Aircraft Spotlight - Hawker 800

 
 

In 2014 Ross Nyerges, our founder, was looking for the best aircraft on which to build a business. Having grown up in aviation, his encyclopedic knowledge of most every aircraft to ever take flight pointed him in the direction of BAE’s Hawker line. After a deep-dive into its economics and capabilities, Ross purchased a Hawker 800A in 2014 and APEX was born.

“It really is just an amazing airframe, both from a performance and versatility standpoint. It’s comfortable for the passenger and reasonably fast. It’s a dream to fly, robust and you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work on the thing,” says Ross.

You don’t need exceedingly deep pockets either, comparatively speaking. The Hawker offers one of the highest performance-to-cost as well as cost per seat-mile value propositions among the legacy fleet.

A later variant of the British Aerospace 125, originally produced in the early 1960s, the Hawker 800 was the first 125 to feature contoured windscreens and the first corporate jet to utilize a completely electronic flight deck (Electronic Flight Information System, or EFIS). It first flew in 1983.

The Hawker 800A is powered by a pair of Garrett TFE731-5R-1H engines delivering a total of 8,600 pounds of thrust. It also features redesigned outer wing sections which offer significant efficiency advantages over earlier 125 variants. While later iterations such as the 800XP were built with factory winglets, the 800A, developed before the advantages of winglets were completely understood, can be retrofitted with winglets provided by Aviation Partners Inc., giving it the designation of 800SP.

A typical cabin configuration seats 9 with a belted aft lavatory. In the aisle, standing height is 5’10”, and the cabin is 6’ wide, giving ample room to move around during a long flight, and with a nearly 3000 nautical mile range, a flight from one seaboard to the other isn’t out of the ordinary. Cruise speeds are in the 400-knot range at a typical cruising altitude of 39,000 to 43,000 feet.

All aircraft have trade-offs, and if there’s an obvious one for the Hawker, it’s the lack of baggage stowage space. Luggage is typically stowed in a compartment near the entry door, but with a full cabin, this space can fill up quickly. More stowage is available behind the rear lavatory bulkhead, but access to that baggage during flight can be limited.

The Hawker maintenance schedule can be a bit complicated with several required hourly-based and calendar-based phase inspections as well as a mandatory 12-year or 5000-hour complete landing gear overhaul. Recent supply-chain difficulties have affected consumables such as tires and brakes, so staying ahead of the game and planning appropriately is paramount to minimizing downtime.

In the hands of a well-organized and qualified maintenance crew, the Hawker 800 can deliver years of dependable transportation, but, as with any aircraft of this vintage and market segment, it has its quirks.

The market has been exceptionally strong for Hawkers over the last year with values nearly doubling from early 2021 through Q2 2022. At the time of this write-up, there are 154 Hawker 800As in service with 14 showing as on-market, so 9% availability with an average asking price of $1.586M. Even at that price, the Hawker 800A offers exceptional bang for your buck.

Operating costs are typical of this market segment if not slightly below depending on where in the inspection cycle one purchases a particular airframe. At 200 owner-hours per year with no charter or lease offsets, an operator would expect to spend between $1M and $1.3M annually depending on several factors including full-time vs contract flight crew, as well as base location and management.

The Hawker 800 is a pilot’s dream machine. Controls are balanced, it handles turbulence better than any other jet its size, and it’s incredibly well-built, solid and safe. Time-to-climb is impressive, especially in models with winglets. The cockpit has space and the seats have almost endless adjustability with ample legroom. Ask any pilot who’s flown one, and they’re likely to tell you it’s one of their favorites.

“The aircraft follows your thought process, and once a pilot understands it, the systems make it extremely capable and redundant,” says Ross Nyerges, who has more than 1200 hours in-type. “It has great dispatch reliability, and the landing gear, although not a trailing link setup, makes for some pretty greasy landings.” 

APEX Flight Solutions currently operates two Hawkers, an 800A and 800SP, and our maintenance department is second-to-none when it comes to Hawker knowledge and experience. If you’re interested in looking at a Hawker 800 to start or add to your fleet, we are bona fide experts and would love to show you around the examples we have in the hangar.

Hawker 800A/SP specs:

  • Crew: 2

  • Capacity: 9 passengers

  • Length: 51’ 2”

  • Wingspan: 51’ 4.5”

  • Height: 17’ 7”

  • Empty weight: 15,600 lb

  • Max takeoff weight: 27,400 lb

  • Fuel capacity: 1,499 gal, 10,043 lb

  • Powerplant: 2 x Garrett TFE731-5R-1H turbofans, 4,300 lb thrust each

  • Maximum speed: Mach 0.80

  • Cruise speed: Mach 0.75 (mach 0.77 800SP)

  • Stall speed: 85 kn (wheels and flaps down)

  • Range: 2,900 nm

  • Service ceiling: 43,000 ft

Clayton Corn