became synonymous with “private jet” and “business jet.” People tended to refer to any sleek, small private jet as a Learjet. While many business aviation customers bought the aircraft, it was celebrity ownership that helped them stand out. Famous people–-like singers James Brown and Frank Sinatra, and pilot/golf champion Arnold Palmer—traveled in Learjets, which came to represent expressions of personal style as much as time-saving business tools. Even the earliest models still look great today.    

This 1973 Learjet has 10,600 hours on the airframe, 4,036 hours on one engine and 4,200 on the other since overhaul. The General Electric CJ610-6 engines have a TBO of 5,000 hours. The airplane has made a total of 9,557 landings and has a range of 1,437 nm, maximum takeoff weight of 15,000 pounds, and  basic empty weight of 8,154 pounds.

The panel includes a Garmin GNS 530AW, dual Garmin GTX 335 transponders, autopilot with flight director, and weather radar. Additional equipment includes a drag chute.

Pilots and passengers who want a fast, beautifully styled aircraft with family ties to what many consider the first real business jets should look into this 1973 Learjet 25B, which is available for $385,000 on AircraftForSale.

You can arrange financing of the aircraft through FLYING Finance. For more information, email info@flyingfinance.com.

Jonathan Welsh is a private pilot who worked as a reporter, editor and columnist with the Wall Street Journal for 21 years, mostly covering the auto industry. His passion for aviation began in childhood with balsa-wood gliders his aunt would buy for him at the corner store. Follow Jonathan on Twitter @JonathanWelsh4

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