Gulfstream V N889KH flies 9 nm from Miami Seaplane Base to Opa Locka in 9 minutes

Dr. Charles Huang's Gulfstream V, tail number N889KH, flew from Miami Seaplane Base to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport on Thursday, October 29, 2026. The flight departed at 21:40 UTC and landed at 21:49 UTC, spending 9 minutes in the air. The great-circle distance between the two airports is 9 nautical miles, or 11 miles.

The aircraft covered that distance at an average ground speed of 233 knots, reaching a highest altitude of 3,000 feet. The flight burned an estimated 64 US gallons of fuel, producing about 619 kilograms of CO2, roughly the same as driving a car 1,531 miles. N889KH is a 1998 Gulfstream V, the original ultra-long-range Gulfstream, with a range of 6,675 nautical miles, a top speed of Mach 0.885, a ceiling of 51,000 feet, and seating for up to 16 passengers.

In the 30 days before this flight, N889KH visited 24 airports in 6 countries and flew about 23,857 nautical miles. The longest leg in that period was from Mar del Plata to Miami on October 29, covering 4,049 nautical miles. Over those 30 days, the aircraft made 28 flights, spent 63.7 hours in the air, and produced an estimated 257,019 kilograms of CO2. This was the third tracked landing at Miami-Opa Locka in the window of 39 flights between September 20 and October 29, 2026. The previous landing at Miami-Opa Locka was on October 26, 4 days before this flight. The aircraft is based at Van Nuys Airport in California, and its most common destinations in that window were Teterboro, Van Nuys, and Ottawa. Before this flight, the aircraft had been on the ground for about 2 hours after its previous tracked landing at Miami. Brad Garlinghouse's Bombardier Global 6000 landed at Miami about 1 hour before this flight.

Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport has a longest runway of 8,002 feet at an elevation of 8 feet. Miami Seaplane Base has a longest runway of 14,000 feet at sea level. The aircraft's home base at Van Nuys Airport is 2,035 nautical miles from Miami-Opa Locka.

Dr. Charles Huang is a Chinese-American investor and philanthropist based in Pasadena, California. He founded Pasaca Capital Inc., a private-equity firm, and Innova Medical Group, which became a major distributor of COVID tests. No public events or meetings tied to Dr. Charles Huang were found near Miami on this date.

Dr. Charles Huang earned an MBA from the University of Strathclyde in 1989 and a PhD in marketing there in 1994. He worked in Asian investment banking at James Capel, CLSA and BNP Paribas before moving into the automotive sector. Through the Charles Huang Foundation he has given £50 million to Strathclyde, $40 million to Wuhan University, $7 million to San Francisco's Chinese Hospital and $7.5 million to USC Arcadia Hospital. Forbes China named him to its 100 Most Influential Chinese list in 2024.

The aircraft is managed by Pegasus Elite Aviation, which markets it for charter, so some flights may carry paying passengers rather than the owner. N889KH remains at Miami-Opa Locka as of its last tracked position.