Tim de Vries - Page 107

Every pilot scanning the cockpit in flight is actually scanning two separate groups of instruments at once. The six-pack on the left side of the panel answers questions about where the aircraft is going: how fast, how high, which direction, whether level. The engine instruments on the right side of the panel answer a different

For decades, learning to fly meant learning to read a panel full of round dials. Each instrument did exactly one thing: the airspeed indicator showed airspeed, the altimeter showed altitude, the attitude indicator showed attitude. The pilot built a complete picture of the flight by scanning all six, over and over, combining the individual readings

Every aircraft has two speeds the pilot must never cross. One is the stall speed: fly too slowly and the wings stop generating lift, the aircraft stops flying, and the nose pitches down abruptly. The other is the never-exceed speed: fly too fast and the forces acting on the airframe exceed what it was built

When Kim Kardashian boards her Gulfstream G650ER, she isn’t stepping onto a standard charter. She’s entering a $150 million flying extension of her personal brand: cashmere headrests, custom blond wood paneling, SKIMS-branded slippers on every seat, and a strict no-spray-tan policy to keep the upholstery pristine. This is Kim Air, one of the most recognizable

See the private jets 30 celebrities actually own, from Taylor Swift’s Dassault Falcon 7X to Drake’s Boeing 767, and find out who flies the most.

Most celebrity couples share a jet. Jay-Z and Beyoncé have two — and one of them was a Father’s Day gift. In 2012, four months after the birth of Blue Ivy Carter, Beyoncé gave her husband a Bombardier Challenger 850 valued at $40 million. Not a watch, not a car, not a piece of jewelry.

In April 1991, Oprah Winfrey was sitting in Chicago O’Hare International Airport, four hours into a delay, on her way to an award ceremony for Aretha Franklin. A fan approached her and asked why she wasn’t hugging people the way she did on television. Oprah stood up, gave the woman a hug — and then

Most celebrities get a Gulfstream. Drake got a Boeing. When Canadian rapper Drake unveiled Air Drake in 2019 — a fully customized Boeing 767-200ER worth an estimated $200 million, gifted to him by a cargo airline, designed on the outside by a Louis Vuitton artistic director, and large enough to be mistaken for a commercial

Most pop stars get a private jet. Taylor Swift built a relationship with hers. Over a career spanning two decades, she has owned four aircraft, painted her lucky number on the side of one of them, loaned them out to friends, sparked a cease-and-desist war with a college student, and watched her jet usage become