Kash Patel's Gulfstream G550 lands at Richmond after Orlando trip

Kash Patel's Gulfstream G550, tail N708JH, landed at Richmond International Airport (KRIC) on Friday, October 23, 2026, at 17:58 UTC. The aircraft departed from Orlando Executive Airport (KORL) at 16:26 UTC and spent 1 hour and 32 minutes in the air. The flight covered a great-circle distance of 572 nautical miles, or 659 miles. The aircraft reached a top ground speed of 491 knots and a highest altitude of 39,025 feet.

The aircraft's average ground speed on this leg was 372 knots. Orlando Executive Airport has a longest runway of 6,004 feet at an elevation of 113 feet. Richmond International Airport's longest runway is 9,003 feet at 167 feet elevation.

The Gulfstream G550 is an ultra-long-range jet with a range of 6,750 nautical miles and a top speed of Mach 0.885. It can seat up to 19 passengers and has a service ceiling of 51,000 feet. The flight burned an estimated 662 US gallons of fuel, producing about 6,363 kilograms of CO2. That is roughly the same as driving a car 15,749 miles. The aircraft used about 8 percent of its total range on this leg.

This was the 13th tracked landing at Richmond in the past 30 days. The previous landing at KRIC was on October 16, 2026, seven days earlier. The aircraft's home base is Manassas Regional Airport (KHEF), about 74 nautical miles from Richmond. In the 30 days before this flight, N708JH visited 22 airports in four countries and flew about 27,102 nautical miles. Other tracked aircraft that landed at Richmond in the 24 hours before this flight included a Gulfstream G450 operated by Dominion Energy, a Beechcraft King Air 350 operated by Glenn Youngkin, a Gulfstream G600 operated by Coca-Cola, and a Gulfstream G600 operated by Altria.

In the 30 days before this flight, the aircraft flew 39 tracked flights totaling 67.6 hours in the air. It produced an estimated 279,437 kilograms of CO2. The longest leg in that period was from Richmond to Podgorica on September 28, 2026, covering 4,200 nautical miles.

Kash Patel was confirmed as the 9th Director of the FBI on February 20, 2025. As FBI Director, he is required by federal policy to use the Department of Justice's Gulfstream G550 for all travel, including personal trips, for which he must reimburse the government. In 2025, members of Congress demanded Patel reimburse taxpayers and produce records of personal flights. Richmond is about 100 miles south of Washington, D.C., and is a frequent stop for the aircraft.

The aircraft attracted intense public scrutiny after tracking showed Patel using it for flights to Las Vegas, Hawaii, and visits to his girlfriend's hometown. Former FBI agent Kyle Seraphin and reporters from The Intercept published guides to tracking N708JH using ADS-B Exchange, despite Patel's reported efforts to block the aircraft from public tracking databases.

The aircraft, owned by the Department of Justice and registered to FBI headquarters at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, is one of several Gulfstream jets in the federal fleet used for senior official transport. The flight from Orlando to Richmond is the latest in a pattern of frequent travel by the aircraft. The plane's movements continue to be tracked by aviation enthusiasts and journalists.