The Learjet Flight to Success is a motivational learning experience created to awaken thinking to the "infinite possibilities" of what you can achieve. It shares the mental techniques used by Bill and Moya Lear in making of the Learjet. Anyone can use this kind of "mental engineering" to make their dreams come true. Inspired by their "rags to riches" story, Shanda Lear, their daughter, has been a motivational speaker since 1974. A published author and founder of two volunteer self-help organizations, Shanda has taught in universities and hospitals, and on television and radio. In order to pass on her parents' legacy for generations to come, Shanda continues to motivate and inspire with the development of the Learjet Flight to Success.

History:

In 1996, I was urged by Paul Derian, to help people understand, first hand, what it is like to actually ride in a LEARJET. He said, "how can anyone really understand the story you tell about the "Secrets to the Success of Moya and Bill Lear and the Learjet" unless they have experienced a LEARJET.

We discussed for weeks how to bring that awareness to people all over the world. We realized that the owners of the Learjets wouldn't be happy with thousands of people getting into their airplanes because of the obvious wear and tear on the upholstery.

We came up with the idea for three different venues.

The first, and more expensive, has not been even started, although the Museum of Flight in Seattle has promised that they would like to be the first to host the "Learjet Flight to Success" ride.

The Future Venue will consist of five areas:

A theater which shows continuously the documentary: "Secrets to the Success of Moya and Bill Lear and the Learjet" ©1995

A think tank/courtyard with tables and chairs: a place to prepare the five questions as the participants wait for their turn for the ride, eat and get feed back from others about their ride.

A snack-bar/food-court

A merchandise store

An imagination museum

A room with 12 Learjet cockpit simulators. The simulators consist of a control panel, rudder pedals and stick, speakers and microphone and six computer screens which simulate the runway and horizon around the jet and a camera to film the participants ride and answers to the five questions.

The second venue can be mobile in specially designed buses.

The educational, emotional and motivational impact of this kind of flight simulators on the participant is documented. A program in Wichita Kansas that teaches underprivileged inner-city youths that are failing in school to fly. They have shown that learning to fly improves the scholastic outcome of these young people and they all go on to higher education. It can be useful at seminars for junior executives as well as inspiration for the newly retired.

The third venue can be in classrooms or meeting halls with only a sound system to recreate the sounds of a LEARJET and a screen to see what it looks like from the pilots point of view when the LEARJET takes off and climbs quickly to 41,000 feet. The participants are not distracted by the hardware and have to use their imagination more.

This third "ride" has been very successful, with the participants experiencing life altering changes in their thinking about what they really should be doing with their lives.

How it works:

The "Learjet Ride to Success" coaches the participant through a ten minute "hands-on" simulated takeoff and landing of a Learjet. At 41,000 feet, the participant is asked five questions. The answers to the questions are prepared before the ride.

A documentary on "the Secrets to the Success of Moya and Bill Lear and the Learjet" will prepare the participant to answer the questions. Please click here for a list of the secrets. http://slecorp.com/mt-learsecrets.html   For the 7 minute promo of the presentation, please click on the following link: http://www.aviationspeakers.com/Shanda-Lear.html

A video tape recording of the response would be available to each Learjet "captain" at the end of the first two venues " ride".  In the classroom the participant would have the worksheets as a reminder of the responses to the questions.

These are the questions that are to be answered at 41,000 ft:

1. What were the talents that you parlayed into being able to own  your own Learjet?

2. Where did you get the training that enabled you to be one of the top people in your field?

3. Who were your mentors?

4. Where are you going today?

5. What are you going to do when you get there?

Five simple questions that allow the participant to focus on his or her  talents and imagine what success will feel like and where it could take him or her.

Research has been done about the financial feasibility of sustaining a nonprofit permanent venue and a mobile venue.

The video tape recording is a mental roadmap of where the person is today and what steps need to be taken fearlessly to get there.

The ride may be taken over and over again and each time will result in a clearer picture of where the captain of the Learjet wants to go in life.

This kind of venue can be in a permanent venue or a mobile unit consisting of five or six specially built buses. Language is not a barrier. The software can be sold to schools as well as to individual home users.

Money is available from foundations to pay for mobile units to go into the inner cities to motivate the disadvantaged. Corporations will pay  for their executives to experience the ride during their three-day weekend motivational seminars.

