John Stanton's Bombardier Global Express N51SE makes 7-mile hop from San Jose to Mountain View

John Stanton's Bombardier Global Express, tail number N51SE, flew from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport to Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View on Monday, November 9, 2026. The flight departed San Jose at 22:01 UTC and landed at Moffett Field at 22:13 UTC. The trip took 11 minutes.

The great-circle distance between the two airports is 7 nautical miles, or about 8 miles. The aircraft reached a top ground speed of 169 knots and a highest altitude of 1,275 feet. Our estimate puts fuel burned at about 76 US gallons, producing about 734 kilograms of CO2, roughly the same as driving a car 1,818 miles. The Bombardier Global Express is an Ultra Long Range jet with a range of 6,700 nautical miles, a top speed of Mach 0.89, and a ceiling of 51,000 feet. It typically seats 13 passengers and can seat up to 18.

The aircraft is an original Global platform that paved the way for the Global family. Our estimate puts fuel burn at 400 US gallons per hour. The average ground speed on this flight was 35 knots. San Jose's longest runway is 11,000 feet at an elevation of 62 feet. Moffett Field's longest runway is 9,197 feet at an elevation of 32 feet. The distance from the aircraft's home base at Boeing Field to Moffett Field is 607 nautical miles.

This was the first tracked landing at Moffett Field for N51SE in the 30-day window we monitor. The aircraft's home base is King County International Airport - Boeing Field in Seattle. Its usual destinations include Tri Cities Airport in Pasco, Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and Palm Springs International Airport. Before this flight, N51SE had spent about 5 hours on the ground in San Jose after arriving from Seattle earlier on November 9. In the 30 days before this flight, the aircraft flew 5,288 nautical miles across 3 airports, with the longest leg being 2,340 nautical miles from Kailua-Kona to Seattle on October 25.

In the 30 days before this flight, the aircraft flew 3 flights totaling 13.1 hours in the air. Our estimate puts CO2 produced at about 50,401 kilograms for that period. The most common destination in that window was Seattle, with 2 landings. Two recent flights by the same owner include a trip from Seattle to San Jose on November 9 that took 2 hours and 17 minutes over 610 nautical miles, and a flight from Seattle to Dulles on October 5 that took 4 hours and 16 minutes over 1,997 nautical miles.

John Stanton is a wireless telecommunications pioneer who built Western Wireless and VoiceStream Wireless, the latter of which became T-Mobile USA after a sale to Deutsche Telekom. He is the chairman and controlling owner of the Seattle Mariners, a role he took in 2016 after buying into the team in 2000. He also serves on the boards of Microsoft and Costco. Moffett Federal Airfield is near Mountain View, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley, where many technology companies are based. Stanton's board role at Microsoft, which has offices in the region, could be a reason for a visit, though no public event tied to Stanton was found for this date.

If John Stanton was aboard, the short hop between San Jose and Moffett Field would have saved little time over driving. The flight is one of five tracked for N51SE since October 5, 2026.