Elon Musk’s private jet has been grabbing headlines in the last week or so since the Twitter drama broke out between the billionaire Tesla CEO and a 19-year-old college student.
While Musk refused to pay the teen US$50,000 to remove the Twitter bot tracking his private jet, the episode got us interested in the aircraft that ferries the world’s richest person around the planet.
The aircraft in question is a Gulfstream G650ER business jet equipped with ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) tracking technology. The automated Twitter bot used the technology to constantly track Elon’s movements whenever he took to the sky.
The G650ER is an extended range version of the standard G650 and can fly 7,500 nautical miles (more than 8,600 miles) without refuelling. It is powered by a pair of Rolls-Royce BR725 engines, giving cruising speeds of up to Mach 0.925 (710mph or 1,142km/h).
The G650ER is a key model in Gulfstream’s line-up and has a starting price of ₦35 billion, and it’s likely Musk’s costs more. It’s also the largest Gulfstream business jet – although, the upcoming G700 is soon to snatch that title away.
