USAF Phases Out T-1A Jayhawk

[MIflyer]

From Avweb:

The U.S. Air Force is starting to phase out the Raytheon T-1A Jayhawk trainer and going all in on a new training process for mobility pilots that is heavy on simulators instead of seat time in a multiengine trainer..

 

[special ed]

From Avweb:

The U.S. Air Force is starting to phase out the Raytheon T-1A Jayhawk trainer and going all in on a new training process for mobility pilots that is heavy on simulators instead of seat time in a multiengine trainer..

View attachment 670612

Also, confirmed in May Air Force magazine: "replace the T-1 relying on the T-6 for the newly determined actual flying hours."

 

[MIflyer]

The Air Force got rid of the C-21's a while back. They gave one to our local community college for use as an instructional maintenance trainer.

 

[Jabberwocky]

From Avweb:

The U.S. Air Force is starting to phase out the Raytheon T-1A Jayhawk trainer and going all in on a new training process for mobility pilots that is heavy on simulators instead of seat time in a multiengine trainer..

Not surprising. The youngest airframes are ~25 years old and the aircraft are starting to get into the part of their lifecycle when it becomes very expensive in terms of time and money to keep them in the air.

Textron's own estimates for the Hawker 400A (the civilian version) are that direct operating costs are 15-20% higher than the later Hawker 40P, most of which is down to the engines (the JT15D being a mid 1960s design, vs the FJ44 which is a mid 1980s design).

 

[nuuumannn]

Great jet. The Japanese sure did get mileage out of that design. Based on the Mitsubishi Diamond airframe built under licence by Raytheon, although I've always found it peculiar that they used the name "Hawker" in its civil incarnation.

 

[GreenKnight121]

Great jet. The Japanese sure did get mileage out of that design. Based on the Mitsubishi Diamond airframe built under licence by Raytheon, although I've always found it peculiar that they used the name "Hawker" in its civil incarnation.

1. Not "under license", but "sold the license".

2. See the below:

The Hawker 400 was originally designed as the Mitsubishi MU-300 Diamond, an all-new, all-jet development to complement and slot above the Mitsubishi MU-2 and provide Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with their top-of-the-line corporate aircraft model (hence the name "Diamond"). It first flew on August 29, 1978. Mitsubishi chose to certificate the Diamond in the United States under FAA Part 25 regulations for transport aircraft, but additional requirements introduced by the FAA after the crash of an American Airlines DC-10 airliner at Chicago resulted in significant delays in the certification process, with the required changes to the aircraft adding 600 lb (270 kg), and the aircraft not receiving its certification until November 6, 1981. Mitsubishi went on to produce 97 MU-300s, all of which were assembled by the company's United States subsidiary.
.....
In 1985, Mitsubishi sold the rights and a number of unfinished airframes to Beechcraft, who began manufacturing it as their own model, initially re-designated as the Beechjet 400, certificated by the Federal Aviation Administration in May 1986.
.....
In 1993, Raytheon purchased the Hawker business jets from British Aerospace and renamed the Beechjet 400 as the Hawker 400 to include it in the line.

So, 97 built for Mitsubishi, then the design was sold outright to Beechcraft (a subsidary of Raytheon after 1980) who made many more. Then, in 1993 Hawker was bought and the type assigned to that division of Raytheon.

 

[nuuumannn]

1. Not "under license", but "sold the license".

2. See the below:

Cool story, you say potato, I say potato... :eyeroll: