Kristen Nuss • November 4, 2024
Progress Report - October 2024
October 12, 2024 was a historic day for the Classic Lear Jet Foundation and 23-003 N200Y! With the long term agreement signed, we moved 23-003 into its restoration hangar -- Bay 9 of building 14, the former Learjet Delivery Center. A group of 15 volunteers showed up at 8:00AM on Saturday, October 12th ready to move the wing, fuselage, horizontal tail, engine inlets and all of the miscellaneous parts from bay 10, where the fuselage has been since May 25, 2023 and the wing since September 1, 2023, into bay 9 to start the intense restoration efforts.
Photo: Volunteers - Brian Williamson, Ed Grabman, Mike Yandell, Bill Kinkaid, Dan DeMott, Steve Miller, Dan Broyles, Larry Bowler, Jim Edwards, Ron Forshee, Mike Holt, Nancy Holt, John Reisch, Rick Rowe (not shown – Jim Tidball)
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The final sealing of the fuselage, tip tanks and horizontal stabilizer has been completed and they were prepared to be shipped off to have their external paint removed. All openings, seams, windshield and windows had aluminum tape or sealer applied to keep the chemical stripper out of the inside. The tip tanks and horizontal stabilizer were loaded onto a trailer on August 5, 2025 and taken to a paint facility for paint stripping using Al Goodwin’s truck and a trailer borrowed by Dave Dendurant. The tip tank cradles were the same ones that were used for their trip from Florida. The fuselage was lifted off of its jacks and placed in its cradle on a trailer for its trip to have the paint stripped on August 12, 2025. The truck and trailer, as well as the trip to the paint facility, were donated by Patton Trucking of Clearwater, Kansas. These parts should be back in building 14 in early September and ready to have the remaining bits of paint removed. Then we will remove the windshields, windows, panels, finish the internal foam removal and start the Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI). Any issues found on the skins, stringers, etc., such as corrosion, will be repaired or replaced. While these parts are out to be stripped, we are currently setting up to do a pressure check of the right hand wing looking for any leaks. These results, along with the corrosion found on the left wing, will help us make a decision about the wing. Whether it is repairable or we must replace it. Cross your fingers! We just passed 1,400 volunteer hours since 23-003 arrived in Wichita! Thank you to all of you who have contributed your time to help restore 23-003!
We are prepping the fuselage, tip tanks and horizontal stabilizer for transport to a paint facility for paint stripping. The keel beam and doors have been reinstalled to prevent the fuselage from twisting or bending during lifting and transport. The parts room has been set up and we now have a couple of volunteers that are developing the inventory control system and ordering parts. When the airplane comes back from paint strip, we will remove the windows, finish the internal foam removal and get the Non-Destructive Inspection (NDI) started. We will then start repairing or removing any corrosion that is found on the skins and structure. Also, we are looking into a potential repair of the discovered wing corrosion. We will also get the wing leading edges cleaned up and inspected for any excessive corrosion. Will you volunteer? We need your help with the restoration of 23-003! Help in all areas! A&P’s, electricians and all people willing to assist others, move stuff around, hand a screwdriver to a mechanic, fill out forms and paperwork, push a broom or just provide enthusiastic support to others! We can use your expertise, whatever and however you can help! Schedules are flexible to your availability! You don’t have to be a former or current Learjet employee to volunteer! Direct questions and to volunteer please contact our volunteer coordinator, Brenda Parks, through her email: Brenda.Parks@ClassicLear.org
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?
