Aircraft
Spirit Wing Learjet 25 flies with FJ44 power
The Wrights knew it.

The Wrights knew it. So does every aeronautical engineer, aircraft manufacturer and pilot. More than anything else, the engine defines the performance of the airplane.

Calvin Burgess, a successful real estate developer and owner and president of Spirit Wing Aviation in Guthrie, Okla., told AIN in November 1999, “I always wanted a Learjet, but the [General Electric] CJ610 in the 20 series is an antiquated engine.” A 4,300-hour, commercial-rated pilot then, he already owned a Piper Cheyenne IIA, a P-51 Mustang, a Douglas A-26 Invader and a Waco YMF5. “When I found out about the Williams FJ44-2C engine just before the 1999 NBAA Convention in Atlanta, I became seriously interested in retrofitting the new turbofan on a Learjet,” he said.