It's not enough to be fast (cruise at 563 miles per hour), to fly high (cruise at 41,000 feet) and be the most powerful non-military jet in the air for its size (4,600 pounds thrust per engine). Now Sun Valley Air's Lear 60 boasts another rarity and superlative.
It can "see" at night.
Based at Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, the eight-passenger aircraft operates an Enhanced Vision System, which is very much like looking through night-vision goggles.
Sun Valley Air's chief pilot, Steven Garman, said the $160,000 installation gives the aircraft's pilot and co-pilot increased safety as they monitor in real time what's ahead on the ground during nigthtime approaches and landings.
He said the charter company's aircraft is the only Lear known to have the EVS. He said no airliners and only a few high-end corporate jets have it.
In simplest terms, the EVS involves a camera with a 3-inch protruding lens mounted high on the leading edge of the vertical stabilizer (tail) that captures images for miles and miles close and afar, which are transmitted to 5-inch-by-4.25-inch monitors that fold out from near the pilot's and co-pilot's arm rests for viewing.
During a daytime demonstration for the Mountain Express, the parked Lear was pointed at the Woodside area east of Friedman. Mountains far east of the airport, Woodside homes, passing traffic on state Highway 75 and an occasional taxiing aircraft were picked up clearly by EVS.
Garman pointed out that some of the more than 30 airports they land at on charter flights in Canada, Mexico and the Virgin Islands sometimes involve unplanned runway hazards—loose wildlife, aircraft taxiing onto the runway or ground vehicles. He said one Texas airport is known for deer that wander onto the field.
Garman explained he and his other pilots—Ken Oclassen or Pam Rheinschild—can break off the 11-ton Lear's 156-mile-per-hour approach and execute a circling go-around for another landing when the runway is clear. Landing lights don't illuminate the runway as far as EVS can "see," he said.
Though Friedman's runway is well policed and clear, he said he and the other pilots always use the EVS when returning home to Hailey at night.
Pilot Steven Garman demonstrates the night-vision feature of one of Sun Valley Air?s Hailey-based charter aircraft. The system?s monitor is visible at the pilot?s side. Photo by Willy Cook
