Private Jets, Public Blind Spots

Business jet critics, corporate executives, and editors who found out the hard way that flying private didn't put them above the very criticism they were dishing out.

Up in Smoke

Back when publications carried tobacco ads, a major brand introduced Saratoga, a lengthier cigarette to provide a "longer more leisurely smoking experience." The ads, drawn cartoon-style, centered around people being delayed because the person in front of them was smoking. The caption always read: "Wait until I finish my Saratoga!" This concept appeared to be working fine, until it didn't.

General aviation advocates were incensed when an ad appeared showing a large airliner with its grouchy pilot looking out the cockpit window at a tiny propeller-driven airplane on the runway  directly in front and blocking the bigger airplane. Its pilot was smiling, smoking, and saying, "Wait until I finish my Saratoga!" 

One of the major general aviation trade associations, which apparently didn't check its membership roster beforehand, wrote a letter to the CEO of the tobacco company, complaining that the Saratoga ad conveyed many wrong messages: implying that pilots smoke in the cockpit; that the private jet pilot was delaying an airline flight for a cigarette; portraying pilot decision making as casual and irresponsible and undermining aviation safety.  

Here's the kicker. The tobacco company to which the letter was directed had a corporate flight department and was a paid-up member of the association. The chief pilot was more than a little embarrassed when the CEO called him into his office and, for starters, asked: "Why am I paying dues to an organization that is supposed to represent my interests, not criticize them?"   

Not a Good Look

During the 2008 economic downturn, many corporations pleaded Congress for federal funds to bail them out of their ostensible financial crises. In November 2008, the CEOs of the Big Three automakers—Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors—arrived in Washington to make their pitch before Congress.   

After it was revealed during the hearings that each of the CEOs flew to Washington, D.C. on their own private jets, their request for $25 billion in emergency, taxpayer-funded federal loans fell on deaf ears and ignited a storm of protests and national headlines that completely overshadowed their substantive arguments about saving millions of jobs. 

A month later, the CEOs were back before Congress, quickly emphasizing that each drove one of his own company's fuel-efficient hybrid vehicles to the hearings. The companies eventually did receive loans, but they didn't get the full amount originally requested. 

Careful For What You Ask 

It's a well known fact that airports near the venues of big sports events temporarily draw more business aircraft than usual. Such was the case for a Super Bowl championship football game.

Thinking that all those aircraft couldn't be there strictly for business, the editor of a major national newspaper dispatched a reporter to the crowded aircraft parking area to ask pilots and passengers why they were at the game. The people who did agree to respond told the reporter that the aircraft belonged to either one of the many sponsors of the event, team owners, NFL staffers, or other game officials.

The reporter was in for an awkward surprise when the last person she interviewed pointed her to an  aircraft and suggested that she ask its owner why it's here. That corporate aircraft belonged to the parent company and publisher that owned the newspaper whose editor assigned the story.