Anybody know anything about private jets, or concierge doctors?

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SpAzpieSweeTot

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It's for the believability factor in a story I'm writing. One of the characters is über rich. I'm disabled, and if I were stupid rich, I'd like a concierge medical team, a truly accessible home, and mobile hotel room, (Would a class A motor home work?) and an entire production run of as yet non-existent disposable AB/Little pull-ups. What kinda money we talkin'?

Also, I know no security checks, or other stupid bulls-hit are necessary for private flights, but what about widening the door, and getting a passenger boarding bridge, a.k.a. Docking tunnel? They let wheelchair users bypass the stairs, so, yeah, kinda important. Do you have to clear the flight with anybody? Where can you take off from? What planes are all weather? I don't need an ass of room, but there's 2 wheelchair-using service dog handlers in this story. A place to let someone make meals on the plane makes sense. A bed does not. Sleeping in the sky, in a moving vehicle, without being strapped in. No. Thank you. A shower on a plane? Totally unnecessary. A comfortablely-sized toilet and sink? Necessary, but only for, "normies," flying with them. So, which plane?
 
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You're not going to widen the door to the plane. Airframes are certified as-is and that sort of modification would require FAA recertification - not realistic. Also, those planes don't park at jetways; you'd be using air stairs, probably at an FBO away from main terminals ( at an airport that has regularly scheduled airline service; smaller GA airports don't even have "main terminals" or jetways.

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If you're flying VFR, you don't have to clear the flight with anybody, but most jets will be flying IFR and will have a flight plan filed and will have to have air traffic control clearance, generally before departure, but often especially at smaller fields you can depart and then pick up your clearance in the air.

Most modern planes being manufactured today can be equipped for flight into known icing, but there'll always be some weather you're not gonna fly through – thunderstorms, squall lines, mountain waves with standing lenticular clouds ... and depending on the airport, and the aircraft, weather conditions can be to poor ( Low clouds, visibility, fog ) to land, even with instrument landing systems or RNAV.

As to where you can take off from, anywhere with a runway long enough. Most jet operators will require a balanced field. How long is long enough will depend on the aircraft generally (a Phenom 100 can operate at a much shorter field than a G650), weight, temperature, winds... but generally assume at sea level a 3500 foot runway can accommodate very light jets, and almost anything else can operate on a 7000 foot runway. Many bizjets can use a 5000 foot runway, which is a pretty common length for mid-sized GA airports.
 
Hmmm. . . Well, flight stairs would be an asspain. What if Richy McRichton (No, not the character's name, but you get the point.) Knew his pilot and copilot could land the plane on a fly's ass if they needed too? In that case, could he build a ramp thingy?

Are there any private jets with doors wide enough already? Just wondering. I know Southwest's is wide enough, but duh. It's a commercial airliner.:lol: I'm so silly.

See, the thing about being disabled is, you end up with the attitude, "F**k it! There's gotta be a better way! I need to be safe at home. Screw code! What is truly safe for me? It's also my home. What do I like?
I need a doctor. Let's not talk insurance. Real talk, real cost. Talk to me. If I pay a bit more, you can come to me, right? That's what I thought. There's a good little doc. Now, go away! Shew! I need to stay away from home. A hotel? Nope. They wouldn't know access if it bit 'em! If all I need is a place to eat, (not cook) sleep, watch TV, and bathe in luxury, I'll buy a ritzy trailer, with a less ritzy sink and toilet, and it'll come with me! I need to fly. Is it worth it to me to fly with only people I like, not have TSA pat downs, and some snarky agent telling me I have to take off my Service Dog's gear, because there's a bit of metal in it, when I know the law says I don't have to, because it's my Service Dog's gear, without which, he can't be of service? Hell yes! Don't get me started on the shoes! I can take mine off, some people can't, so, legally, those of us who find it too difficult, don't have to. Do they care? No!"
 
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I don't know too much about aviation, but... If you're Richy McUnbelievably-Richface then... I suppose you could have a rural residence (a farm?) with your own landing strip. And you could have an air bridge connected to your house.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_bridge

I'm not sure about the other end of your journeys, though. I'm pretty sure small private jets wouldn't be allowed to land at large international airports with air bridges connected to the terminal. And small airports wouldn't have air bridges... and they probably wouldn't fit a small private jet unless they'd been specially commissioned.

