Thread: A fun article; OT as to ORCL's bis, but it is instructive regarding LE's mega-ego.
SAN JOSE, California--Oracle chief executive Lawrence Ellison believes he should be able to land his personal jet at the San Jose, California, airport whenever he likes, and he says he's willing to sue the city over it.
Ellison calls a San Jose city regulation prohibiting jets over a certain weight from landing at the city airport between 11:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. "absurd" and said he plans to go to court to overturn the regulation.
"San Jose has no right to tell me when I can land my airplane," the Oracle Chief Executive said. "It's like saying people who weigh more than 200 pounds can't go into a store after 6 p.m."
San Jose officials said Ellison's Gulfstream Aerospace G-5 jet has violated the landing rules nine times in the past two years, adding that they've received no response to letters to Ellison's attorney threatening their own legal action.
"Clearly we need to enforce the curfew, and if we need to go to court to enforce the curfew, certainly we will do that," said Bill Hughes, San Jose assistant city attorney.
The curfew is designed to protect area residents from airplane noise late at night. The rule makes exceptions for small planes, as well as for planes that experience weather or air traffic delays or mechanical malfunctions, Hughes said.
Ellison's jet landed at the airport after the 11:30 curfew on March 22, August 29, and September 29 of this year, following six post-curfew landings last year, Hughes said.
Ellison says his jet, a top-of-the-line Gulfstream that can fly nonstop from San Jose to New Zealand, makes less noise than many smaller planes. "It's an incredibly quiet airplane," Ellison said.
Ellison calls the San Jose rules "idiotic" and says that under their weight classifications, he could land one of the fighter jets he flies for fun at the airport. "I have a jet fighter I can land anytime at San Jose," he said.
Any jet, that is, except for the Russian MiG 29 he purchased several years ago. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms denied his request to import that aircraft.
Ellison's attorney, Edward Davis, couldn't be reached immediately to comment. An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment. |
