World Flight Planned as Classic Lear Jet Fundraiser

By MATT THURBER • Editor-in-Chief

December 14, 2023

Air ambulance operator Global Jet Care is planning a round-the-world flight in one of its Learjet 36 light jets next year to celebrate a famous 100th-anniversary world flight and raise money for the Classic Lear Jet Foundation.

The Foundation is restoring Lear 23-003, the first to be delivered, to flying condition in Wichita, where it was built in 1964. Brooksville, Florida-based Global Jet Care is one of the Foundation’s largest donors.

The round-the-world flight will take off from Wichita on April 4, 2024, and fly west, with stops in California, Hawaii, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Thailand, Pakistan, Egypt, Italy, Portugal, and Canada. The return date of April 6 is planned to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the start of the Army Air Service’s first circumnavigation of the globe, which started in Seattle and took 175 days and 74 stops. Only two of the original four Douglas World Cruisers completed the flight.

Global Jet Care expects its circumnavigation to take 54 hours and 30 minutes, even with the headwinds that will likely be present while flying westbound.