HAWKER BEECHCRAFT 400

It is a small, low-winged twin-turbofan aircraft, flown by a crew of two pilots and accommodating eight passengers in a pressurised cabin.

The aircraft was originally designed as the Mitsubishi MU-300 Diamond, an all-new, all-jet development to complement and slot above the Mitsubishi MU-2 and provide Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with their top-of-the-line corporate aircraft model (hence the name “Diamond”). It first flew on August 29, 1978. Mitsubishi went on to produce 97 MU-300s, all of which were assembled by the company’s United States subsidiary.

In 1985 Mitsubishi sold the rights and a number of unfinished airframes to Beechcraft, who began manufacturing it as their own model, initially re-designated as the Beechjet 400, certificated by the Federal Aviation Administration in May 1986. Raytheon/Beechcraft developed improvements for the 1990 400A for longer range, higher take-off weights, luxury appointments and offering an all-glass flight deck.

In 1993 Raytheon purchased the Hawker business jets from British Aerospace, renamed the Beechjet 400 as the Hawker 400 to include it in the line and the Hawker 400XP incorporated aerodynamic, mechanical and interior improvements from the Hawker 800XP.

Aircraft of similar role, configuration and era are: Beechcraft Premier I, Cessna Citation II/V, Cessna CitationJet CJ3/CJ4, Dassault Falcon 10, Learjet 25/31/35.