Progress Report - November 2024

November was another busy month for the restoration of 23-003 N200Y. Volunteers continue to dissemble the airplane in preparation for de-painting, interior foam removal and detailed structural and component inspections.

The nose avionics bay wire bundle and equipment racks were removed on November 7th. On November 8th , the brakes were removed from the main landing gear. This turned out to be a real task since they were rusted together! While 23-003 was sitting outside on the ramp of Bartow Executive Airport, Bartow, Florida, the landing gear were submerged in 1 to 2 feet of water a couple of times over the years because of hurricane rains. This caused the brakes to rust and be non-serviceable. Thankfully, the dedicated volunteers were successful in removing the brakes.

November 17th saw the removal of the wire bundle from the cockpit and cabin. Next up comes the removal of the remaining wire bundle located in the aft baggage bay and tail cone. We intend to replace all of the 60 year old wiring. For safety sake, the airplane will be completely rewired with modern aircraft wire. Also, connectors will be installed in the wire bundle between the fuselage and wing. Because 23-003 and the very early Model 23’s were originally assembled and then wired, fuselage to wing connectors were not installed. Remember that we had to cut this bundle in order to remove the wing on February 22, 2023 for the trip back to Wichita.

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Progress Report - July 2026

By Kristen Nuss • August 3, 2026

How time flies! A short four years ago, on July 20, 2022, we made our trip to Bartow Executive Airport, Bartow, Florida, to do an inspection of 23-003 to see if she was restorable. Today 23-003 is in Wichita, Kansas within a few hundred feet south of the Lear Jet factory where she was built in 1964. CLJF now owns 23-003 and the restoration project is well along! The latest work by the volunteers has been working on the removal of the aft cabin floor in order to proceed with the structural inspections of the fuselage. It is a slow process because of the large amount of sealant used between the floor and the surrounding structure that has to be manually cut loose before the floor can be removed. Also, all the parts removed from the airplane continue to be identified, inspected, and dispositioned for service, replacement or overhaul. A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers! We greatly appreciate all that you do!

Progress Report - June 2026

By Kristen Nuss • July 2, 2026

Throughout the construction going on in bays 1 and 10 in building 14, our dedicated volunteers continue to make significant progress. On June 4, 2026 they removed the leading edges from the horizontal stabilizer. This will allow us to start the structural inspection. Once completed, it will be transported to DAS Aviation for restoration. Also, on June 4th, the wing from 23-028, that we acquired for parts, was removed from the wing dolly and installed on the ‘rotisserie’ by volunteers Jim Tidball, Dan DeMott, Hartney Hummer and Al Goodwin. Next, we will check the condition of the wing by performing a leak test on each wing and start removing parts from various wing systems. The daunting task of making a new wiring harness to replace the existing 62-year-old wiring harness continues. On June 9th we caught volunteers Bud Ledom, Rob Bielman and Dave Dendurant hard at pouring over drawings identifying the wires, connectors, switches, etc. A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the CLJF and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) was signed on May 28th. This MOA details the responsibilities of each of us for the restoration of the landing gear. On June 10, 2026, Jim Long and his son, Zach, of Noble Jet, picked up the landing gear retraction actuators and the box of various hydraulic actuators. There they will be tested and rebuilt. Thank You Noble Jet!!

Progress Report - May 2026

By Kristen Nuss • May 31, 2026

This month we removed the skin from the top of the aft fuselage, above the engine pylons. Three more fuselage skins are in the process of being removed as shown in the photo below. Removal of the skins is the only way for us to do visual inspections of the structure and to give access for future X-ray inspections. Areas of suspected corrosion, circled in the following photo, will be exposed with the removal of these skins. Visual and X-ray inspections will be conducted to verify the condition of the underlying structure. Then, if required, repairs or replacement of the structure will be accomplished. On May 22, 2026 the landing gear and several actuators were loaded onto Chris Marshall’s truck by Chris, Ron Forshee and Dick Kovich to be driven to Florida by Chris and his wife, Darla, where they will be restored. The landing gear will be restored by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) in Daytona, Florida. The landing gear actuators and a box of miscellaneous smaller hydraulic actuators will be tested and rebuilt by Noble Jet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. A huge Thank you to both ERAU and Noble Jet!!!