Interesting ICT arrival this evening!

[24megapixseal87 14]

Interesting and historical aircraft flew into Wichita's ICT airport this evening.... I went to capture it because it was a medical flight from Atlanta Georgia to Wichita Kansas, it had an ambulance waiting for it at Eagle Med's terminal.....Air ambulances, like this one, usually have interesting paint schemes.

With all the sponsorship stickers and the interesting wingtip fuel pods, I just had to do some research on this aircraft.

This is a Learjet 36A, from 1976.... it went on an historical flight in 2025, called the "Polar Mission", where it flew around both the North Pole and the South Pole.... A polar circumnavigation mission .... To raise money for the restoration of Learjet's first customer-delivered jet (its tail number is 23-003 and it's here in Wichita getting restored.)

The Polar Mission involved a flight departing from Bombardier Building 14 in Wichita on April 30, 2025 between 6 and 7 p.m. The Learjet 36A, N31GJ, performed the world-record flight over both the North and South Poles before returning to Wichita in the afternoon on May 3....... No Learjet has previously attempted such a flight.

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-...28/learjet-aims-polar-circumnavigation-record

 

[benhasajeep72 70]

What many may not realize is, it's not just go fly around the poles. Jet fuel will gel up if it gets too cold. Now they do put additives in it in cold weather/ cold climates. But even with additives it can still gel. So they have to monitor fuel temps often. Jetliners that take polar routes have to do special preflight checks, and crews monitor fuel.