Shaquille O'Neal's Challenger 605 flies Denver to Plattsburgh in 3-hour 10-minute leg

Shaquille O'Neal's Bombardier Challenger 605, tail number N3250N, departed Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (KBJC) near Denver on Sunday, October 18 at 19:15 UTC and landed at Plattsburgh International Airport (KPBG) in upstate New York at 22:25 UTC. The flight took 3 hours and 10 minutes to cover the 1,424-nautical-mile great-circle distance. The aircraft climbed to a highest altitude of 37,025 feet and reached a top ground speed of 515 knots, averaging 451 knots across the leg.

The Challenger 605, which entered service in 2007, is a Large-class jet with a range of 3,900 nautical miles and a ceiling of 41,000 feet. It typically seats 9 passengers and up to 12. For this 1,424-nautical-mile flight, which used about 37 percent of the aircraft's range, Celebplanes estimates the aircraft burned roughly 885 US gallons of fuel, producing about 8,500 kilograms of CO2, equivalent to driving a car 21,039 miles.

Plattsburgh International Airport does not appear in the tracked history for any of Shaquille O'Neal's aircraft in the 30 days before this flight. The aircraft's home base is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (KATL), which is 834 nautical miles from Plattsburgh. In the 30 days before this flight, the two aircraft on file for Shaquille O'Neal made 24 flights totaling 63.2 hours in the air, visiting 25 airports in 4 countries. The most common destinations in that window were Atlanta (3 landings), Dallas (2 landings), and Dayton (2 landings). The longest leg in that period was a 4,394-nautical-mile flight from Atlanta to Vilnius on September 28 flown by the Global 6000, N626JJ.

Shaquille O'Neal is a 4-time NBA champion, Hall of Famer, and Inside the NBA broadcaster on TNT. He holds significant investments in Krispy Kreme and Authentic Brands Group, and his aircraft fleet includes this Challenger 605 and a Bombardier Global 6000 (N626JJ) that carries his Dunkman logo. Plattsburgh is not near any of his known properties or usual destinations, which include Las Vegas, Orlando, Birmingham, Miami, Chicago, and Washington Dulles. A web search found no scheduled public appearance, board meeting, or other event tied to Shaquille O'Neal or his organizations in the Plattsburgh area on or around October 18.

The flight from Denver to Plattsburgh used a runway of 11,759 feet at the arrival airport, which sits at an elevation of 234 feet. The aircraft had spent about 27 hours on the ground in Denver after arriving from Driggs, Idaho the previous day.

The Challenger 605 is an evolution of the Challenger 604 and is equipped with Rockwell Collins avionics. Its top speed is Mach 0.82, or 459 knots. Celebplanes estimates the aircraft burns about 280 US gallons of fuel per hour.

Before the Denver to Plattsburgh leg, the aircraft had flown from Driggs, Idaho to Denver on October 17, a flight of 1 hour and 3 minutes covering 369 nautical miles. That same day, the aircraft had also flown from Salt Lake City to Driggs, a 30-minute, 168-nautical-mile hop. The departure airport, Rocky Mountain Metropolitan, has a longest runway of 9,000 feet and sits at an elevation of 5,673 feet.

Among recent flights by the Global 6000, N626JJ, was a 9-hour-50-minute, 4,290-nautical-mile leg from Olbia, Italy to Atlanta on October 16, and a 7-hour-58-minute, 4,186-nautical-mile flight from Anderson, South Carolina to Olbia on October 13.