14 DAY TRIAL // Google's top three people, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt, the famed triumvirate at the giant company, all of them billionaires, own eight planes between them.
While it wasn't exactly secret, the number came up when the company that operates them, H211, announced its plans to fund the restoration of NASA's and the US Navy's historic Hangar One.
Interestingly enough, the eight jets don't belong to Google, but to H211, a company owned by the top three Googlers. Still, the planes are used by the three for business trips, though not exclusively.
In case you're wondering what the H211 fleet looks like, it consist of one Boeing 767 and one Boeing 757, both of them huge jets capable of carrying hundreds of passengers in their default configuration. There are also two Gulfstream V, a more 'traditional' business jet.
These were the first four planes, but a Dornier Alpha fighter jet was added in 2008. The The Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet is a light fighter that is used mostly for training purposes, but it is a fighter jet nonetheless.
Since then, H211 has added three more planes, but there is no info on what they are.
You may be asking yourself, quite understandably, what on Earth would three people need eight planes for. Well, the two Gulfstreams come in handy for business trips.
The two Boeings are great when you need to carry tens of people to a remote location, which, if you are the cofounder of Google, you may need or want to do.
A fighter jet is harder to explain. But there is one catch H211 has a deal with NASA. On the one hand, H211 gets to land its jets at NASA's military airport right next to the Googleplex, while NASA gets to use the planes for all sorts of experiments.