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>> And each day of non-operation cost hundreds of thousands of dollars... My close relative worked off shore for decades. Sometimes a down large production pla

>> And each day of non-operation cost hundreds of thousands of dollars... My close relative worked off shore for decades. Sometimes a down large production platform is a MILLION dollars an hour. Flying someone anywhere with a $250,000 part in their hands is nothing. There are entire industries built around "getting things to the rig/platform" faster.

tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
I'm surprised that I haven't heard of small jets (fighters/jet trainers) being used for commercial courier services (although there are instances of military jets transporting organs for transplant, https://apnews.com/article/c1309c58720c78347c1ebbbade56d35d https://apnews.com/article/c1309c58720c78347c1ebbbade56d35d). They can be privately owned and operated, are very fast, and tend to have hundreds of kilos of payload capacity.
- Merad 5y ago
  Unless you have supercruise capability (which only four fighters in the world have) flying supersonic consumes and enormous amount of fuel, so flying any distance at supersonic speeds pretty much requires aerial refueling. IIRC you also need special permission to fly supersonic in US airspace. If you're limited to subsonic speeds then there's really no advantage provided by a fighter. Private jets can fly at similar high subsonic speeds (0.9-0.95 mach or so) and are usually cheaper and more efficient to operate than fighter jets.
  - tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
    > Private jets can fly at similar high subsonic speeds (0.9-0.95 mach or so) and are usually cheaper and more efficient to operate than fighter jets. Thanks, those two items were the part I was missing. (I already assumed supersonic would be out for noise/ground damage reasons)
- lakis 5y ago
  This reminded me of "Police Camera Action - The Liver Run" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTN5X4JZFjU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTN5X4JZFjU 30 Minutes to travel 27 miles across London in the middle of the day ! Stansted Airport, Essex to Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London
  - mattlondon 5y ago
    Interesting. I've seen similar "convoys" of police cars with a motorcycle platoon etc with them many times. I assumed it was some VIP. I never considered it might be a organ transplant! I do wonder if they'd do that today - save one person's life by ploughing through central London at 70mph? There are so many cyclists and pedestrians not paying attention - it would feel safer to just helicopter it over?
    - Ichthypresbyter 5y ago
      They would normally have used the police helicopter back then too, but it was grounded due to a recent crash. London now has an air ambulance service, which it didn't at the time- though the air ambulance also have some impressively fast cars (Skoda Octavia vRS IIRC) for when conditions don't allow the helicopter to fly.
  - jon-wood 5y ago
    David Nott’s book War Doctor includes a tale of him being called in to perform urgent surgery in central London, having just finished a flying lesson in Essex. He apparently called 999, asked for the Police, and after explaining the situation a car was despatched to take him at high speed through traffic. Sadly I don’t have the sort of career that would ever justify that but it sounds like great fun.
alfalfasprout 5y ago
I mean for something like this, a dedicated corporate jet makes sense. Might cost you $10k/flight hour but that's peanuts if every minute counts.
- beefield 5y ago
  My understanding is that unless you actually keep a jet on standby (which has its own costs), it is surprisingly difficult to beat commercial airliners on speed if the clock starts ticking now. You can always board the next flight, but with private jets it takes time to a) find a free jet and b) prepare for the flight. Of course, the more non-standard journey you have, the more edge the private jet gets.
  - Aeolun 5y ago
    There’s also just a lot of commercial jets everywhere. Even if you kept private jets at every airport in the world you’d be out of luck if you needed to deliver two parts from the same location.

tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago

I'm surprised that I haven't heard of small jets (fighters/jet trainers) being used for commercial courier services (although there are instances of military jets transporting organs for transplant, https://apnews.com/article/c1309c58720c78347c1ebbbade56d35d https://apnews.com/article/c1309c58720c78347c1ebbbade56d35d). They can be privately owned and operated, are very fast, and tend to have hundreds of kilos of payload capacity.

Merad 5y ago
Unless you have supercruise capability (which only four fighters in the world have) flying supersonic consumes and enormous amount of fuel, so flying any distance at supersonic speeds pretty much requires aerial refueling. IIRC you also need special permission to fly supersonic in US airspace. If you're limited to subsonic speeds then there's really no advantage provided by a fighter. Private jets can fly at similar high subsonic speeds (0.9-0.95 mach or so) and are usually cheaper and more efficient to operate than fighter jets.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
  > Private jets can fly at similar high subsonic speeds (0.9-0.95 mach or so) and are usually cheaper and more efficient to operate than fighter jets. Thanks, those two items were the part I was missing. (I already assumed supersonic would be out for noise/ground damage reasons)
lakis 5y ago
This reminded me of "Police Camera Action - The Liver Run" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTN5X4JZFjU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTN5X4JZFjU 30 Minutes to travel 27 miles across London in the middle of the day ! Stansted Airport, Essex to Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London
- mattlondon 5y ago
  Interesting. I've seen similar "convoys" of police cars with a motorcycle platoon etc with them many times. I assumed it was some VIP. I never considered it might be a organ transplant! I do wonder if they'd do that today - save one person's life by ploughing through central London at 70mph? There are so many cyclists and pedestrians not paying attention - it would feel safer to just helicopter it over?
  - Ichthypresbyter 5y ago
    They would normally have used the police helicopter back then too, but it was grounded due to a recent crash. London now has an air ambulance service, which it didn't at the time- though the air ambulance also have some impressively fast cars (Skoda Octavia vRS IIRC) for when conditions don't allow the helicopter to fly.
- jon-wood 5y ago
  David Nott’s book War Doctor includes a tale of him being called in to perform urgent surgery in central London, having just finished a flying lesson in Essex. He apparently called 999, asked for the Police, and after explaining the situation a car was despatched to take him at high speed through traffic. Sadly I don’t have the sort of career that would ever justify that but it sounds like great fun.

alfalfasprout 5y ago

I mean for something like this, a dedicated corporate jet makes sense. Might cost you $10k/flight hour but that's peanuts if every minute counts.

beefield 5y ago
My understanding is that unless you actually keep a jet on standby (which has its own costs), it is surprisingly difficult to beat commercial airliners on speed if the clock starts ticking now. You can always board the next flight, but with private jets it takes time to a) find a free jet and b) prepare for the flight. Of course, the more non-standard journey you have, the more edge the private jet gets.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  There’s also just a lot of commercial jets everywhere. Even if you kept private jets at every airport in the world you’d be out of luck if you needed to deliver two parts from the same location.