The Cost

The software is already available for this kind of experience. The most expensive part of this project is the building of the simulators. As the years pass, simulators are becoming more commonplace and it is just a matter of adapting what already exists. A current estimate of what it would cost needs to be done. The more expensive prototype needs to be developed and then the software and hardware from that can be duplicated. 

This is a not-for-profit venue. The Lear Charitable Foundation is already set up to handle the funds of this project. However, someone has to pay for this venue to operate. It is estimated that charging $30 to ride for those who can afford it, will allow the disadvantaged to ride for free.

How much money can this ride make if it is at maximum capacity?

The ride should take ten minutes. Optimally, twelve pods can process seventy-two pilots in one hour. Seven hundred and twenty pilots in a ten-hour day. Access to the entire venue should cost not more than $30. The video recording of the "captain's" responses to the questions asked at 41,000 feet would cost $10. Food would generate an average of $15 per person and merchandise would generate an average of $10 per person.

$65 x 720 per day = $46,800. ($17,082,000 per year)

If you calculate ten mobile units and 9 venues from Epcot Center, to Tokyo, to Sydney it would come to $324,558,000 per year. It is obvious that you have to take into consideration that the ride will not always be fully utilized.  So if you even expect only 50% capacity. The numbers are pretty exciting! All that just to ask people 5 questions and coach them through basic takeoff and landing procedures.

People never tire of listening to what they have dreamed up and trying to achieve their dreams is always more challenging than the ride itself!

The Learjet Flight to Success... brings together elements of the arts, motivating techniques, career exploration and entertainment values to produce a learning experience that is truly memorable. It is an adventure of the imagination that achieves practical objectives.

The Learjet Ride to Success can be inspirational to teenagers, young business executives, housewives and heads of corporations, as well as the elderly. Bill Lear was 60 years old when he built the Learjet. Everyone said he should retire. No one would invest in his idea. He and Moya risked their life savings for the idea.

The classroom version of the ride:

The classroom version of the ride would follow my presentation of the Secrets to the Success of Moya and Bill Lear and the Learjet. It would be 2 hours long and would include a half hour period in which the participant would have a chance to define his mission statement.

 He/she is told that he/she has uncovered a silver teapot on the beach that has a genie in it for centuries. The genie is so grateful and says I will give you all the money, time and education you need to do 5 activities that you really enjoy. Activities (action verbs) that really make your heart sing. What are they?

Now fit what you like about those five activities into three activities.

Now fit the criteria of those three activities into one activity that you really enjoy.

This work helps the participant to understand what talents have been given to him or her. By parlaying those talents into becoming the best in that field, it is possible to imagine how a business tool like an executive jet would help that person be more effective.

After explaining the basics of piloting an airplane: airspeed, airspeed, airspeed. etc. and encouraging the participant to imagine that he/she owns his/her own Learjet. The participant would be asked to keep his/her eyes closed or the next ten minutes and listen to the sound of the Learjet getting ready for takeoff. The voice of the instructor would then describe the take off and ascent to the recorded Learjet sounds. Then at 41,000 ft , the instructor says to the classroom of "captains", "Captain, you did a great job taking off your Learjet. We have a little bit of time up here at 41,000 feet, what talents did you parley into being able to own this Learjet. At this point, the participants would go over mentally the answers that what they have written on the printed card stock provided to them which contains the five questions.

After the instructor has asked the five questions and allowed time for the participants to think about the answers they have prepared in advance, the instructor will  say, "Thank you so much, Captain for sharing with me your story, Now, come on, let's land this puppy!" Then the instructor explains how you reduce airspeed, by pulling back the throttles, pulling back on the wheel and extending the flaps and then describes the landing and parking of the LEARJET. A great round of applause follows and  some generic praise from the instructor..... as the sound of the LEARJET engines wind down.

The participant would take his/her answers home and will be instructed to ask his/her family or friends "How can you help me to get to my goal?" The participant will be warned not to ask if the goal is "doable" or worthwhile. Only the participant has the answer to that. Others cannot know that answer and shouldn't be asked.

Personal attention to each participant is useful to review the responses and make sure the participant has been able to overcome hurdles of self-doubt,  cultural and gender barriers and simply making believe with their eyes closed for ten minutes.

The whole point of the Learjet Ride to Success is to inspire people to see how their particular talents can be developed to be of service to others and how these innovative ideas, when used for a specific purpose, can help them to .....fly. (:->)

For more information please call the SHANDA LEAR ENTERPRISES Corporate Offices in Orange County at 949 722 7757