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Comment by ajays | Hacker News Reader

Don't let the sugar-coating fool you: the Google guys got a sweet deal from NASA, all in the guise of "research". The stats from the article prove it: of their massive fleet of aircraft, only 1 was used for any 'research', and that too sparingly. No other private individual is allowed to use Moffett Field, regardless of how much they're willing to pay.

It's a shame, really, that the Google founders feel the need to misuse the system like this. "Don't be evil", my ass.

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Google flew 155 missions for NASA. There are definitely serious questions to be asked here, but it's not as if Google wasn't contributing something.

Out of 710. And I'd bet money that of the 155 at least a few (or more likely, most) were also Google flights that did some minor data collection while off to where ever Googlers go. Has there ever been a case of corruption/fraud where the perpetrators weren't contributing something positive? If it smells rotten...

Did you read the article? It was an Alpha jet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault/Dornier_Alpha_Jet) that was used for NASA flights, not a Gulfstream or a 767. It's basically a fighter jet, it wouldn't be used for Googlers going wherever they're going. Most likely that jet was bought specifically for NASA missions to maintain their agreement.

Sure, it couldn't be that any of the Googlers liked flying a high performance jet for thrills, could it?

Oh, sure, I don't doubt there were a few joyrides that may or may not be counted among the science flights but it's a far cry from, say, a Gulfstream doing a wind-speed measurement at 20000 ft. on the way between SF and NY, and calling it a meteorological experiment.

No, Google flew 155 missions that were claimed to be for NASA. The Alphajet is a German military trainer from the early 1970s, not a research aircraft. I would like to see some documentation from NASA about what these "missions" accomplished. NASA is always whining about budgets, but on the surface, it looks like they were just shilling for Google. Next thing we'll see is Larry Ellison getting research money for flying his MIG jets...

This is in the NASA contract under "Purpose":

"The Alpha Jet aircraft owned and operated by Partner offers unique capabilities due to its performance and altitude range, coupled with the proficiency of the pilots in high-performance and formation flying. The combination of aircraft and pilot capabilities allows ARC to design unique sampling profiles to study the Earth's atmosphere from the surface up to 51,000 ft in very tightly defined columns. This sort of profiling is valuable for comparison with satellite observations and for exploring small-scale phenomena at various altitudes."

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/pdf/675605main_SAA2-402663....

The Gulfstream flights to Tahiti are less credible.

http://geo.arc.nasa.gov/ajax/ajax_index.html

I can't think of a bigger perk than having a "private" airport that close to Google HQ

The fuel discount, while sweet, is probably an extra

That was one of the cool things about working on campus at Cranfield CIT - having an airfield attached and a lot of cool aviation tech on site - they used to have a tsr2 in one of the hangers!!

Some of the engineers had air band radios to listen into the tower traffic and if any thing interesting was coming in some of us went out to have a look.

I saw a spitfire (MKIX) refueled from about 50 yards away when they where showing it off to a potential buyer.

My best memory was walking between buildings one foggy day carrying backup tapes when a mosquito came out of the mist at 100 ft and made low pass over our office.

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