Obama Inauguration Sets Record for Private Jets

[red states rule]

So much for the left lecturing the rest of us to conserve energy, watch our "carbon footprint" and telling us to sacrifice.


Obama Inauguration Sets Record for Private Jets

For the wealthy, Tuesday’s inauguration is the dream party: a chance to rub elbows with the similarly rich and powerful, to become part of a historic moment, and (most importantly), to get access to the man of the moment.

It also is a chance to drown their financial sorrows in an emotional wave of optimism.

Yet it may come as a surprise that at a time of financial crisis and Green correctness, many of the wealthy are choosing to arrive by private jet.

According to an article in Bloomberg, as many as 600 private jets were expected to touch down in D.C. for the inauguration. The runway at Washington Dulles was closed Saturday to allow as many as 100 small planes to park. And the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said it expected a total of 500 small jets to land from Jan. 16 through Jan 21.

“That would set a record, topping the 300 the airport accommodated for President George W. Bush’s 2004 inaugural,” an Airports Authority says in the article.

Of course, flying private to a celebration of a populist, pro-environment President is a bit like the Detroit execs jetting to Washington for bailout money. How do you call for social responsibility after touching down in a $40 million, gas-guzzling Gulfstream? (Maybe travelers will buy carbon credits).

http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2009/01/...-private-jets/

[red states rule]

Can you say "Carbon Offset"?

I wonder if Al Gore was selling them to these liberal hypocrites?

[DannyR]

Well, as a future pilot, I think the expanded use of private jets is great news. Some of the misguided environmental wacko's might complain, but not everyone on the left holds such an extreme viewpoint.

[red states rule]

Well, as a future pilot, I think the expanded use of private jets is great news. Some of the misguided environmental wacko's might complain, but not everyone on the left holds such an extreme viewpoint.

"Do as we say, not as we do."