Peter Thiel's Gulfstream V N878DB hops from San Jose to San Francisco

Peter Thiel's Gulfstream V, tail number N878DB, flew from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (KSJC) to San Francisco International Airport (KSFO) on Monday, October 19, 2026. The aircraft departed at 06:28 UTC and landed at 06:48 UTC, spending 20 minutes in the air. The great-circle distance between the two airports is 27 nm, or 31 miles. This was a short hop between two Bay Area airports.

The flight covered just 27 nm, with an average ground speed of 79 kt and a top speed of 237 kt. The highest altitude seen was 5,950 ft. According to our estimates, the aircraft burned about 138 US gallons of fuel, producing about 1,328 kg of CO2, roughly the same as driving a car 3,288 miles. The Gulfstream V is built for long-range travel, with a range of 6,675 nm, a ceiling of 51,000 ft, and seating for up to 16 passengers. It is the first ultra-long-range Gulfstream, in service since 1997.

This was the seventh landing at San Francisco in the tracking window that began June 22, 2026. The previous landing there was on October 1, 17 days earlier. The aircraft's home base is Los Angeles International Airport (KLAX), and its usual destinations include Lihue, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Teterboro, Savannah, and Puerto Vallarta. In the 30 days before this flight, the aircraft visited 8 airports and flew about 9,548 nm. Other tracked aircraft at San Francisco in the 24 hours before this landing included a Bombardier Challenger 350 for Washington Companies, which landed about 10 hours earlier, and a Bombardier Global 6000 for Brad Garlinghouse, which landed about 5 hours earlier.

The aircraft is registered through Thorondor LLC, a name tied to the King of Eagles in Tolkien's legendarium. It is a Gulfstream V, serial number 5167, built in 2007, with hex code AC145B. It had not flown since late 2024 and was parked at Leadville Airport in Colorado as of May 2026.

Peter Thiel is the co-founder of PayPal and the co-founder and chairman of Palantir Technologies. He is also a partner at Founders Fund and an early investor in companies like Facebook, SpaceX, and OpenAI. The short flight from San Jose to San Francisco could be related to meetings in the area, though we do not track the person, only the aircraft.

In the tracking window from June 22 to October 19, 2026, the aircraft made 40 tracked flights. Its most common destinations were Los Angeles with 16 landings, San Francisco with 6, and Honolulu with 5. Before this flight, it had been on the ground for about 1 hour after landing in San Jose earlier the same day. The longest leg in the prior 30 days was from Teterboro to Los Angeles on September 29, covering 2,138 nm.

If Peter Thiel was aboard, this flight would be one of several recent Bay Area trips. On October 19, the aircraft flew from Los Angeles to San Jose earlier the same day, and on October 2 it flew from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The aircraft has been active since May 2026 after being parked in Colorado since late 2024. The flight landed at San Francisco International Airport at 06:48 UTC on October 19, 2026.