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Google Founders' Jets Caught On WSJ's Radar
theodp writes "Via an FOIA request, the Wall Street Journal acquired records of every private aircraft flight recorded in the FAA's air-traffic management system for 2007 through 2010, using them to build a private jet tracker database. Among the high fliers who found their records unblocked were Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, whose 767 and Gulfstream reportedly burned an estimated 52,000 gallons of aviation fuel and $430,000 on two round-trips from the U.S. mainland to Tahiti to catch last summer's total eclipse of the sun. A Google spokeswoman confirmed the pair's jaunt, but added that Page and Brin mitigated the greenhouse gas emissions from their aircraft usage by purchasing an even greater amount of carbon offsets. Tech-boom billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban seemed unfazed by the prospect of his past plane movements becoming public: 'I have a plane,' Cuban quipped. 'I bought it so I could use it. Shocking, isn't it?'"
Yes, it's socially and ecologically irresponsible for a private individual to own an entire jet. The biosphere and airspace are a shared public resource and they should be managed as such. I shouldn't have to suffer every time some wanna-be Top Gun decides to fly his noisy aerial dirtbike over my property. I should be compensated for the noise and the devaluation of my property, as should every other landowner. This is the modern era, there is no need for anyone to possess a private aircraft. It should be banned or taxed such that it becomes unobtainable.