2000flyer
EASY FLYER
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
- Posts
- 1,586
From 12-3-04 USA Today
Execs confident in corporate jets By Del Jones, USA TODAY
When the latest corporate jet crashed — this time into an island in the Missouri River near St. Louis — Mackay Envelope Chairman Harvey Mackay was ending a six-week, 35-city book tour that had him regularly aboard Dassault Falcon jets.
Five minutes after landing in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Mackay was citing statistics about the accident rate of fractional jet companies such as JetChoice vs. commercial airlines and the superior safety record of the Falcons.
So much aviation knowledge makes him seem like he frets about flying. But Mackay, author of We Got Fired! And It's The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Us, said he has "a fanatical attention to detail" regarding most topics.
In the wake of the crash that killed two Tuesday night, one that killed the 14-year-old son of NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol and two others in Colorado on Sunday, and another 11 days ago in Texas that killed three while en route to pick up former president George H.W. Bush for a trip to Ecuador, Mackay says he worries far more when he gets into a car.
Pete Slosberg, who first launched Pete's Wicked Ale and now runs Cocoa Pete's Chocolate Adventures, agrees. Flying remains safer than alternatives, he says.
Corporate jets have long been the alternative of choice for those who can afford them, or those whose companies can. Though the jets are expensive, executives say the time savings justifies the cost; that argument resonates more with ever-longer airport security delays. Corporate jet sales, which were in a slump, will rise 54% from 2005 to 2009, according to an estimate by Honeywell.
Much of the demand is coming from fractional jet ownership — flying's version of time shares — which let companies share the cost.
The spate of recent crashes is circumstantial, says Vern Rayburn, an avid pilot and CEO of Eclipse Aviation, which plans to launch a small corporate jet for roughly half the current price in 2006.
"Corporate aviation is so safe that when a rash of accidents does happen it gets everyone's attention," Rayburn says.
But it's not always easy to be so rational. Michael Myers, chief operating officer of Back Yard Burgers, is married to a part-time flight attendant. "Every airplane crash creates a fair amount of discussion at our house. Events have not altered my plans, but certainly remind me there is always risk with any mode of travel," he says.
CEOs express the most concern about flying commercial. "What worries me most is the financial condition of the industry," says Gary Kowalski, CEO of Vector SCM, a joint venture with General Motors. Terrorism and safety are a "new ingredient," he says. "How can one be sure that some things aren't being shortcutted to reduce costs?"
Slosberg says human error is a given, and he thinks most about unexplained accidents that could be design flaws, such as the Airbus crash that killed 260 in New York. It remains unsolved three years later.
Kevin Bethke, CEO of Interactive Video Technologies, says technologies such as Webcasting give executives the choice not to travel. "That said, I have no concern about getting on a plane and traveling 100,000 miles every year."
Patrick Byrne, a pilot and CEO of Overstock.com, flies 200 hours a year with NetJets, the company that pioneered fractional jet ownership and is now owned by Warren Buffett. He won't fly less, but will pay a premium for NetJets because he says they are more safety conscious than competitors.
Jim Ferraro, owner of a Miami law firm, owns two jets. The safety problem, he says, is with charters. It's like driving someone else's car, he says. Pilots find it easy to let others worry about maintenance.
Platt Electric Supply CEO Harvey Platt, also a pilot, says he feels safe only in the company's Citation Ultra flown by the pilots familiar with the jet. "Never use a time share," he says, because fractional owners and operators can't provide the same level of care.
"I wouldn't use a time-share apartment, and I certainly wouldn't use a time-share jet," Platt says.
Execs confident in corporate jets By Del Jones, USA TODAY
When the latest corporate jet crashed — this time into an island in the Missouri River near St. Louis — Mackay Envelope Chairman Harvey Mackay was ending a six-week, 35-city book tour that had him regularly aboard Dassault Falcon jets.
Five minutes after landing in Minneapolis on Wednesday, Mackay was citing statistics about the accident rate of fractional jet companies such as JetChoice vs. commercial airlines and the superior safety record of the Falcons.
So much aviation knowledge makes him seem like he frets about flying. But Mackay, author of We Got Fired! And It's The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Us, said he has "a fanatical attention to detail" regarding most topics.
In the wake of the crash that killed two Tuesday night, one that killed the 14-year-old son of NBC Sports executive Dick Ebersol and two others in Colorado on Sunday, and another 11 days ago in Texas that killed three while en route to pick up former president George H.W. Bush for a trip to Ecuador, Mackay says he worries far more when he gets into a car.
Pete Slosberg, who first launched Pete's Wicked Ale and now runs Cocoa Pete's Chocolate Adventures, agrees. Flying remains safer than alternatives, he says.
Corporate jets have long been the alternative of choice for those who can afford them, or those whose companies can. Though the jets are expensive, executives say the time savings justifies the cost; that argument resonates more with ever-longer airport security delays. Corporate jet sales, which were in a slump, will rise 54% from 2005 to 2009, according to an estimate by Honeywell.
Much of the demand is coming from fractional jet ownership — flying's version of time shares — which let companies share the cost.
The spate of recent crashes is circumstantial, says Vern Rayburn, an avid pilot and CEO of Eclipse Aviation, which plans to launch a small corporate jet for roughly half the current price in 2006.
"Corporate aviation is so safe that when a rash of accidents does happen it gets everyone's attention," Rayburn says.
But it's not always easy to be so rational. Michael Myers, chief operating officer of Back Yard Burgers, is married to a part-time flight attendant. "Every airplane crash creates a fair amount of discussion at our house. Events have not altered my plans, but certainly remind me there is always risk with any mode of travel," he says.
CEOs express the most concern about flying commercial. "What worries me most is the financial condition of the industry," says Gary Kowalski, CEO of Vector SCM, a joint venture with General Motors. Terrorism and safety are a "new ingredient," he says. "How can one be sure that some things aren't being shortcutted to reduce costs?"
Slosberg says human error is a given, and he thinks most about unexplained accidents that could be design flaws, such as the Airbus crash that killed 260 in New York. It remains unsolved three years later.
Kevin Bethke, CEO of Interactive Video Technologies, says technologies such as Webcasting give executives the choice not to travel. "That said, I have no concern about getting on a plane and traveling 100,000 miles every year."
Patrick Byrne, a pilot and CEO of Overstock.com, flies 200 hours a year with NetJets, the company that pioneered fractional jet ownership and is now owned by Warren Buffett. He won't fly less, but will pay a premium for NetJets because he says they are more safety conscious than competitors.
Jim Ferraro, owner of a Miami law firm, owns two jets. The safety problem, he says, is with charters. It's like driving someone else's car, he says. Pilots find it easy to let others worry about maintenance.
Platt Electric Supply CEO Harvey Platt, also a pilot, says he feels safe only in the company's Citation Ultra flown by the pilots familiar with the jet. "Never use a time share," he says, because fractional owners and operators can't provide the same level of care.
"I wouldn't use a time-share apartment, and I certainly wouldn't use a time-share jet," Platt says.