So, to be vaguely realistic, I guess you'd need to land at Alf Affluent's house which also has an airbridge connected to his house... and you both "just happen" to have a similar model of aeroplane. :-/

I'm not very good at creative writing, but... honestly... I'd take the easy route and leave the details out! But then... all the books that I've become completely absorbed in have had a lot of interesting and accurate detail, so I've got to salute your attempts at writing a kind-of fantasy that's totally believable.

Good luck with the story!
 
Well, in the story, there's 2 wheelchair using, Service dog handling. Little bABies, Emmy and Colt, and a normie Big, Jasper, "Jack," Moritz. He's Richy McRichface, but he's not super ostentatious about it. They both live with him. Hey, just a thought. If he had the right jet, is there anything stopping him from keeping the plane on the ground while they sleep? Emmy's based on me, and like I said, sleeping-- in a winged metal sausage, in the bloody sky, with no seatbelt? Uh, no. Thank you, but keep the damn thing still, and hell yeah! Permanently reserved hotel room, with no access issues! There're a few PJs with doors wide enough. Emmy doesn't need a passenger boarding bridge, just a redneck engineered ramp doohickey. I suppose if the door width was right, Jack could get them up the stairs the way we usually do it. I found you a video. [video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m1qrEZT2l6Y[/video] Good news is, should only be 3 steps.
 
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If you're really Richy-Mc-Richface then you could have em buy a normal jet and have the inside done custom up. I remember reading that like the Facebook guy had bought one and had a bedroom with a kingsize bed put inside it. I think there was even an Saudi Prince who had put in a hot tub in one!
 
Jack's rich, but reasonable. There's a reason for the jet. Ever fly Autistic? How about Cerebrally Palsied? I was 3 last and only time I flew, but I am cerebrally palsied, and in all likelihood, on the spectrum. I'd imagine it's a pain in the. . . Ehem. Ever get to a hotel and discover the rail was behind the potty? How about that the bathtub transfer bench has no back? That the shower sprayer is hung too high? That the bed isn't the right height? I have. Thus, PJ/personal hotel room, assuming it can stay on the ground while we sleep, for safety sake. Only a story, but I can dream.

Would [video]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wTaw0KdPFWo[/video] work? Would it?! Would it?! Would it, huh?!
 
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Whether that lift would work will depend on the aircraft, but short answer is unless you think they're cruising around in something like a 707, should be. Based on what you're saying, I'd think something like a Cessna Citation or Gulfstream G280 sounds about right for the plane. The next catch is moving the trailer around - most of the aircraft already mentioned don't really have the lift capacity for anything large: G280, for instance, can barely handle 2 tons of payload. You can get more cargo capacity, but then it's a larger, more expensive airframe: there's no doubt a 787 could handle the trailer and the passengers with ease. A 787-8 (the smallest model) ran about $120m in 2007 straight from Boeing, G280 runs about $24m.

As far as operating costs: G280 burns about 1900 lbs/hr in flight (weight being more important here than volume). That works out to around 260 gallons/hr, a gallon of jet fuel was about $1.40 a few months ago, so around $365 to fly for an hour. The other thing to keep an eye on, for verisimilitude, is operational range. Again, the G280 specs around 3600 nautical miles (which are a touch longer than statute miles) - so, across the US, but probably not across the oceans.
 
Where are you buying JetA for $1.40?! At KBUR (a reasonable place for a private jet to visit), it's $4.85/gal. About the same in the heartland (e.g., KSUS). (Also, JetA is about 7 lbs/gallon, so, about 270 gallons.) But that's not the real cost of operating a bizjet. The engines, for instance, in a Hawker 700A run about $350K each, and are good for 1600 hours IIRC. Two of them. So tack on about $437.50/hr towards engine replacement (probably more than that). Actual operating cost (not including pilot, etc.) for a bizjet is probably in the neighborhood of at least $2,500/hr.

As for living in the jet on the ground - maybe (depending on airport regulations - probably need to have someone vetted around, since you're probably parked inside a secure perimeter), but, not comfortably. You wouldn't be able to use ship's power overnight (batteries wouldn't last, and obviously you're not running idled jet engines), and a lot of places have operating hours limits for APUs. Very, very few places will let you hook up to mains (if they're even equipped for that, most places aren't).

