Gm Asks U.s. Faa To Bar Public Tracking Of Leased Corporate Jet

[fbachman]

 

 

 

 

 

 

By John Hughes and Elliot Blair Smith

 

Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., criticized by U.S. lawmakers for its use of corporate jets, asked aviation regulators to block the public's ability to track a plane it uses.

 

"We availed ourselves of the option as others do to have the aircraft removed" from a Federal Aviation Administration tracking service, a GM spokesman, Greg Martin, said yesterday in an interview. He declined to discuss why GM made the request.

 

Flight data show that the leased Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV jet flew Nov. 18 from Detroit to Washington, where Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner Jr. spoke to a Senate committee that day and a House panel the next day on behalf of a $25 billion auto-industry rescue plan.

 

Representatives at the Nov. 19 House hearing including Democrat Gary Ackerman of New York faulted Wagoner, Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally and Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli for taking private jets to Washington to plead their case.

 

"Couldn't you all have downgraded to first class?" Ackerman said.

 

Symbol for Critics

 

Critics of a federal aid package for GM, Ford and Chrysler spotlighted the exchange to attack the money-losing companies as undeserving of a bailout. GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, has said it may run out of operating cash by year's end without government loans.

 

The Gulfstream jet was leased from GE Capital Solutions in Danbury, Connecticut, a unit of General Electric Co. After the plane's latest flight to Washington on Nov. 25, and from there to Dallas, its movements could no longer be tracked.

 

An FAA spokeswoman, Laura Brown, said she couldn't immediately determine whether her agency had granted GM's flight-privacy request. "We do this routinely" for aircraft owners, she said yesterday. "They don't have to have a reason" for requesting the block, she said.

 

The FAA tracking data don't identify who is aboard the flights.

 

GM also has seven planes in its own fleet. All were grounded yesterday, said a spokesman, Tom Wilkinson. Two are for sale and two are in the process of being listed for sale, while Detroit-based GM plans to keep three, he said.

 

The leased Gulfstream has made 10 trips to Washington this year, including three since October, according to data compiled by Houston-based flight-tracking service FlightAware.com.

 

GM said it often sub-leases the airplane to other users. GM officials said company employees weren't aboard the jet on the final Nov. 25 flights before its movements ceased being tracked.

[jrrod2004]

 

 

 

 

 

By John Hughes and Elliot Blair Smith

 

Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., criticized by U.S. lawmakers for its use of corporate jets, asked aviation regulators to block the public's ability to track a plane it uses.

 

"We availed ourselves of the option as others do to have the aircraft removed" from a Federal Aviation Administration tracking service, a GM spokesman, Greg Martin, said yesterday in an interview. He declined to discuss why GM made the request.

 

Flight data show that the leased Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV jet flew Nov. 18 from Detroit to Washington, where Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner Jr. spoke to a Senate committee that day and a House panel the next day on behalf of a $25 billion auto-industry rescue plan.

 

Representatives at the Nov. 19 House hearing including Democrat Gary Ackerman of New York faulted Wagoner, Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally and Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli for taking private jets to Washington to plead their case.

 

"Couldn't you all have downgraded to first class?" Ackerman said.

 

Symbol for Critics

 

Critics of a federal aid package for GM, Ford and Chrysler spotlighted the exchange to attack the money-losing companies as undeserving of a bailout. GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, has said it may run out of operating cash by year's end without government loans.

 

The Gulfstream jet was leased from GE Capital Solutions in Danbury, Connecticut, a unit of General Electric Co. After the plane's latest flight to Washington on Nov. 25, and from there to Dallas, its movements could no longer be tracked.

 

An FAA spokeswoman, Laura Brown, said she couldn't immediately determine whether her agency had granted GM's flight-privacy request. "We do this routinely" for aircraft owners, she said yesterday. "They don't have to have a reason" for requesting the block, she said.

 

The FAA tracking data don't identify who is aboard the flights.

 

GM also has seven planes in its own fleet. All were grounded yesterday, said a spokesman, Tom Wilkinson. Two are for sale and two are in the process of being listed for sale, while Detroit-based GM plans to keep three, he said.

 

The leased Gulfstream has made 10 trips to Washington this year, including three since October, according to data compiled by Houston-based flight-tracking service FlightAware.com.

 

GM said it often sub-leases the airplane to other users. GM officials said company employees weren't aboard the jet on the final Nov. 25 flights before its movements ceased being tracked.

 

another ****up on the PR relations...I read that and it tells me that GM does not want the public to know how much they are using the planes...****ing stupid. this ****ing retard need to get his shit together and understand that Transparency is the ****ing key...not this smoke and mirrors shit. Seriously, they need to be ****ing tracked on everything: What cars they are driving, what 'business expenses" they are spending, what they are actually doing day to day. ****ing amazing how short sighted these morons are...

[Z45]

just more jealousy on the part of fellow americans.

[P'cola Denali]

I want a ****ing jet.

 

Even a little Lear will make me happy.

 

Send me one GM!!

[fbachman]

just more jealousy on the part of fellow americans.

 

I wouldn't say jealously --- I mean, WAKE UP....

 

These "folks" are running to Washington, saying they need YOUR (and MY) money because their businesses are failing, yet are spending money like drunken sailors on things that are FAR from "mandatory expenses for the continuation of a failing business" and aren't even PRETENDING that anything is wrong.....

 

Let's look at a corellary:

 

How would you feel if your brother/sister came to you, said they were about to be foreclosed upon and kicked out on the street with their children, and wanted to borrow $5000 from you "to make it thru the storm".

