First Pro Rider to Buy a Plane??

An expensive move, but not a bad one. 

Pilot error. You should see the Pilot Debrief video on it. Typical case of "we've done it this way before so we'll be ok". Pilot had his son in the right seat who wasn't rated for it, and they figured they'd pick up IFR once they got airborne. He had forgotten to turn the generators on so the batteries starting dying & left side avionics starting dropping out right after departure, so they ended up behind the aircraft pretty quickly.

My father-in-law owned a Lear & ran a charter company out of Morristown NJ for years. When my kids were little we took it to Florida & I had our Suzuki JR50 & KTM 50 sitting in the aisle. We landed on a private strip in Ocala until the Travolta family bought the property.

If I’m flying, I want a pilot who flies often (daily, weekly). Spent enough time flying in USN jets to experience dumb shit even from full time pilots, and to appreciate the challenges, risks, and consequences.

Heath Voss owns a plane and helicopter Hangar company. He was big into flying if I remember correctly. I know back in October of 2009 I believe, he even flew in an F15E Eagle Strike Fighter Jet in Nevada. I'm pretty sure he's owned some planes.

Question for the experts on the biffle situation, how common is it for pilot to do what they did with pilot not being rated to fly solo and copilot not being qualified? Are these letter of the law things that really aren't a big deal? The kind of thing that gets treated like this all the time? Or when you heard this was it more along the lines of can't believe someone would do that, never should have happened, lose your license if caught, etc?

Yeah I was real close to buying a plane in 97 . Had plane fever bad. A. Roggers bought 1 a few yrs ago . It needed the engines rebuilt & other stuff.  He didn’t like the stripe & had the seats changed. I,m like it’s not like a classic car dude.  Most nfl players go in as a group to pay for the plane & pilots.  

Definitely not an expert but it really doesn't surprise me what happened with Biffle situation.  From what I've seen, it's kind of the Wild West out there whereas you'd think it would be very tightly regulated.  I've been flown by a felon who had his pilot's license suspended previously, and yet he was still able to act as a charter somehow and flew a bunch of us up North and back.  Only reason I flew with him is because I know he's a very good pilot with close to 12k hours and he's the only one I would feel comfortable flying in a King Air (twin).  I feel there's a lot of bad pilots out there, with some just being scatterbrains, and others who just don't fly enough, or combination of both.  Accidents happen when corners are cut, when people are in a rush, or make bad decisions not to wait out incoming weather, etc.  In Biffle's case it could have been that the pilots were under more  pressure than usual from flying a "celebrity", similar to what happened with Kobe Bryant.  Kobe's helicopter pilot made horrible decisions in an attempt to be a hero and get him somewhere for his daughter, and attempted to fly through the fog.  Just like you are aware there are tons of bad doctors out there, same with pilots and all other occupations.

My one pilot friend is not all that great IMO so I limit flying with him unless my other pilot friend is with us so there's two sets of eyes.

There are endless examples like this where bad decisions, brain farts, breaking the rules, or cutting corners causes death, similar to what happened to Biffle and Kobe Bryant:

I’ll act like an expert…

It isn’t legal to have an SEL ( single engine land ) pilot in the right seat of a twin engine jet that requires a two pilot crew. Here’s where it gets complicated, but doesn’t apply to this case as far as I know. In some models, like the C550 ( falls under a CE500 type rating ) that they were flying, a qualified pilot can get a Single Pilot waiver, and then it would be legal to have an unqualified pilot in the right seat. I’m pretty sure the Dad did not have that waiver. To keep that waiver you have to go to recurrent every 6 months. 

Some jets, like the C525 series ( CJ ‘s ) you have the option to get a 525S ( S is for single ) type rating. The funny thing is, when I got mine, I was the only one in the class, so I never had a right seater in training, and I was told I couldn’t legally fly in a situation where l would legally need another pilot ( a boom mike is required to operate single pilot ), until my first recurrent, because I hadn’t demonstrated the ability to fly it with a crew, even though I had a C500 type rating, which requires a crew unless you have the waiver. 

Other than the Cessna CJ series, there are a few others you can get a single pilot rating in, but not many. 

In the others, that require two pilots, it does not require two type rated pilots, but the right seater would have to be rated in the same category, such as MEL ( multi engine land ) as well as have high altitude and high performance/ complex endorsements. Also to fly as crew above 18000 ft or in IMC ( instrument conditions ) you have to be instrument rated. 

