Chris Brown’s “Private Jet” Was a 1980s Gulfstream III. The FAA Has No Aircraft in His Name

In May 2013, a Gulfstream III carrying Chris Brown to the Met Gala filled with smoke minutes after takeoff from Burbank. Rolling Stone Brasil called it the Chris Brown private jet and valued it at more than $35 million.

Neither part holds up well. The Gulfstream III went out of production in 1986, and the FAA aircraft register, in its November 5, 2026 release, lists no aircraft in his name.

This guide covers what the register shows, the jet from the 2013 emergency, the 2015 flight his own publicist said the label paid for, the pilot who called police in Miami, and how he compares with rappers who do have a tail number.

Chris Brown’s Private Jet Fleet: One Gulfstream III, No Registration

There is no fleet on the record. We searched the FAA’s current, cancelled and reserved registrations for his name and for company names built from his nicknames and brands, including Breezy and CBE.

The ten aircraft registered to a “Christopher Brown” belong to other people: a Cessna 140, a homebuilt Fly Baby and a hot-air balloon among them, across eight states. None is a jet. The only airframe named in his coverage is the 2013 Gulfstream III, so that is the card below.

Gulfstream IIIRegistration not reported · operator not reported

Flown 2013 · not on the register

FlightBurbank to Teterboro, May 2013

Built1979 to 1986 (type)

Range3,750 NM

Max cruise478 kt

Engines2x Rolls-Royce Spey Mk 511-8

Chris Brown's ownershipNone on the register

The Paper Trail: Every Chris Brown Jet Story, Dated

His private flying shows up in the news mostly when something goes wrong on board. These are the dated points, from the reporting and the FAA files.

The 2013 Gulfstream III: Why “His Jet” Is the Weak Part of the Story

The emergency itself is well documented. TMZ reported that smoke filled the cockpit about seven to eight minutes into the flight, the pilot turned back and landed at Burbank, and Brown was on another private jet within the hour.

He missed the Met Gala but made the after-party for the “Punk: Chaos to Couture” exhibition, Black Enterprise reported. No outlet we found named the aircraft’s registration or its operator.

The ownership claim came from Rolling Stone Brasil, which said he “owns” a Gulfstream III worth more than $35 million. TMZ, the original source, did not say he owned it, and Black Enterprise described it only as a private jet.

The price is the clearer problem. Our Gulfstream III spec page lists a new price of $37 million in 1986, the year production ended. A figure near $35 million describes a new airframe from the 1980s, not a used one flying in 2013.

Swapping to a second jet within an hour also fits a charter or a managed fleet better than a single owned aircraft. That is an inference, not a finding, and the record does not settle it.

Inside the Gulfstream III: The Jet Behind the Met Gala Scare

The Gulfstream III first flew on December 2, 1979, and about 200 were built before it gave way to the Gulfstream IV. The U.S. military flies versions of it as the C-20.

Those figures come from our Gulfstream III spec page. Burbank to Teterboro is about 2,120 NM in a straight line, well inside the type’s 3,750 NM range, so the Met Gala trip was a nonstop for this jet.

Our spec page lists 19 seats, though the real count depends on how each cabin is fitted.

Chris Brown’s Most Famous Private Jet Moments

“The Label Paid for the Plane,” June 2015

In June 2015, Us Weekly reported that Brown blew marijuana smoke at a flight attendant on a private jet. A source also claimed he told the crew he owned the jet and everyone on it, Bustle reported.

His publicist, Nicole Perna, told the New York Daily News the story was false. She said he and a friend had been smoking cigarettes and he put his out when the pilot said it was a non-smoking flight.

Her answer also settled the ownership question for that flight. She said the music label paid for the plane, not Brown, which is the only on-record statement about who paid for one of his jets.

The Pilot Who Called Police in Miami, May 2016

In May 2016, TMZ reported that Brown and his group were removed from a private jet at Miami International Airport, headed for Bermuda and then the Cannes Film Festival. The pilot reportedly complained to Miami-Dade Police that the cabin smelled so strongly of marijuana the windows had to be opened.

No one was arrested, CBS Miami reported. Brown called the report untrue and said on Instagram that the pilot had asked someone in his group for cocaine, a claim that was never verified.

A Private Jet to Manchester, Then an Arrest, May 2025

On May 14, 2025, Brown reportedly flew into Manchester Airport by private jet ahead of his UK tour dates. Shortly after 2am the next day, police arrested him at the Lowry Hotel over a February 2023 incident at a London nightclub, AFP reported.

He was released on £5 million bail, about $6.7 million, and kept touring Europe and North America. In July 2026 he pleaded guilty to affray, and on October 26, 2026, he received eight months suspended for one year, NBC reported.

None of the coverage named the jet he flew in on. Like every other aircraft in his story, it has no published registration.

The Suede-Sofa Cabin Tour

An Instagram video of Brown boarding a jet with a five-seat suede sofa, four leather recliners and a TV drew a “his private jet” headline from HotNewHipHop. The same article admitted that whether the plane was his “has yet to be confirmed.”

How Chris Brown Compares With Rappers Who Have a Tail Number

Some of his peers have an aircraft on the register, and many charter the way he appears to. Travis Scott’s Lineage 1000 is registered to his own company, while Drake’s Boeing 767 sits under a bank trustee.

Our rappers with private jets roundup tracks the same gap across the genre: plenty of jet photos, far fewer registrations. Brown sits firmly on the charter side of it.

So the honest answer is the less glamorous one. He clearly flies private and has done for more than a decade, but the only jet ever called his was a 1980s Gulfstream III with no published registration, and his own publicist once said the label paid.