Hi Flyertalk!

Since the current group of people who fly Private and posts on Flyertalk consists of SFO777 its time for me to post! Ever watch the show The Land Man? I was hired to escort a Land Man around Texas, looking for Biofuel prospects. Since time is money, and to cover a state the size of Texas in a day we decided to charter a jet through the Whiskey Tango Aviation Group!

The trip started in El Paso. To get there from Chicago I flew United (ewwww) to El Paso with a stop in Houston. Good times.

On our tour of Texas we first visited the border wall.... I was hoping for something more concrete for ample Banksy Style vandalism but what can you do:






Nice View of the US / Mexico Border

And the famous Great Wall of America

But it needs a little extra fencing....

And here is what you are for: The Lear Jet 45XR.... more to come!

After touring the El Paso Area, and visiting such great places as "Obi Won Cannibas" we headed to the El Paso Millionaires Terminal for our first flight of the day. We called and the plane was ready. We headed into the Terminal, mentioned our names, and soon the plane pulled up and we were ready to go. After showing our IDs to the Pilot we were off. A short 40 minutes later we were in Midland to eat some Meat! After spending about 4 hours eating and touring some sites we were off again for an hour flight to Corpus Christi.

For refreshments we were served such delicacies as cheetos, oreos, zinfidal, cayman jack, miller light, and Michelob light. We were at the millionaires terminal, and NOT the billionaires terminal!

One cool thing about the Lear Jet is it can reach pretty high altitudes. The pilot was telling us at takeoff they burn 1000 lbs/hr while at 37K its more like 400 lbs/hr. For these short flights they go as high as they can and descend for the rest. The rides were very smooth, much smoother than my flights on a ERJ-175 the next day! The other huge difference is the airport experience, mainly because there isn't one. The reception is similar to a 5 star hotel where someone in a fancy dress comes out to greet you, the pilots move your bags, and they get you a nice drink! Its about 3 minutes from landing to getting to the terminal, unlike at ORD where its worth two episodes of the Sopranos.


Getting into the LearJet At Midland


Its a tight fit.... no standing up and doing yoga on this guy!
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This is how we know its a Lear Jet

Yes it does have a bathroom, and bless your heart no one used it

Handy altitude guide, similar to the IFE on a 767 of your. Sometimes they get up to 40-45k.

Interior of the cabin that holds 8. Your legs will be intertwined with your neighbor so I hope you like them

Arrival Corpus Christi

Take Off from El Paso

Guadeloupe Mountains

Midland Charter Jets

Heading west and getting greener

Landing at Corpus Christi

Punch on Arrival

Overall the Private Jet Experience was great:
- Flight Attendants available with an extra charge
- You can bring / choose your own food / snacks.
- Gun and Pets allowed
- The best part was no airport or waiting on the tarmac, and just calling up the pilot before you need to leave.
- Flights were smooth and quick
- This was very different than my last experience on a small plane, which was on a twin otter and everyone thought we were about to die on now defunct Nature Airlines (which went bankrupt because their plane crashed).

thanks everyone

Flying without a gun is no fun.

Nice report Steveo. Flying private really is a wonderful experience.
I'm fortunate enough to have done it a handful of times over the past few years, always for special occasions that made the splurge worthwhile.

I probably won't ever write a TR, but this thread has motivated me to share some photos from my experiences

First PJ experience. Not all jets are created equal!


This is better

Does the erstwhile scheduled service of Hahn Air between DUS and LUX count? It was flown by a Citation after all... but from regular terminal with regular check in. Good fun though, in it's day. Otherwise the only chance I have of getting close to a PJ is if I sold my house and went all in on getting into the cockpit. I think I'll leave that to an alternate universe me.