=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2007/09/08/BUSNS0G94.= DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday, September 8, 2007 (SF Chronicle) Google execs take off with landing privileges at Moffett Field Verne Kopytoff, Chronicle Staff Writer Air Google has landed - at Moffett Field. A Boeing 767 owned by the Internet giant's billionaire founders used the NASA airport near Mountain View earlier this week, raising questions by local officials about the plane becoming a regular, noisy visitor. "I'm sure there is going to be some concern," said Matt Pear, a Mountain View city councilman. The jet's appearance at Moffett Field, which is normally closed to priva= te aircraft, indicates that NASA has awarded Larry Page and Sergey Brin at least partial landing rights. The men are also negotiating to lease a hangar from the space agency, according to two people familiar with the matter. Pear, along with Tom Means, Mountain View's vice mayor, said that they were unaware that Google's founders had used Moffett Field, but said they wanted NASA to provide more information about how often the plane will use the base, to gauge how much noise it will create. "People have gotten accustomed to the fact that it is quiet there now except a plane every once in a while," Means said. "Are they looking to expand to some full-level operation, or is it just this one time?" Said Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View: "No one has problems with military flights, but it's hard to make a national security case here." The use of Moffett Field by private aircraft has long been a source of conflict with neighboring cities. Residents helped torpedo a plan to open the airstrip to commercial cargo planes in the mid-1990s because of concerns about noise. The airfield handles only a small number of flights, mainly military transport planes and aircraft used for scientific purposes, and by companies doing business with the federal government. Air Force One also has used the base when presidents have visited the Bay Area. NASA and Google spokesmen declined to comment and referred calls to an aircraft consultant representing the Google founders, who jointly own the plane through a Delaware holding company. The consultant did not return telephone calls. Brin and Page quietly bought the former Qantas Airways 767-200 two years ago in what was considered an extravagance, even by Silicon Valley mogul standards. Word of the plane's existence emerged a year later when a designer renovating the aircraft filed a lawsuit claiming that he had not been paid. As part of the suit, which has since been settled, the designer revealed that he drew up plans for two private staterooms and seating for 50, instead of the typical 180. He also said the founders made an odd request to hang hammocks from the plane's ceiling and argued over installing a king-size bed. The plane's exterior is painted red, white and blue, but no Google logo = is visible. The founders' interest in Moffett Field has long been suspected given Google's close ties to NASA and the proximity to Google's Mountain View headquarters. Two years ago, Google signed a high-profile deal with NASA Ames to collaborate on a number of projects, most of which have been described only vaguely, and to build up to 1 million square feet of office space. The negotiations by Page and Brin to use Moffett Field are independent of any by Google, the sources said. Google doesn't own any planes, but occasionally charters aircraft, including one owned by the company's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, for which it pays $7,000 per hour. News that the Google founders' plane landed at Moffett Field was first reported on the Web site Valleywag. The report was confirmed to The Chronicle by two people who saw the parked plane, one of whom jotted down its tail number and another who provided other identifying information. The plane arrived at Moffett Field Tuesday afternoon from Sacramento's McClellan Airfield, where it reportedly is based, and then departed the next morning for Seville, Spain, according to FlightAware, a Web site that tracks flights. Google held a sales conference in Seville this week, according to Europa Press, a Spanish news service. There was no indication of who was on the flight. But it does set Google= 's founders apart from most fellow technology industry billionaires, and mere millionaires, who typically have to fly their corporate jets out of the Bay Area's three international airports. E-mail Verne Kopytoff at vkopytoff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --------------------= -------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2007 SF Chronicle <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".