No, regular private jets can't just pull up to a jet bridge at an airport terminal. Those slots are assigned by local authorities and are configured for specific aircraft types. You're using air stairs, 99.95% of the time. (Though to answer your other question, if you have your own airport or specific facilities at an airport - e.g., you run your own FBO, or you've built a house at an airpark - I'm not aware of any reason why you couldn't have your own jet bridge at home. Though note that even Travolta, with his own 707, uses stairs to board it.)

Though that brings up another issue - most bizjets have stairs built into the door, and open vertically rather than horizontally as on a passenger jet. I don't know of any jet bridge configuration that would be compatible with that - and again, that's structural and part of the airworthiness certificate, it's not easily changed. (Sometimes jets are modified, near end-of-life, to become cargo jets with big holes cut in them for loading / unloading, but it's not exactly cheap, and highly regulated.

As someone stated above, taking a trailer with you by jet is not realistic; a plane large enough to accommodate that (and be able to get it in/out; think military C-130 or modified cargo 747) would be severely constrained as to the airports it could operate out of and prohibitively expensive to operate.

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Also, that wheelchair lift could work, if the aircraft has a luggage door (PC12s are somewhat unique in that respect - actually, in many respects, they're very versatile airplanes) and the plane is low enough to the ground for it to work. Bigger bizjets, as a rule, don't have the right door, and aren't that low. Case in point, here's my old Archer parked under a G-IV: http://imgur.com/a/DGg7h (I'm 6'2" and the Cherokee is a little taller than I am, to give an idea as to scale.)
 
It'd seem we need a couple of work-arounds.

If you were the characters in my story, what'd you do? They've had it with:
  • Commercial flights
  • Access issues with hotels
Richy McRichton has family in Britain, so he needs a continent hopper.

Let's leave the plane door alone. So the stairs are there, and they're gonna stay there. Okay, is there another way, without changing anything? A simple stair ramp many people already use when out and about, maybe? I did see something Dassault did that was interesting. It was a Special Mission Falcon 2000 Medevac plane. It had a lift system for a gurney, that didn't interfere with the door. The door also looked enticingly wide. I dunno; doesn't transporting non-walkies and Service Doggies seem special missiony to anybody?

** Hint, hint. Winks **

Me? Honestly, I'm in absolute love with the Falcon 900LX. She's a bit big, but she's got 3 engines! I love the fact that if you lose an engine, you've 2 more to get home safely on, and I'm not even a military brat!

Gulfstream's Planeview 2 system is pretty badass! The EASy II system just looks okay by comparison, but, oh well. Gulfstream, Falcon, learn to share!
WildBlueCrinkle said:
As someone stated above, taking a trailer with you by jet is not realistic; a plane large enough to accommodate that (and be able to get it in/out; think military C-130 or modified cargo 747) would be severely constrained as to the airports it could operate out of and prohibitively expensive to operate.
I know. That's why I wanted to skip having 2 solutions, and sleep on the plane. It's okay. You didn't burst my bubble. I knew it was a long shot. What to do now? Since sleeping on the plane is out, which, I kinda figured, how'd you insure a mobile, damn near weatherproof, perfectly accessible place to stay? I grew up in tornado alley. Now, I'm in Texas, where there're tornados, and hurricanes, yippee! That's why I say damn near weatherproof. Just so y'all know, I think The Father must hate trailers. For the ADISCers living in trailers, not saying He hates you, just that I think He hates your house.

Hey, if we can figure this out, I think we just answered the question, "How'd Jack get so rich?"
Now, also, something else I've wondered. Why'd anyone buy and mod a commercial jet? They can't fly as high, or as fast, so, one could get stuck in commercial air traffic, and wouldn't be able to fly above bad weather as well. I'll give it to that prince with the Airbus A380. Pretty badass, dude, pretty badass!

 
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I dunno about planes, but I think hotels if you pay enough and have help are going to be way more comfortable than anything mobile...
 
