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Does anyone have the 'N'-number of the Boeing 767-200 that Sergey Brin and Larry Page (co-founders of Google) bought from Qantas last year for their own personal use?

The plane has two staterooms with adjoining lavatories, a shower, and seating for 50 (the most that the FAA would allow). In terms of lavishness, it's evidently at the top of the corporate ladder, even better than what Gates, Allen, and Buffett own.

The Wall Street Journal originally reported on this on the front page of the November 4, 2005 issue. Many references can be found on the internet by googling [brin 767].

The plane is apparently registered in the name of a Delaware corporation. This raises a secondary question. If one knows that name of an individual or a corporation that owns a plane, how can you search to find the 'N' registration numbers of any planes owned by that person/company?

http://registry.faa.gov/aircraftinquiry/

I did a bit of research, and I believe it might be this one or this one.

Thank you, Mark! Using that site, I found that the Dallas Police Department has had 5 'N'-numbers reserved for almost 14 years. No aircraft, just numbers. Also, the Dallas Independent School District has 9 aircraft registered in its name. I'd never have thought of it.

First plane: Unless the airfleets.net site is way out of date, that plane is supposedly in storage at Mojave, CA.

Second plane: Registered as N774WD. Google search indicates owner is WDL Aviation, a German airline, but FAA registry shows owner is West Dover LLC, New York.

A January, 2005 news article in the Washington Post suggests the plane could be delivered to a start-up airline.

"SkyLink reported it has raised more than $15 million from investors and hired the Lehman Brothers financial firm to raise up to $160 million more. It plans to buy its first three 767s from West Dover LLC, a company owned by Lehman Brothers. West Dover will finance the $26.9 million purchase. SkyLink plans to have a fleet of eight wide-body jets by the end of the year.

"The company also must pick a new carrier name: It will give up "SkyLink" to avoid a trademark dispute with a Canadian travel firm known as SkyLink Aviation Inc."

FlightAware has no record of N774WD with any IFR flight plan. But, as we know, if the plane flies for an airline, the N-number is not used.

I need to do more research, but thanks for the initial leads.

Airfleets is not always know to quickly update their database, so it is possible the plane has been sold and moved out of Mojave without airfleets updating yet. Just throwing the idea out there.

Well, it turns out the plane is neither of the two I posted before. It is in fact the former VH-EAQ, currently N2767, CN23896. This N number has also been conveniently blocked by FA.

Sorry, it's in the NBAA BARR program.

What does NBAA BARR stand for?

NBAA is the National Business Aviation Association.
BARR is their Blocked Aircraft Registration Request program.

So they chose to block it? That's what I assumed was going on.

That's correct.

Trying to get activity for N2767 on FA gets a 'blocked aircraft' message. It does indicate the owner to be Blue City Holdings, Oklahoma City. That seems rather strange, so I googled "Blue City Holdings". A link comes up to a forum at Airliners.net, where it is noted that the plane is "now with Blue City [in Palo Alto] which is barely a 5 minute drive from the Google campus".

The pieces of the puzzle start to fit together now.

VH_EAQ went from Qantas early in 2005 to WDL as N772WD and listed with Blue City Holdings (BCH) on 7-29-05 and re-registered N2767.

Plane is currently parked at KVQQ, next to a fading FedEx 727.

Aircraft at VQQ was inspected by agents for GOOGLE. Owners asking $17 million, GOOGLE offered $15 million. They agreed to disagree. Ramp employees says that interior is already configured for approx. 30 pax.

[ The Google Jet ][ Article from WSJ 4-11-05 ][ FAA registry ]
Serial number 23896, line number 183, first flew as N6009F on 11-08-87, leased to Qantas as VH-EAQ delivered 27-08-87 and stored on 16-10-04, reregisterd N772WD for WDL on 3-1-05, sold to BCH 3-3-05 and operated for Google.

From WSJ article;
Federal Aviation Administration records show that the Qantas 767 was bought in March by a limited-liability company registered in Delaware. The contact number for that company listed in FAA records is an extension at Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. On a recent day, calls to that number were answered by a voicemail system announcing that "Eric Schmidt is not available. To leave a message, wait for the tone." Mr. Schmidt, Google's chief executive, didn't return a message left on the machine. He and Mr. Brin, through a spokesman, declined to comment for this article.

OK... This one sent me on a mission... I actually saw and photographed this plane at SFO in April while dropping my Mom off at the airport. All I could remember was that it was flying under a TAG callsign, so I've been looking back at records until the number hit me. Anyway, from what I can see, this plane has been flying as TAG43 and the last flight was into MCC a little over a month ago. That doesn't seem right, so I may have to drive over to McClellan and see if it's around or if it escaped under a different callsign.

[ Flightaware ] TAG43 SFO-MCC; Now that is an arrival!!

this aircraft passed through Johannesburg , South Africa on 20 July this year.

I believe the callsign has changed to TAG17

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/TAG17

[ News story ]The Google Billionaires get extreme VIP parking for their Boeing 767.

Must be a very nice gig flying those guys around. I would imagine their pilots are very well compensated.
HC