I have heard some people say that if another qualified pilot is on board, it could be considered “legal” (edit: legal to have a non qualified pilot right seat) . I’m not sure about that, but I think the reasoning is that in a crash, they may not be able to tell who was where in the plane, and insurance would still cover it. Also, although it didn’t happen here, the other qualified pilot could switch places. The farther away you are from the ground in an emergency, the better that would play out. 

Sorry for the long drawn out answer. 

I’d also add, I’ve flown a ton of hours all over the country in all kinds of weather single pilot in a King Air B200 and in various CJ s. I’ve also flown a lot with a technically qualified pilot that was so far behind the plane, if we would have crashed, he would have survived, because  the paramedics would already be at the scene by the time he got there. 

It’s a LOT easier to fly by yourself! 

But a well coordinated crew will always be safer, not only because of the chance of a medical emergency, but when the fit hits the Shan. 

My one buddy had to upgrade his TBM at the request of his wife, because it has the new "emergency button" that will supposedly land the aircraft at the closest airport in case something happens to the pilot.  I wonder how well it works?  

He's the one who now feels like he's pushing buttons on a computer instead of manually flying the old fashioned way.   I think I'm more old school and like more hands on vs all the new push button tech, but it's obviously nice to learn both and have both options. 

Daxton Bennick’s dad who is also a former racer. Guessing by the holding company name that it’s owned by Cooper Webb and Todd Bennick. Very nice plane but limited on passengers. 

I would get this one : https://www.hondajet.com/

Mat Mladin flew himself to lots of the AMA Superbike races, like he actually owned and flew the plane. A lot of the references here are to 'buying' (normally leasing, renting, or chartering) a jet and sitting in the back. Like Michael Jordan 'owns a plane' but he doesn't fly it. If you ain't flying it.. bleh. Hell Spock was a pilot! 

I fly, a lot. Own a piston single and am building an RV-10 (think a Cirrus SR22 that you build yourself, and is better). I've flown a VisionJet with a guy at my home field that owns one ($$$) and took me up for a buzz, I've flown flying boats, which I love, and plan to buy one of those at some point.

Flying your own small plane is like riding a motorcycle. Lots of fun and freedom. I fly with a crew of taildragger bush pilots out of San Diego that loves landing at dry lake beds and rural strips. Most of us are working stiffs that scrape and scrap to be in the air. It isn't all millionaires up there. I bought my plane for less than the pick-up truck you drive.

K-Dub looking good in that Aviat Husky. That's a rad little ship. Hurricane Hannah does lots of bush flying. I think I read Barcia had a Cirrus. 

As for real XC flying 'to and from the races'. Yeah, you want something like a PC-12 or Epic. The VisionJet is actually a bit slow for its class, and even the guy I know that flies one doesn't want to take it more than 2-3 hours away. HondaJets are notriously hard to fly, mainly land, lot of runway excusions with those. I'd probably go with a PC-12, can fly it single pilot ops, can land on rough strips, short(er) strips, etc. Nice planes.

Biffle's crash, like many others, is cowboy pilots not following the rules written in blood. Know how we have a lot of yahoos in motorcycles? Well those same types of folks like flying also. The margin for error is THIN, which is why I love it so much.

I've been meaning to fly all around SoCal and take pics of all the tracks, both public and private. There are a LOT of them. I see them the whole time I'm buzzing around. Actually flying up to Willow Springs in two weeks for an Alpinestars helmet media event. Can't wait.

Other than Spock, the rest of the pics are of me flying (well the VisionJet owner is in the left seat, as it is his plane, I flew it a bit after that pic was taken. Was bitchin'! 3.5 million dollar jet.. way cool)

I just looked up some of the lads in the FAA Pilot registry. (Edited to add Tomac)

ELIJAH STEVEN TOMAC
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT  
Date of Issue: 11/6/2023
Ratings: PRIVATE PILOT, AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND

Hell yeah, Tomac has is private a few years ago (2023) and has a current 3rd Class Medical. 

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JUSTIN LANCE BARCIA
Certificate: STUDENT PILOT  
Date of Issue: 11/9/2012
Limits: CARRYING PASSENGERS IS PROHIBITED.

Okay Barcia got his Student Pilot cert (which literally anyone right now can sign up and get, without ever touching a plane) in 2012 along with this 3rd Class Medical. His Medical expired in 2017. He never got past the beginning stages (lessons with CFI) it looks like, and it has all lapsed.

