Google’s Private Jet Gets A Home At NASA’s Moffett Field

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One thing about Google is that they never think small.

And they like their privacy, so it comes as no surprise that company President Eric Schmidt is said to have secured a hangar to house Google’s refurbished wide-body Boeing 767-200 out of Moffett Field, an airport that is run by NASA and is generally closed to private aircraft. Under the agreement signed by NASA and Google, NASA is allowed to place instruments and scientists on planes owned by principals of the plane to collect scientific data on some flights. NASA will also receive around 1.3 million in annual compensation for the use of the field.

Of course, not everyone is happy with the idea of Google operating out of NASA’s backyard.

“The Google flights represent the possibility that the camel’s nose is under the tent, and that NASA is looking at opening up the use of the runways to help pay for it,” said Lenny Siegel, director of the Pacific Studies Center, a local non-profit group that over the years has opposed various proposed expansions of civilian flights at Moffett Field. “The majority of the people in the community are against that.”

Siegel said he was hoping NASA would provide clear answers about the agreement. “If they are doing science missions, that’s O.K.,” Siegel said. “If they are doing it just because they are rich and popular, it is not O.K.”

Google and Ames Research Center have other agreements to collaborate on research, as well as a preliminary plan for Google to build as much as a million square feet, or 93,000 square meters, of space at Ames. But Zornetzer said the deal with H211 was unrelated to the Google agreements.

Despite the opposition, Google has already used the airfield to taxi in and out of Mountain Valley to a number of destinations, including Europe, New Zealand and Great Falls, Montana.

It seems the party plane is in the skies - no confirmation if it’s been refurbished with hammocks and king sized beds, though.

What are your thoughts on this? Are Google executives the next spacemen or what?

IHT

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