Riding on the King [of Business Jets]

[message type="custom"]I have dug up some posts from my original blog that I started almost eight years ago. Back then, I worked for Netjets - world's largest operator of business jets and as one of the benefits, we could ride on the planes during ferry flights (when there were no passengers flying). I have flown many trips like that so it is no wonder that business or even first class airline travel has never impressed me after that. This is another one of my ferry tales from May 2005.[/message] Today we had a bunch of caterers come to Columbus and check out what Netjets is all about and where we are going. After a fun day full of activities, we were talking with couple of girls from Rudy's (our caterer in New York) and decided to see if there is a ferry flight going to New York to take them back home. There was one indeed and it was nothing less than a Gulfstreem IV - the cream of the crop of business jets.

Todd, Brian, Emily and myself decided to go along on the ride. This way we could split a car in case we get stuck up there. While I was running around the airport trying to catch Rudy's girls before they got on their Delta flight (pleeeeease!), Todd has spoken to another crew that was comming back from Teterboro to Columbus and they said they would wait for us.

Now, let me say that I have never been a bing Gulfstream fan, I'm more of a Bombardier man [oh, how things have changed since then!]. However, this might have just changed today ;-) The whole airplane seems so spacious and comfortable and the windows are just amazing. They look big from the outside, but they are huge from the inside, not some tiny holes in CRJs or most other jets.

Upon arrival to Teterboro, one of the pilots walked us over to the Hawker 400XP (one of our smallest jets) that was already ready to depart so we did not waste any time.

What can I say? Of course it is nothing in comparison to the G, but I really did not think it was that bad. So what if it does not perform as it should, at least it's go XM radio ;-) And I think it is a lot more comfortable than Citation Ultra, another one of our smaller jets.

And after we got back to Columbus, it was party time with the rest of the people that were still here. We started bar and restaurant hopping at Easton and then Chim took us to some nice bar downtown. Dean from Salt Lake City, together with people from Las Vegas and Antonio from Aspen, got pretty wild and completely trashed a bit out of it by the end of the night. After sending a few people home, we stayed there for another hour or so and finally left at around 2am. Needless to say that the flight to Las Vegas in the morning was missing at least two people ;-)