Just a fun little story:

So, an old Swedish buddy of mine is a captain on a 2007 Bombardier Global Express that flies regularly between Van Nuys and Stockholm (we drove taxi together in Stockholm back in the early 90's and he started his PPL shortly after me). This particular GLEX is exclusively chartered by a very rich game developer living here and is always at his disposal with a full crew. Not cheap, but he's got the means and likes to know it's always there for him.

Anyway, today they're heading back to ESSB (where I actually learned to fly) and I asked him to share his flight plan with me, just out of curiosity. He just sent it over and the numbers are enlightening!

So, he's planning on FL390 until he hits the Atlantic, when they'll climb to FL450. Mach 0.85 and trip time is estimated at 9:47, with an extra:

1. 0:17 to get to Alt 1 (ESSA)
2. 0:29 Contingency and then
3. 0:30 min reserve on top of that.

For the flight part of 9:47, he's calculating 34568lbs of fuel, which is an average fuel burn of about 3545lbs/hr, or 529gal/hr! Full up on ramp, he's got 39800lbs of fuel onboard. Notice that the GLEX burns the entire capacity of my Turbo Commander, about 2600lbs, in about 45min!

He said they normally get their oceanic clearance on the computer, but sometimes the unit misbehaves and he reasonably often has to contact them on scratchy HF radio for position reports. He also said he thought he could shave the enroute time down to 9:30 if he catches the right wind. Duty times allows them to do this with just 2 pilots and interestingly, since he's following EASA rules, neither need to have an oxygen mask on at any altitude. EASA differs from the FAA on this. He also mentioned they'd never been at FL510 with it - apparently the climb rate is very low up there and conditions have to be just right to even be able to get there.

Anyway, just some fun numbers for us geeks. It still blows my mind that you can get into a machine like this and fly 5000nm across the globe (albeit at a price)! Aviation is amazing!

Route:


Fuel:


And here's when me and my son visited it at Van Nuys about a year ago. Gorgeous aircraft.

Roughly 1nm/gallon

Law school buddy has a Global.

Bought a Challenger for shorter trips, as well.

Life's good.

(He earned every nickel)

Makes sense if he hasn’t prioritized to afford a paint scheme

Compare to 60s vintage Vought F-8 that I flew. Single engine, single seat, roughly 30,000lb airplane. Rule of thumb fuel burn was 3000 lb/hr. Engine technology has changed.

More fun numbers, Classic 747 at gross weight:

Fuel capacity: 350,000 pounds
Fuel burn : 28,000 pounds per hour

Having somebody else pay for it: Priceless.

Great numbers Adam! I guess I should have played more video games as a kid. Had no idea game developers could do so well!

Wonder how many people they typically cart around in it?

Anyone know how this fuel burn compares to a gulf stream or falcon? I assume they are all about the same once you get into the big iron.

Same engines as the GV/G550 so very similar.

Interesting. What impresses me is that they must be able to get out of that 5000’ runway heavy to make it home. Probably to NY or east coast with winds but impressive.

As you said, it makes my gas purchases of 1160 lbs not even noticeable.

I think he is burning less fuel per mile, per pound of gross weight, than you are.

Mike C.

One of the airplanes that I am current in is the Embraer Praetor; I fly both the 500 and the 600. As for rule of thumb fuel planning we use 2500# first hour, 2000# every hour thereafter. While it isn't perfect, it is back of the napkin planning. The 500 holds 13000# of fuel and the 600 is 16000# plus or minus depending on temps.

The engines are approx. 6500# of thrust on the 500 and 7500# 600.

Brad

He said it was often on the edge in the summers, and they have to relocate to LAX for departures occasionally.

Just sent me this:

I think he is burning less fuel per mile, per pound of gross weight, than you are.

Mike C.

Round numbers, depending on model, the Global gross weight is approx. 100,000 - 105,000 pounds.

Brad

Gross weight isn't meaningful. What is the fuel burn per passenger mile, or per payload mile.