Hawker 800XP

The 800XP lands in 2,280 ft. That is the only verified landing figure we hold for any midsize aircraft, so it is offered here as a fact about the aeroplane rather than as a placing against the other six. Read on its own it is a short requirement, and it is the specification that keeps tighter runways on an itinerary this class would otherwise route around. Range is 2,540 nm and top speed 447 kt, both mid-line among the Hawkers, and takeoff distance is 5,030 ft. Production has ended, as it has across the line.

The cabin is 256 in long, 72 in wide and 68.5 in high — the lowest ceiling of the four Hawkers, though barely over an inch separates them and no passenger will pick it out unaided. The hold is where the aircraft asks something real of the charterer: 45 cu ft across five bags is the smallest in the midsize class, and it is a genuine constraint rather than a rounding difference. Eight passengers and eight sets of luggage will not both go. Matched to the sector it suits — a full cabin, modest bags, an airfield the category finds tight — the 800XP is a precise instrument. Asked to be the general-purpose Hawker, it is the wrong one of the four.

Runway access, precisely