Bombardier Jets Set Eight FAI Marks As They Wing Their Way to Le Bourget

Global Express wasn't the only speedster starring at Bombardier's FAI record setting celebration at Signature Flight Support on Thursday evening. An hour and one-half earlier, a Challenger 604, flown by Captains Warren Breeding and Fred Coffin, sprinted in from Berlin-Schonefeld at an average speed of 486 knots. A Learjet 31A, called the "Porsche of Learjets" by Captains Rick Rowe and Bill Landrum, arrived from Belfast in one hour two minutes. A Learjet 45, flown by Captains Rod Lundy and Shawn Christian, set two records-Montreal to Keflavik and Keflavik to Le Bourget. Captain Robert "Augie" Agostino and David Ryan departed Wichita at 2:30 AM local time in a Learjet 60, made a 12 minute pit stop in Gander enroute to Le Bourget, enabling them to set three records, one for each of the legs and one for the entire Wichita to Le Bourget trip in nine hours ten minutes.

"Records are not about the airplane. They're about the team effort," Agostino said. "Viva le Bombardier, Viva la France."

"What a wonderful way to start an air show," beamed James Little, Bombardier Aircraft's VP marketing and communications. "We're committed to claiming firsts. Our aircraft have established performance standards in their classes since the early 1960s, starting with the Learjet 23."