can relate to fing...used to get a middle-of-the-night trip from tampa twice a month to leave tampa, fly to san juan, pick up a pair of guys and their heavy luggage, then fly non-stop in the winter to newark or teterboro across the bermuda triangle in a lear-35. when you took off, during climbout the fms would always predict a landing with 'negative fuel', then as you reached cruise, the numbers would gradually climb into the positive. so, you'd experiment with different winds, trying to decide to sacrifice rate of fuel burn for higher groundspeeds. as you sat there for hours over black water, you'd watch the groundspeed slowly decreasing, predicted landing fuel weight decreasing as well. it was a pain in the ass. we had a lear-36xr that could easily do the trip without any risk of not making destination. anyway, you always had an out..you could land in north carolina, or philly, but then you'd have to arrange ground transportation for your passengers to new york from there (company hated to see and no tip..lol). foryunately, i always managed to squeeze in, but i never enjoyed it. also, since our lear-36xr was not rvsm-certified, returning from western europe in the lower flight levels in winter, bucking 100+ knot headwinds meant deciding on whether to continue to gander, nova scotia or landing in iceland. you'd think these 'calls' would always be easy, but sometimes the decision would be so close and there was always a certain pressure to complete the planned flight. i made good decisions..i'm still here.
fwiw, i quit flying part 135 learjet freight, charter and air ambo to return to general aviation. i've been back being a full-time general aviation flight instructor for about a year..after having done it from 10-15 years ago roughly. i traded income for quality of life. i'm home every night now after years of being away for 1-3 weeks at a time on a regular basis..life on a pager where everything was unscheduled - when that thing 'rang', it meant be at the airport in 15'..and be ready to be wheels-up in 45'. the lifestyle sucked..but i do miss the lear.
if some idiot high-net worth individual would ever buy an old 20-series learjet (nobody with any sense would - they're turbojets and burn roughly 30% more fuel than the later turbofans so not very practical, but damn they're funnnn! and tough - eight spars per wing)..anyway, i'd probably quit instructing to going back to pic on one of those. joe, i think you used to slog freight around in these , too? maybe about a decade before me? i started around the mid-90's in them. haven't flown one in several years..would kick my ass initially, i'm sure. i couldfly 'em 'in the day', though.
