Announcing "The Polar Mission"

“The Polar Mission” is the name of the record flight attempt by 36A-022 N31GJ and her crew to circumnavigate the globe from north to south by flying over both poles. The “Pole to Pole From the Air Capital” flight is scheduled to depart from the Learjet ramp near building 14 on April 30, 2025. After flying over both poles, is expected to return to the Learjet ramp on May 3, 2025. The scheduled flight path is shown below:

You will note that fuel stops 4 and 5 are at the same airport (SAWH) in Argentina. This is because the plan is to overfly Antarctica and land back at SAWH to refuel before continuing northward. In order to overfly Antarctica the crew had to get special permission from the U.S. State Department! They had to have a special reason for the flight, so during the entire mission they will be doing an official scientific experiment in conjunction with a college. This experiment has to do with measuring the slight variation in the gravitational attraction at the poles versus the equator and along the flight path.

One of the biggest challenges for the flight is the wildly varied weather and temperatures they will encounter. Hot at the equator and extreme cold at the poles! The crew will carry polar survival gear for the ‘just in case’ scenario. Another challenge is access to fuel and, if required, maintenance. While these are plentiful near the normal flight routes, they are pretty scarce near the poles.

We are looking for sponsors for each of the flight legs. Sponsor will have their name or logo displayed on the airplane. Just like “The Century Mission” airplane last year. If you are interested in sponsoring a leg please contact us at info@ClassicLear.org.

In order to celebrate the “The Polar Mission”, we are planning a ‘kickoff’ Hangar Party on April 26th (see details below) and a ‘welcome home’ event when they return. Also, we will set up a website so you can follow the flight as it progresses. (Watch next issue of RECHARGE for the website and preflight updates)

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Progress Report - May 2026

By Kristen Nuss • July 2, 2026

Throughout the construction going on in bays 1 and 10 in building 14, our dedicated volunteers continue to make significant progress. On June 4, 2026 they removed the leading edges from the horizontal stabilizer. This will allow us to start the structural inspection. Once completed, it will be transported to DAS Aviation for restoration. Also, on June 4th, the wing from 23-028, that we acquired for parts, was removed from the wing dolly and installed on the ‘rotisserie’ by volunteers Jim Tidball, Dan DeMott, Hartney Hummer and Al Goodwin. Next, we will check the condition of the wing by performing a leak test on each wing and start removing parts from various wing systems. The daunting task of making a new wiring harness to replace the existing 62-year-old wiring harness continues. On June 9th we caught volunteers Bud Ledom, Rob Bielman and Dave Dendurant hard at pouring over drawings identifying the wires, connectors, switches, etc. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the CLJF and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) was signed on May 28th. This MOA details the responsibilities of each of us for the restoration of the landing gear. On June 10, 2026, Jim Long and his son, Zach, of Noble Jet, picked up the landing gear retraction actuators and the box of various hydraulic actuators. There they will be tested and rebuilt. Thank You Noble Jet!!

Progress Report - April 2026

By Kristen Nuss • May 1, 2026

April was a historic month in the restoration of 23-003 N200Y!! First, on April 14 th , after final leveling, the fuselage cradles, jacks and supports were secured firmly to the hangar floor with a special plaster mixture containing hemp fibers (some ropes are made with these fibers). This plaster mixture is commonly used on the factory floor to set tooling jigs so that they cannot move ensuring accurately produced parts and assemblies. With the fuselage secured, we were able to start the removal of skins from the fuselage that need replacement or repair. On April 21, 2026 Hartney Hummer removed the 1st skin panel!! This panel is on the left side of the fuselage, just aft of the engine pylon. This particular panel is not repairable and will have to be replaced. Removal of this panel will also allow the non-destructive inspections (NDI) of the aft fuselage to continue. The NDI test equipment is too big to fit inside the aft fuselage so it will be positioned outside of the stringers pointing inside. International Turbine Industries (ITI) has started the restoration of our CJ610-1 engines. The inspection of the engine cases has started in preparation for them being shipped out to have a coating applied. During earlier discussions between ITI and CLJF, we decided that during the restoration, the engines will be upgraded to the ‘dash 4’ (CJ610-4) configuration. The CJ610-4 engine is a previously approved FAA configuration for the Model 23.

Progress Report - March 2026

By Kristen Nuss • April 1, 2026

Our March progress has been slowed somewhat because of the construction activity being accomplished in bays 1 and 10 at the north end of building 14. 23-003 is in bay 9 which shares a hangar wall with bay 10. The construction has cut electrical power to this wall, but we are working around this problem. Also, our access to bay 9 now involves having to go through a badge access turnstile which limits our volunteers to those of us who have contractor badges. Even with these construction issues, we are continuing with the cutting and marking of the new wiring for the new wiring harness and tracking parts. Also, the wing that we acquired from 23-024 arrived at building 14 on March 3, 2026. We are using this wing to salvage parts including the leading edges, hydraulic components, etc. that will help with the restoration of 23-003 and needed spares. We are completing the final leveling of the fuselage and securing the supports. This will allow us to remove damaged fuselage skins. With these skins removed, Non-Destructive Inspections (NDI) can continue in order to provide us additional data on the fuselage structural integrity. Ed Grabman, Experimental Test Pilot at the Bombardier Flight Test Center, has agreed to chair the 23-003 Cockpit Configuration Committee. This committee is tasked with determining the cockpit upgrades required to operate 23-003 in the current airspace system while maintaining, as much as possible, the look of the original cockpit. Parts donated by Incora are continuing to arrive with the latest delivery on March 3rd. These much needed, and greatly appreciated, parts include mechanical hardware, aircraft wiring and some electrical components.