Progress Report - June 2025

The dry ice blasting to remove the remaining foam is nearing completion on the rest of the areas in the cockpit and under the floorboards. The dry-ice blasting is doing a fantastic job of removing the foam remnants! Thank you Ryan Thimesch of BEPC for his time and talent!

The dry ice blasting turns the foam, remaining after manual scraping, into a fine dust that requires continuous cleanup!

After the completion of the foam removal in the cockpit, we have decided to proceed with another novel use of dry ice blasting; to clean the grime and crud from other areas around the airplane. Trial areas show great promise to reduce the amount of manual labor required! The nose landing gear doors have been removed and the nose avionics bay and nose landing gear bay are now ready to be cleaned by dry-ice blasting.

We now have large prints of the wiring schematics to help us identify wires and components. This will assist us in developing the new wire harnesses. A completely new wiring harness will be built to replace the 61 year old brittle harness that was recently removed. Some components are not planned to be reinstalled, such as the thrust reversers, so all of the wiring and components associated with these will not be a part of the new harness. We just received the shelving to get our parts room sorted. We will need some volunteers to help assemble the shelves and move some things around inside the storage cage.

Will you volunteer?

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Progress Report - February 2026

By Kristen Nuss • March 3, 2026

The tip tanks and keel beam are back in Florida!! S.E.A.L. Aviation has generously volunteered to rebuild and restore our tip tanks and keel beam! Since they are in southern Florida, we loaded them up in a truck for the trip back to Florida. Ron Forshee and Chris Marshall volunteered to make the long drive. They departed Wichita on February 15 th at 12:35 pm and arrived in Florida at the Global Jetcare hangar two days and 1,306 miles later on February 17th. The tip tanks and keel beam will now be taken to the S.E.A.L. facility for restoration. A volunteer has started cleaning the flight controls, ailerons, flaps, etc., so that we can accomplish the necessary detailed inspections. As you can see in the photo below, they are quite dirty after sitting outdoors for years. Volunteers Dan DeMott and Cliff Ives are identifying all of the hydraulic and fuel tubes and components that have been removed from 23-003 with part numbers and Parts Catalog locations. The tubes will also have metal ID tags to facilitate vapor degreasing when the time comes for this operation. Another milestone was reached late this month in the restoration of 23-003: The fuselage has been firmly tied down, securing it to prevent any movement. This will allow us to now start the necessary structural repairs! In the photos below you can see the cradles and supports securing the fuselage. One cradle just forward of the cabin door, a cradle aft of the cabin window, the jacks on the engine beams, a cradle just aft of the engine pylon and the tail stand.

Rebuild of 23-003 Officially Starts!! - January 2026

By Kristen Nuss • February 2, 2026

LATE BREAKING NEWS: The rebuilding of 23-003 N200Y has officially started! On January 28, 2026 the first set of wires for the new wire harness were cut! Volunteers Denver Plumb and Mike Johnson made the first cut! We would like to thank John Bowman and Larry Thimmesch of Incora for the donation of the wire. We are making great progress in getting all the removed parts identified with part numbers and returned to the storage racks. We are working with Katie Yaverski to get all the racks identified and labeled for location identification. We are moving forward with a partnership with S.E.A.L. Aviation for overhaul and repair of numerous items and components! They will be a great asset to CLJF and the efforts to rebuild 23-003. The wing from of 23-003 is now in a stored position on its leading edge against the south hangar wall in order to give us some additional working room in the hangar.

Progress Report - December 2025

By Kristen Nuss • January 5, 2026

Classic Lear Jet Foundation has entered into our next major step in our restoration of 23-003 N200Y, the Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI)! NDI testing started on the forward fuselage of 23-003 on December 11, 2025. This will be a lengthy process that will continue into next year. It is a slow and steady work that uses X-ray photography to detect structural defects such as corrosion, cracks, etc. Because of the use of X-rays, we cannot be in the hangar so our restoration work has had to be paused when the NDI testing is in progress. The process starts with placing unexposed x-ray film on the fuselage at the desired inspection location. Then aiming the x-ray emitter on the opposite side of the structure. When the emitter is activated, x-rays pass through the structure and into the film. After the film is developed, the result is a ‘picture’ of the structure that shows any defect, corrosion, crack, etc. The structural visual inspections, using flashlights, mirrors and trained eyes, are also progressing, but slowly because of the NDI testing. It is amazing that we have entered the NDI phase on 23-003 in less than 2 years since our restoration started! On December 30, 2023, Jay Thomas removed the first Dzus fastener, officially kicking off the restoration of 23-003. Thanks to the dedicated volunteers who have put in nearly 2,000 hours of work to get us to this major phase on the road to fly N200Y again!