Jets and Cars at Flight Options

Thursday night we stopped by the corporate headquarters of Flight Options in Richmond Heights, OH, to ogle the business jets and a car or two. As we walked into what appeared to be just another large airplane hanger on the outside, we were treated to a tour of the flight command center for the entire fleet (100+ aircraft).  Patterned after command & control at NASA, from this dramatic room Flight Operations employees manning the flight desks are hooked into location, route, and schedule for each of their aircraft, plus weather and any other issues which would impact their “number one in safety, service and value” mantra.

Who knew the entire operation for the nation’s 2nd largest fractional jet company was hiding away a few miles from where we live?  Cool.Based on a modified Embraer, the Phenom 300 is the “value engineered” offering for fractional owership – light, fast, and efficient. A bit removed from the Piper Cub and Taylorcraft I used to bob around in.  Once in a while it is the small things I find interesting and I’m pretending to be a photographer with an iPhone. A special Aston Martin DBS convertible garnered a bit of interest. A cool blue Spyker. Now that they are fully amalgamated with Saab we are still questioning will they or won’t they?  Applause to Fisker for addressing the underwhelming interior styling I mentioned in my Fisker Karma test drive post last fall.  I loved the car when we first saw it at Pebble, but was not all warm and cozy after the test drive, then it was the introduction that sort of kind of wasn’t.  Another car in the will they or won’t they category – but as a taxpayer we’ve got a significant stake in Solyndra Fisker.

I guess I’m just jaded or in the Pebble Beach frame of mind.  Do you mind if I take next Saturday off?  I’ll be at car week. Making time to fix pictures and post just is not on my schedule.  I’ve got test drives, auctions, Mototworks Revival 2012, The Quail, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, and the Concours d’Elegance at Pebble Beach.  I will be tweeting live from many of the events so give me a follow @TheDecorGirl.  Happy motoring!