Have you flown on a private jet?

[dk62]

No, just the company helicopter.

[josntme]

NewtonMP2100 wrote:
.....Mile High Club.........


SOLO???????????












........anyone.....?

[tronnei]

My mom was a second officer (flight attendant) for a Fortune 100 company's private fleet for 25+ years. I got to tag along on a few flights over the years. Even got to sit in the jump seat in the cockpit during a landing.

Good times.

[sunfalcon]

Nope, but I just flew in an Extra 300L and did loops and rolls over Lake Erie with John Klatt in his stunt plane. Totally awesome!!!

[Racer X]

Carnos Jax wrote:
Yes...a Gulfstream II and a Hawker 800XP (also a T-37, but that was with the Air Force).

Isn't the T-37 a 2 seat trainer, and the Thunderbirds flew them in the 70s? (NASA has a fleet of them as well AFAIK) How does that qualify as a private jet? Just wondering? You know some guy who bought one?

[JoeH]

T-37 is a twin engine, 2 seat trainer. There was an A-37 attack plane variant. The Thunderbirds flew the T-38 Talon in the '70's, not the T-37. The T-38 is higher powered and supersonic, the T-37 is strictly subsonic.

[Psurfer]

Yes, and only I wish I could travel that way Every time. Highly recommended if you get the chance.

It was a lucky break after speaking w/a relative's friend's boyfriend (or husband?) who told me he was a private pilot, and let me (& my sister, so sorry, no hanky-panky to report) hitch a ride to LA in the empty air taxi, where he would pick up some execs to fly on down to S. America somewhere (& we'd say adios).

Very enjoyable. Not only did I avoid the whole airport experience & waiting around thing, but in-flight (forgot the plane model, it was a little larger than the Lear, nicley appointed; cushy swiveling leather living room-like seats, etc), spent most of the time in the co-pilot seat talking to the pilot, and the view from that seat landing into LA at night was a definite highlight. Pilot radio'd ahead to have a taxi pick us up right at the plane, for the full rock star/overpaid CEO travel pkg.

The whole thing was much more like having taken a memorable & adventurous short roadtrip in a sportscar for me, than the usual catatonic limbo bus ride of a commercial jetliner. Would be Very easy to get used to traveling like that. -Might become old hat if I really could, but I've thought about it again recently, and realized it would allow me to go to long-distance destinations w/my dog- So Now, I'm a little motivated to get those kind of bucks!

Btw, Dakota, I looked into the cost to charter a number of years ago, strictly out of curiosity. At that time it seemed like you could count on a minimum of $20K, maybe $30K or more, plus fuel etc

[OWC Jamie]

I sit with the seat belt on.

I find flying on a plane to be like walking on water, everyone points and stares.

[Carnos Jax]

Dakota wrote:
I was thinking it would be a blast to hire a private jet for a family vacation. If you could gather 10 to 12 people the per person cost may not be much more than flying commercial. I don't know.

I've often thought about this as well.

Racer X wrote:
[quote=Carnos Jax]
Yes...a Gulfstream II and a Hawker 800XP (also a T-37, but that was with the Air Force).

Isn't the T-37 a 2 seat trainer, and the Thunderbirds flew them in the 70s? (NASA has a fleet of them as well AFAIK) How does that qualify as a private jet? Just wondering? You know some guy who bought one?
It was the summer between my sophmore and junior years in college. I was pilot qualified (on the verge of getting a slot) for Undergraduate Pilot Training w/the Air Force upon graduation. Pilot candidates like me got T-37 rides during Field Training that summer (FT was @ McConnell AFB in Kansas, I went down to Vance AFB in Oklahoma for my ride). I had a lot of fun 'yanking and banking' the Tweet (my instructor was pretty liberal...and besides, you can do a lot of things in a Tweet without getting in over your head).

[Mac1337]

I recall the article said the cost is around $500 per hour per seat or $3000 per hour for the entire plane.