WildBlueCrinkle said:
Sometimes jets are modified, near end-of-life, to become cargo jets with big holes cut in them for loading / unloading, but it's not exactly cheap, and highly regulated.
Wow, is it hot in here? It's so beautiful! I haven't been this excited since I met Justin Timberlake at a concert in high school! I wants it! My precious! It's as wide as the ADA says the door on a house has to be to comply! My bathroom door at home is only 30" and it has the scratches to prove it!
AdorableRabbit said:
I dunno about planes, but I think hotels if you pay enough and have help are going to be way more comfortable than anything mobile...
See, all those access issues I mentioned, were in accessible rooms. What if one day I don't want help? I've always had help. I wanna be done! I deserve to be done! Mom deserves it more than I do! She deserves to put her feet up, and know she did good, and can be done, because I'll be okay.

It's not you, sweetie. It's just, I'm sad. It's so frustrating. Seriously, once, the rail was behind the potty! Stupid people! Ugh!

 
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Luxury motor home for accommodations. They are built to the owners specs and can easily be modified to suit. Have it driven in advance of air travel and all set up when you arrive. Another option for coastal areas is a private yacht. Again, made to order how you want it.
 
It occurs to me that if the character is as rich as you imply, it's not outside the realm of plausibility for him to have several penthouses and the like scattered around the globe: and if he owns them, he can have them modified to suit his tastes/desires.
 
SpAzpieSweeTot said:
she's got 3 engines! I love the fact that if you lose an engine, you've 2 more to get home safely on

Not home. You divert to the nearest appropriate airport when that happens. Private flights aren't subject to ETOPS requirements but still. If I'm up in any multi-engine plane and I lose an engine, I'm on the ground ASAP.


Gulfstream, Falcon, learn to share!

Capitalism. Competitive advantage.

how'd you insure a mobile, damn near weatherproof, perfectly accessible place to stay?

You don't. There's nothing you can roll on ~90% of the roads out there (and certainly nothing you can airlift, absent something like a C-5 Galaxy or -- good luck getting one -- an An-225) that meets those criteria. Mobile living spaces don't survive direct encounters with tornados or hurricanes.


Why'd anyone buy and mod a commercial jet? They can't fly as high, or as fast

As high or as fast as what, exactly? Most airliners fly in the same flight levels as bizjets (e.g., 787, service ceiling FL430, Phenom 100, FL410, Falcon 2000 FL470, etc). Speed is generally pretty comparable, until you get into the bigger jets, but then you've got mad carrying capacity. And there's a lot more room inside to do what you want (like, stand upright, or have a whole living suite). That's why Trump flew around in a B757 mostly. When you want to go to smaller fields (say, Sedona in Arizona), the bigger jets can't operate there, but for continent-hopping, a nicely appointed 7x7 or Airbus could be just the thing. The smaller bizjets are pretty cramped inside, especially the cockpit!

Also, generally, you're not "stuck" in commercial traffic at the flight levels; congestion becomes much more of a problem when flying an arrival or approach, below 10,000'. And 9 times out of 10 you're not going to try to fly over thunderstorms (I've seen CB clouds that extend into the stratosphere). You fly around them, or you stay on the ground.
 
Again, I think the lodging thing is best handled with permanent structures - from what I'm hearing, it would be appropriate Jack to own a chain of specialty hotels: which means that where ever he has a branch, he's also got lodgings. Along those lines, a small, specialized air passenger service would fit well into that, plus local ground transport and now it's sounding more like a niche travel agency. Something like, "Yes, we can book your vacation. Nope, don't worry about the flight - we'll be using our in-house carrier, it's equipped and staffed for just those concerns. We've even got a hotel about 45 minutes from there: we'll have our van pick you up at
the airport . . . yes, it has a lift for the chair. The rooms? Extra wide traffic paths, oversize tubs, all the doors are at least 40 inches wide. Sure, we can work out a payment plan - wouldn't want you miss your family reunion now, would we?"

As for build times on a custom fleet like that - I don't know, really, my real specialization (as it were) is operational and military. Best guess, though, is probably on the order of several months to a year. That's per aircraft, but there's no reason they can't be built in parallel: that is, they're building 4, but they're building them all at the same time so it doesn't take any longer than building one. But it would require lead time to increase the size of the fleet.
 
Ooh-rah, or ooh-yah, depending on the branch. Thought you might find this interesting. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XEntMxd3UkQ 1 way the über rich stay that way is by living like they're broke, until it's time to break out the cash, so, I think staying somewhere that's making him money, makes more sense than a billion houses, too. I don't want what Jack does to be too discounted, otherwise, giving people the opportunity not to deal with bulls-hit just comes off as special treatment.

