Phil Knight's Gulfstream G650 N1KE lands at Hillsboro after 777 nm flight from Palm Springs

Phil Knight's Gulfstream G650, tail number N1KE, landed at Portland Hillsboro Airport (KHIO) on Monday, November 9, 2026, at 03:55 UTC. The aircraft departed Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport (KTRM) in Palm Springs, California, at 02:07 UTC and spent 1 hour 48 minutes in the air. This was the second flight between the two airports in as many days for Knight's fleet.

The great-circle distance between the two airports is 777 nm, or 894 miles. The aircraft reached a highest altitude of 43,025 feet and a top ground speed of 515 knots. Our estimate puts fuel burned at about 830 US gallons and CO2 at about 7,977 kg, roughly equal to driving a car 19,746 miles. The Gulfstream G650 has a published range of 7,000 nm and a top speed of Mach 0.925. It can seat up to 19 passengers and has a ceiling of 51,000 feet. This flight used only 11 percent of the aircraft's range.

This was the 15th landing at Portland in the tracked window from September 16 to November 8, and the previous one was three days earlier, when N19HT, a Gulfstream G500, arrived from Redmond on November 6. Portland Hillsboro is the home base on file for both of Phil Knight's aircraft. The usual destinations on file include Dublin, Rome, Benbecula, Seattle, Portland, and Reno. In the 30 days before this flight, the two aircraft made 32 flights, spent 41.9 hours in the air, and visited 10 airports in 3 countries. The longest leg in that window was from Dublin to Los Angeles on October 15, covering 4,491 nm, flown by N1KE.

Phil Knight is the co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of Nike, Inc., with a net worth of about $35.7 billion. He is an Oregon native who built Nike from Blue Ribbon Sports with $1,000 and lives in Hillsboro on a 5-plus acre property purchased in 2012. The Knight family owns about 20 to 21 percent of Nike via Swoosh LLC, controlling about 78.5 percent of Class A voting shares. Knight has donated more than $4 billion through the Phil and Penny Knight Foundation, including $2 billion to the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute in August 2025. notes that Knight reportedly allows Nike employees to use the jet from time to time.

The aircraft is back at its home base after a brief outing to Palm Springs. The flight adds to a busy stretch that included a round trip to Palm Springs on November 8, when N1KE flew from Portland to Palm Springs in 1 hour 59 minutes covering 782 nm.

The Gulfstream G650 holds more than 110 speed records and was launched in 2005. On this flight, the aircraft averaged 430 knots ground speed. Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport has a longest runway of 8,500 feet at an elevation of 115 feet below sea level. Portland Hillsboro Airport's longest runway is 6,600 feet at an elevation of 208 feet.

In the tracked window from September 16 to November 8, the owner's two aircraft made 38 flights. The most common destinations were Portland with 14 landings, Redmond with 10 landings, and Los Angeles with 3 landings. The Gulfstream G650 burns an estimated 460 US gallons of fuel per hour.