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A Coveted Landing Strip for Google's Founders
An anonymous reader writes "The NYT reports, "In the annals of perks enjoyed by America's corporate executives, the founders of Google may have set a new standard: an uncrowded, federally managed runway for their private jet that is only a few minutes' drive from their offices. For $1.3 million a year, Larry Page and Sergey Brin get to park their customized wide-body Boeing 767-200, as well as two other jets used by top Google executives, on Moffett Field, an airport run by NASA that is generally closed to private aircraft."
For those who are not familiar with the operations of Moffet Field, it is adjacent to some very dense populations. Because of this there have been ongoing campaigns to limit use of the field to noncommercial aircraft and focus on development of research facilities there. This usage of the airfield by Google is in direct conflict with the long stated desire by the community to have commercial aircraft use commercial aviation facilities. Negative reactions to this have nothing to do with jealousy, but rather are about appropriate use and regulation of land and airspace. In this case a resource that has been constructed and maintained by the public at great cost is being use in a manner that the surrounding community has repeatedly strongly rejected.