Bob Basham's Falcon 900EX flies from Miami to Tampa in 36 minutes

Bob Basham's Dassault Falcon 900EX, tail number N828ML, flew from Miami Executive Airport (KTMB) to Tampa International Airport (KTPA) on Friday, November 13, 2026. The flight departed at 18:07 UTC and landed at 18:43 UTC, spending 36 minutes in the air. The aircraft is registered to Walkabout Air Inc, the Tampa aircraft management company Basham founded in 1995.

The great circle distance between the two airports is 179 nautical miles, or 206 miles. The aircraft averaged a ground speed of 294 knots and reached a top speed of 462 knots at a highest altitude of 22,050 feet. Celebplanes estimates the flight burned about 195 US gallons of fuel and produced about 1,869 kilograms of CO2, roughly the same as driving a car 4,627 miles. The Falcon 900EX is a long range trijet with a maximum range of 4,500 nautical miles, a service ceiling of 51,000 feet, and seating for up to 16 passengers.

This was the 10th tracked landing at Tampa in the window from August 13 to November 12, 2026. The previous landing at Tampa was on November 8, five days before this flight. Tampa is the home base on file for N828ML, and the most common destinations in that window were Tampa, with nine landings, Timberlake (KTDF) with six, and Tallahassee (KTLH) with two. The aircraft had been on the ground for about 29 hours before this flight, following a previous tracked landing at Coral Gable on November 12. In the 30 days before this flight, the aircraft flew 10 flights totaling 12.2 hours in the air, covering about 4,221 nautical miles. The longest leg in that period was Timberlake to Tampa on October 26, a distance of 547 nautical miles.

Bob Basham is a Tampa based restaurateur who co founded Outback Steakhouse in 1988 and later co founded the fast casual chain PDQ, which stands for People Dedicated to Quality. The first PDQ restaurant opened in late 2011 on South Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa, roughly a mile from the original Outback. Basham's private investment firm, MVP Holdings, is also based in Tampa. The arrival at Tampa International Airport places the aircraft at the city where Basham built his restaurant career and where his business interests remain centered. Web searches did not find a specific public event or meeting tied to Bob Basham in Tampa on the date of this flight.

The name is a nod to Outback Steakhouse's Australian theming. Because Walkabout operates as a working charter business, not every flight the aircraft makes is necessarily a personal trip for Basham; some legs may be third-party charter.

The aircraft is a 1997 model with serial number 025. Its top speed is Mach 0.87, or 482 knots. Celebplanes estimates the Falcon 900EX burns about 320 US gallons of fuel per hour. Miami Executive Airport's longest runway is 6,000 feet, and its elevation is 8 feet. Tampa International Airport's longest runway is 11,002 feet at 26 feet elevation. The Falcon 900EX used about 4 percent of its maximum range on this flight.

Basham moved to Tampa in the late 1970s for a job with Steak 'n Shake. In October 1983 he formed Sunstate Restaurant Corporation with Chris Sullivan and Gene Knippers to develop Chili's as a franchisee. That business merged into Chili's Inc. in January 1987. A year later, on March 15, 1988, he opened the first Outback Steakhouse in Tampa with Sullivan, Tim Gannon and Trudy Cooper. He served as president and chief operating officer. The company that Outback became, Bloomin' Brands, passed $4 billion in annual sales.