News stories of Auties getting kicked off commercial flights for meltdowns and shutdowns, wheelchair users who own chickens being treated like they're trying to blow up a plane because of chicken poop being on they're wheels, (I think the girl was 10) people with sensory processing disorder being patted down, my sister not being able to fly because of special seating needs, another similar story that made the news, nonverbal Auties with seizure disorders being robbed of their voices and ability to tell somebody of an imminent seizure, because said voices are computer generated, a little one having her Hanukkah vacation ruined by the TSA, I believe having her wheelchair taken for testing, and the inability of stupid folks to tell the difference between an ESA and a PSD, causing grief for our veterans, and others, is what inspired some elements of my story.

What should what Jack offers cost, and how best to help the people not pass out from shock before they understand where the costs are coming from? What to call everything?
 
John Travolta has his own private airstrip behind his mansion, I belive he flies a 737 that is marked as quantas ( Australian airlines) ,most jumbo have a rear cargo door , no need to widen it because if they can get a coffin in out on an a conveyor belt it should be plenty wide for anything you need , look around the net for pictures or video from when President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas his secret service detail made an impromptu honor guard and carried his coffin into the rear of Airforce One , I believe when the plane landed at Andrews they used a conveyor belt to offload the coffin to ground level to put him and Jackie as well as Robert into the ambulance ( back then the hearse was an ambulance with either a red rotator ( gumball machine) or a pillar mount red spotlight , they did double duty) to take them to Walter Reid hospital were his official autopsy was done, the Dallas medical examiner tried to claim the body for autopsy there but the Secret Service was having none of that, and got the best coffin they could find on short notice and took the body at just about gunpoint from the hospital , the Dallas Police and Texas highway patrol tried to intervene but let's face it the Secret Service had them out gunned and was seriously pissed .he who has automatic weapons wins against a bunch of guys with .38 calibre wheel guns everytime.

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SpAzpieSweeTot said:
Wow, is it hot in here? It's so beautiful! I haven't been this excited since I met Justin Timberlake at a concert in high school! I wants it! My precious! It's as wide as the ADA says the door on a house has to be to comply! My bathroom door at home is only 30" and it has the scratches to prove it!See, all those access issues I mentioned, were in accessible rooms. What if one day I don't want help? I've always had help. I wanna be done! I deserve to be done! Mom deserves it more than I do! She deserves to put her feet up, and know she did good, and can be done, because I'll be okay.

It's not you, sweetie. It's just, I'm sad. It's so frustrating. Seriously, once, the rail was behind the potty! Stupid people! Ugh!

My house is was remodeled to be ADA compliant before I bought it,what they missed was the bedroom door ,it's not compliant it's too narrow and closes the wrong way , if I was to close it and fall out of my chair ,blocking the door they will have to cut the wall to get in , my door is also scratched and gouged because of it , my landlord made a comment about ruining the door , so I tried going in my bedroom "his way"( he has no idea how to drive a wheelchair) so I did it "his way" with him standing there , the end result was I ripped the molding and jam out , I think he learned not to tell people how how to drive there chair .

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Tetra said:
John Travolta has his own private airstrip behind his mansion, I belive he flies a 737 that is marked as quantas ( Australian airlines) ,most jumbo have a rear cargo door , no need to widen it

(1) Travolta lives in an airpark with a community runway.

(2) 707, not 737, and he can't fly it solo (he only has a second-in-command rating for that aircraft).

(3) Qantas.

(4) Unless you significantly reconfigure the aircraft, the cargo door leads to the cargo area, not the more hospitable passenger cabin.

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Tetra said:
My house is was remodeled to be ADA compliant before I bought it,what they missed was the bedroom door ,it's not compliant it's too narrow and closes the wrong way , if I was to close it and fall out of my chair ,blocking the door they will have to cut the wall to get in , my door is also scratched and gouged because of it , my landlord made a comment about ruining the door , so I tried going in my bedroom "his way"( he has no idea how to drive a wheelchair) so I did it "his way" with him standing there , the end result was I ripped the molding and jam out , I think he learned not to tell people how how to drive there chair .

Wait, if you bought it, how / why do you have a landlord?
 
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