For today’s trip report, I’m revisiting an airport I haven’t flown to in over a year with an aircraft I didn’t know could fly in and out of it. Back on July 11th this year, I was planespotting at Van Nuys and got to see a number of interesting aircraft, one of which was N595FX, a Challenger 350 operated by Flexjet. While Challenger 350s of the American Part 135 operator are about as common as crabgrass at Van Nuys, the world’s busiest general aviation airport, it was where this particular jet was flying to that was interesting. N595GX was going up north to Hayward, a small general aviation airport located directly under the approach to Oakland, which would complicate getting relatively large business jets in and out of there. Furthermore, Hayward’s longest runway is only 5,694 feet long and is bracketed by businesses and residential areas on both ends, making it an unusual place to send a super-midsize business jet to. Yet thr Challenger 350 apparently fit the bill, with N595FX completing the journey in all of 44 minutes. I decided a couple days later to replicate this flight, although it has since taken me some time to get around to it. The flight time in Infinite Flight ran close to 15 minutes longer than the real-world one did, so bear with me on that. Aside from that relatively minor issue, I present perhaps the shortest business jet flight I’ve ever done!
Server: Solo
Operator: Flexjet
Aircraft: Bombardier Challenger 350
Origin: Van Nuys Airport, Van Nuys, California (VNY)
Destination: Hayward Executive Airport, Hayward, California (HWD)
Callsign: LXJ571
Route: KVNY-KHWD
Seat: N/A
Time En Route: 57 Minutes
Walking to our aircraft on the Flexjet ramp at Van Nuys. As one of the largest tenants at VNY, Flexjet’s facilities have at least five to seven aircraft on the ramp most days, ranging from the Phenom 300 to the massive Gulfstream G700. The heat wave that’s been hanging like a pall over Los Angeles has abated slightly today, but we’re still glad that the GPU is plugged in to provide power to the A/C on board.
Taxiing by the NetJets Private Boarding Lounge, with only a lone Cessna 700 Citation Longitude occupying the ramp. The other two jets on it this morning, both Citation 680A Latitudes, are ahead of us in the queue for departure. Next to the NetJets FBO is one of the Standard Aero hangars. While the western doors are closed, preventing us from seeing what’s being worked on in there, there are likely at least three large-cabin business jets inside undergoing maintenance, based on what we’ve seen when we’ve driven by it, along with another four on the ramp out back.
At the hold short line between Runways 16L and 16R, with a local flight school Cessna 172 on final for the former. Getting out of Van Nuys can be an ordeal due to flight schools doing pattern work, inbound traffic during peak times of day, and getting stuck behind other jets. This is one of those days, but we’ve had longer waits for takeoff here.
Taking off from 16R as the Signature Aviation VNY-West ramp and the south general aviation hangars go by out the window. The Challenger 350 really gets airborne in a hurry, especially with a light load of passengers, cargo, and fuel. We’re estimated at just under an hour en route today, so we’re going to be climbing like a rocket to our cruising altitude.
Turning over Tarzana near the intersection of Reseda and Ventura Boulevards as we climb out of the San Fernando Valley. VNY is still visible in the background, although it’ll briefly disappear before reappearing when we complete the turn. Despite the engines having to maintain a climb rate of roughly 3,000 feet per minute, it’s extremely quiet in the cabin, a major selling point of modern super-midsize business jets. Light jet takeoff and landing performance, medium jet ramp footprint, and heavy jet comfort is the name of the game in this market segment, and it’s audibly clear why the Challenger 350 is an industry-leading aircraft.
We’re leveled off at 28,000 feet for the very brief cruise phases of our flight. It’s so short that our flight crew isn’t even going to bother turning the seatbelt sign off. As we cruise in the upper layer of the cirrostratus clouds covering the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, we’re watching the vast farmland of the Inland Empire go by along both sides of Golden State Freeway. Down below, agricultural aircraft of various makes and models are likely already swooping low over the fields, blue-gray clouds of insecticide in their wake. Two different kinds of flying, shuttling between L.A. and thr Bay and spraying for insects, but both essential elements of the California aviation industry.
Descending over the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley by the San Luis Reservoir. Our descent has been fairly gradual, starting near Lemoore and gradually flattening out towards the bottom. Even with a descent rate approaching 2,000 feet per minute, the cabin remains mostly level, witb only the approaching ground and the popping of our ears indicating that we’re getting lower.
Early afternoon arrival on Hayward Executive Airport’s Runway 28L. Due to the very short runway length, we’re decelerating very swiftly. Even then, we’re likely to have to turn off at the very end of the runway. Like Burbank and Hawthorne, Hayward shows off the Challenger’s impressively short ground roll on landing.
Taxiing around the northern end of Runway 10L/28R as a Beechcraft G36 Bonanza gets airborne from the one we just left. Hayward doesn’t get too many business jets the size of ours, though it can accommodate even larger ones up to the size of the smaller Globals and Gulfstream G550s. Those are even less common, though, and so our aircraft is likely the largest one on the ramp, turning heads as it taxis by. Most aircraft flown by major Part 135 operators fly into San Jose, Mountain View, Oakland, Concord, or San Francisco, after all.
Deplaned on a sunny day in the Bay Area on the apron of the local APP Jet Center. Our jet isn’t the olny business jet in Hayward today, with the APP ramp also hosting a Learjet 40XR visiting from Boise, Idaho. We’re amazed that flying from Van Nuys to NorCal took less time than it sometimes takes to drive from there to Downtown L.A. Another good experience flying with Flexjet is in the books!