The Swiss government enthusiastically ordered a plush $117 million private jet for its officials, only to realize upon delivery that not only is the runway in their capital city too short for the jet to take off, but the aircraft is also so large that it doesn’t fit in any of their hangars - Luxurylaunches
luxurylaunches.com
  • Distractor@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    9 hours ago

    Stealing this comment from u/Turicus on reddit (r/Switzerland):

    I think they knew what they bought. This article is exaggerating.

    The hangars at Belp are being upgraded to accommodate the new jet. Until then it flies from Payerne, ZRH or GVA. The first two are reachable in an hour from Bern.

    The article is saying that the runway is too short. But that’s true only at full load. At MTOW (maximum take-off weight, meaning with 100% fuel and passengers), the plane is rated for a runway of 1760m at sea level. The runway at Belp is 1730m.

    So they can’t fully use the max range of 14-15’000km. The old jet had a range ~8’000km. Even if they take off with a 90% fuel load because of the runway, the new jet will go much farther than the old one. For most destinations, it will avoid a stopover, saving time and money.

    By the way, the Bundesrat often flies commercial for cost reasons. Anyway, there’s one jet, so they can’t all use it at once.

  • snuggledick@lemm.eeEnglish
    10·
    22 hours ago

    Reminds me of the time when Switzerland (or was it Austria?) had a huge problem with their air force because the cowbells of all the cow herds running around in the alps were fucking with their radar systems.