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KEVIN WAYNE WINDHAM
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT  
Date of Issue: 7/27/2010
Ratings: PRIVATE PILOT, AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND

K-Dub actually got his pilots license in 2010, but hasn't had a medical since 2012, which expired in 2017. So he's not active either based on that. Can't fly without a current medical (and he's not on BasicMed)

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ROBERT WILLIAM HANNAH
Certificate: COMMERCIAL PILOT  
Date of Issue: 6/10/2004

Ratings:COMMERCIAL PILOT
 AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
 AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE SEA
 INSTRUMENT AIRPLANE
PRIVATE PRIVILEGES
 AIRPLANE MULTIENGINE LAND

Limits: ALL MAKES AND MODELS OF SINGLE AND MULTI ENGINE PISTON POWERED AUTHORIZED AIRCRAFT.
AUTHORIZED EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT: CU-P40 DC-AD1 G-F8F H-FB-11 H-HURC N-P51 N-T28 R-P47 YAK-3.

Bob Hannah is a fucking G. That's a heavy resume for a non-career (aka military or airlines) pilot. He's commercially rated (can fly for money), has a second class medical, and has gotten a shitload of ratings. This dude LOVES flying. He's also got some really rad planes he's type rated on like a Yak, P51 Mustang, Bearcat, god damn! Amazing.

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That's all I found from moto with some quick looks. No Cooper Webb, Justin Cooper, Jett Lawrence, etc. 

Man, Keith McCarty introduced me to Bob Hannah at some Yamaha shindig but I wasn't a pilot at the time. Missed opportunity! Bob didn't have much interest in hearing about my HiPoint boots poster of him on my wall as a kid, but I bet he'd like to talk about his favorite dirt strip in the Idaho backcountry. 
 

That's awesome.  Coop seems  like a frugal guy, must have been smart with his money.

Chuck Feets Minert owned a Supet Decathlon dating back to the 1970's. He was a factory BSA racer who won the prestigious 1956 Catalina GP. In the  early 1970's he earned pts in both the pro grand national dirt track series as well as ama pro motocross. He raced local so cal races till his early 80's. MXA has a great article about Feets. 

Jody is a pilot as well. 

I met Jody and Feet’s one time at Glen Helen. Both were very cool. 

I know(i've personally seen a contract or 2) that MotoGP guys negotiate these things in their contract.  Usually it's private within Europe ( Most are based there) and First /Business on long haul international.  The only racer I recall that had their own jet was Valentino Rossi and his net worth is $300mil + purportedly.

Flying private would make their lives easier.  For example in my old AO it would take me 1 hour to the airport, 1 hour in the airport, 4 hours in the air, 30 minutes out of the airport, 2 hours to my hometown. So it’s almost a 9 hour travel day, not even accounting for time change making it feel longer.

Conversely private you would drive 15 minutes to a local airport, takeoff immediately, fly 4 hours, and land 15 minutes from your destination 

Coop was a spender last year, track, plane, lake house

John from JT Racing walked away from this one.

Casey's Dad is a very experienced pilot and has been flying jets for 30 years or more. 

Biffles pilot that day was a retired, 30 year Delta Captain, typed in multiple Jet Aircraft--A-320, A-330, A-350, B-737, B-757, B-767, CE-500, and DC-10. He should've known better!!

I’m not sure you could have posted more incorrect info if you tried

I wasn’t clear. I apologize, that was’t aimed at Casey’s dad at all, but re-reading it I see how it comes across that way. I was referring to the “fly it yourself” comment. I read it like just buy a jet and go take some lessons.  

Flying isn’t something that’s out of most people’s ability, but it does cause problems when someone’s attention isn’t solely on flying. 

That’s how the V-tail Bonanza became known as the Forked Tail Doctor Killer  

What's kinda funny is my dad had a V-tail bonanza..and was a doctor haha!  Luckily he never crashed it and had several other planes over the years.  

Got it.  Understood

Not really? I was wrong about a couple but right about Webb he owns a plane, K-dub owns a plane and flies it from his house it’s in one of The Moto movies. I thought the Deegans owned one but was wrong just the way Brian talked about it on Gypsy Tales it sounded like they bought one. I was wrong about Ricky and James they chartered private didn’t own them.