[4] Like other members of this family, the Model 8000 was an unequal-span, single-bay, staggered biplane of conventional design.
[11] In turn, the larger propeller needed more ground clearance, which meant that the whole powerplant had to be mounted higher on the Model 8000's nose.
[12] By March 1929, the Fairchild-Caminez engine was removed from the prototype Model 8000 and the aircraft was converted into a Travel Air 2000.
[4] Fairchild Aircraft purchased the prototype, and entered it in the 1928 Ford National Reliability Air Tour[2] together with a Fairchild-Caminez 447-powered Waco 10.
[13] Flown by James Nelson Kelly, the Model 8000 finished in thirteenth place[14][15] out of a field of twenty-five, requiring several engine changes.