Google Co-Founders Buy European Fighter Jet

Google co-founders Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt have bought a European fighter jet. They plan to use this jet for NASA missions.

Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt have started a company H211 LLC and they will manage a fleet of private aircraft for the three. New York Times reported that this new company has bought a Dornier Alpha Fighter Jet. In order to buy a military plane, one needs to get a military clearance, but since Google already works with NASA for its Google Earth project, the new company might have got one through that channel. According to the Times article, the company already manages a Boeing 757, a Boeing 767 and two Gulfstream V’s. They all have landing rights at Moffett field owned by NASA and is located near Google’s main offices. Matt Furman, a Google spokesperson, said the Alpha Jet will be outfitted with scientific instruments for NASA missions, including instruments that the other planes are not equipped to carry. Furman told New York Times:

Because of the type of aircraft we are talking about, NASA now has the ability to do even more than they could before.

It appears that Google CEO Eric Schmidt is an avid pilot. The Dornier Alpha Fighter Jet is made by Dornier in Germany and Dassault-Breguet of France.