Bill Gates's Gulfstream G650ER N887GV flies 19 nm across Santiago in 2 minutes

Bill Gates's Gulfstream G650ER, tail N887GV, flew from Comodoro Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Santiago, Chile, to El Bosque Airport in Santiago on Sunday, November 15, 2026. The aircraft departed at 15:47 UTC and landed at 15:48 UTC, spending 2 minutes in the air. The great-circle distance was 19 nautical miles, or 22 miles.

The flight covered 19 nautical miles at an average ground speed of 382 knots, with a highest altitude of 10,825 feet. Our estimate puts fuel burned at about 13 US gallons, producing about 128 kilograms of CO2, roughly the same as driving a car 317 miles. The Gulfstream G650ER is an ultra-long-range jet with a range of 7,500 nautical miles and a ceiling of 51,000 feet. It typically seats 12 passengers and can carry up to 19.

This was the first tracked landing at El Bosque Airport in the 30-day window for all of Bill Gates's tracked aircraft. The home base on file is King County International Airport, also known as Boeing Field, in Seattle. Usual destinations include Palm Springs, West Palm Beach, Las Vegas, and Bozeman. In the days before this trip, N887GV flew from Santiago to Santiago on November 10, covering 7 nautical miles in 9 hours and 5 minutes, and from Santiago to Santiago on November 8, covering 2 nautical miles in 10 hours and 44 minutes.

The aircraft, N887GV, is registered to MENTE LLC. The tail number change is part of a broader re-registration of Gates's Gulfstream fleet. MENTE LLC also operates two other aircraft from Hangar 80 at Boeing Field: N608GV, a 2021 Airbus H145 helicopter, and N897GV, a 2022 Cessna 208B Grand Caravan.

Bill Gates is the Microsoft co-founder, philanthropist, investor, and author with a net worth of about $104 to $107 billion. He focuses on global health, development, and climate philanthropy through the Gates Foundation, Gates Ventures, and Breakthrough Energy. He owns properties in Medina, Washington; Del Mar, Indian Wells, and Rancho Santa Fe, California; Wellington, Florida; and Big Sky, Montana. A web search did not turn up a public event tied to Bill Gates or his organizations near El Bosque Airport on this date.

In the 30 days before this flight, all three of Gates's tracked aircraft made 36 flights. The most common destinations were Mountain View, California, with 5 landings; Seattle, with 4 landings; and Santiago, Chile, with 3 landings. The longest leg in that window was 4,659 nautical miles, from Epping, Essex, to San Jose, California, on October 24, 2026. That flight was also in N887GV.

The aircraft had been on the ground for about 5 days before this flight, after its previous tracked landing at Santiago on November 10. The departure field at Santiago has a longest runway of 12,303 feet at an elevation of 1,555 feet. The arrival field at El Bosque Airport has a longest runway of 6,024 feet at an elevation of 1,844 feet.

The distance from the home base at Boeing Field to El Bosque Airport is 5,605 nautical miles. The aircraft's top speed is Mach 0.925, or 516 knots. The estimated fuel burn is 470 US gallons per hour.