 

You do a little research and find out they have an Escalade as a daily driver that they're driving around, a new Vette in the garage for sunny weekends, they eat out nightly at $100/plate steak houses, have a vacation planned to Bermuda next week, and just completed a $1000 shopping spree at Macy's (on their charge card).

 

If you were honest, I would think that you would admit that would make you point and scratch a little bit.

 

NOW, if they were doing well, and covering their bills, however it was happening, there is NOTHING WRONG WITH HAVING ALL OF THOSE THINGS AND ENJOYING LIFE.

 

If they ask to borrow money FROM YOU (because the BANK won't give 'em any loans because they are a bad risk), given that all of that was the case, YOU have every right to say: "OK, but FIRST, replace the Escalade with a Aveo, sell the Vette, cancel the vacation, return the Macy's merchandise, and, THEN we'll talk about the $5000 loan --- because, let's be honest here, they are not exactly acting RESPONSIBLY with regards to the situation they are in.

 

If they REFUSE, that is THEIR right.... BUT, then, screw the loan.

 

Noone would care if waggoner had an A380 with a gold lined hot tub in it (nor would anyone have a right to question it) --- if the company was healthy, making money, and generating shareholder value and the board approved it. They mismanaged themselves into an untennable situation, then expect a "no strings" loan to "ride the storm" with OUR MONEY?

 

Jealousy???????????? not hardly.... GET A GRIP.

[MarkPMB]

Well said Frank...that's a big +1 from me!

[Schmids5.3l]

+1

[VMax2007]

Frank,

 

May I ask why you post this type of stuff in the "Fullsize Truck and SUV" section instead of the "General Motors/Automotive Industry News" section?

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/index.php?showforum=87

 

GM trucks has topic specific sections for a reason. It keeps the board organized and prevents one section from being overloaded.

 

Most people (including myself) do use the "View New Posts" feature, so your post wil not go unnoticed.

 

Cheers.

[Reverendbiker]

Years ago, when I was in the business world, I had a corporate jet at my disposal. It was a great perk, and it sure beat the grind of daily travel through airports; rationale on the company's part was that it made us more efficient. But you can bet that when business slowed the jet stayed in the hangar and we were waiting in the boarding line for cabin-class seats. If GM wants to provide jets for its executives that's between them and their shareholders, but when those same executives run the thing off in a ditch and ask the taxpayers to finance the jets, that is a different story.

Had I been one of those CEO's, I would have volunteered to cut my compensation to $0 for the term of the proposed loan (aka Lee Iacocca) and I would have traveled via public transportation to the Congressional meeting, where I would have presented a detailed plan for the use of the funds I was requesting. I've been in corporate boardrooms and I've seen arrogance, but the sheer chutzpah of those guys amazed me. In the late 1980's, billionaire Sam Walton still drove around in a well-used red-and-white 1979 Ford pickup. Maybe we need some of that kind of mindset at the top of the Big 3 automakers--just my $0.02.

[Got V8?]

I have no jealousy here, I just really hate to see 100 year old companies fold at the greed of CEO`s that just dont care. I worked at a company that was approacching its 100th anniversary and now it is an empty parcel.

Remember that old sticker they used to place on GM cars keep your GM car all GM. It would be real nice just to keep GM Alive and in America.

Otherwise we will all be driving a Toyota. Yeeeeeeeecccchhhhhhh!

[Z45]

I guess you are all happy with the government dictating what we can and cannot do.

 

Wake up people. Where does this crap stop where the gov gets to tell how we are supposed to live, travel and so on? They are asking for a stinking loan, not a gift.

 

Whats next, are they going to say for you to get a loan to buy a new truck that you must walk to the bank or credit union and if you drive there you don't need to the money and should not get it.

[jrrod2004]

Frank,

 

May I ask why you post this type of stuff in the "Fullsize Truck and SUV" section instead of the "General Motors/Automotive Industry News" section?

http://www.gm-trucks.com/forums/index.php?showforum=87

 

GM trucks has topic specific sections for a reason. It keeps the board organized and prevents one section from being overloaded.

 

Most people (including myself) do use the "View New Posts" feature, so your post wil not go unnoticed.

 

Cheers.

 

 

 

 

yeah well I have no idea what "View New Posts" feature is all about (nor do i care to find out). I come directly to this thread (it is in my favorites folder). Didnt you already mention this???

 

 

(flame shield up)

[VMax2007]

I still laugh when I see threads like this. It brings out all of the self-proclaimed experts (aka "Internet/armchair CEO's") that pretend to know WTF they are talking about, when in reality, there isn't a single person on this board that knows more than .01% of what goes on in these multi-billion dollar companies.

 

 

Opinions are all great and fine, but when people consider them anything more than opinions based on very little knowledge of the subject, that is just plain ignorance.

 

No offense intended to anyone.

[VMax2007]

yeah well I have no idea what "View New Posts" feature is all about (nor do i care to find out).

 

Try it, you WILL like it.

[jrrod2004]

I still laugh when I see threads like this. It brings out all of the self-proclaimed experts (aka "Internet/armchair CEO's") that pretend to know WTF they are talking about, when in reality, there isn't a single person on this board that knows more than .01% of what goes on in these multi-billion dollar companies.

 

 

Opinions are all great and fine, but when people consider them anything more than opinions based on very little knowledge of the subject, that is just plain ignorance.

 

No offense intended to anyone.

 

 

public perception can make or break a company...