Legacy 650

At 598 in the Legacy 650 has the longest cabin of the eleven heavy jets we charter, and the margin over the next longest — the Challenger 850's 581 in — is real rather than nominal. Length used well is what separates a heavy jet from a large midsize one: it is what allows a genuinely separate rest area behind a working one, without either being a compromise. Fourteen seats, 286 cu ft of baggage across twenty-nine bags, and 3,900 nm of range. The hold figure it shares with the Legacy 600, and the two of them carry more than anything else in this class.

The trade is width. At 82 in the cabin is the narrowest here, and a charterer moving from a Challenger will register that before anything else — the Legacy is a long room rather than a wide one. Whether that reads as a limitation depends entirely on the party: fourteen people spread down 598 in have more usable separation than twelve people in a shorter, broader tube, and a group travelling with real equipment will care more about the twenty-nine bags than about the shoulder measurement. Production has ended. The type remains the one to name when the itinerary is a long day with a large party and a great deal to carry.

Length where it counts