Top 10 Private Jets

10. John Travolta’s Boeing 707

 

 This Hollywood celebrity is also an avid flyer. His interest in aircraft can be judged from the fact that John literally lives on a runway. His private mansion boasts parking for jets along with automobile. Travolta has achieved Captain qualification for numerous jets including Gulfstream II, Learjet 24, Hawker 1A, Citation 1 and 2, Tebuan and Vampire Jet. Recently this experienced pilot flew a cargo flight of his Boeing 707 for Haiti earthquake victims. 

 

9. Harrison ford’s Cessna 525B CJ3

 

This cinema sensation is also an able pilot. His private Cessna 525B CJ3 is a very popular private jet among corporates. This flying luxury costs around 6 million USD. The CJ3 can carry six people non-stop to any destination within 1900 nautical miles. Harrison Ford who loves to pilot his jet himself is also the FAA spokesman for the runway incursion awareness and prevention campaign that the agency started in 2001.

8. Donald Trump’s Boeing 727

 

This vintage jet once formed a part of American Airlines fleet. Bought in 1968, the jet was given an overhaul to provide luxury travel for upto 23 passengers. The interior boasts comfy furniture,oil paintings, gold plated seat buckles and ambient lighting. The paint job of this jet is also very unique and extravagant. The 30 feet long Trump logo on the fuselage is made from 23 carat gold leaf.

7. Bill gates Bombardier BD-700 Global Express

 

This is a top of the line corporate business jet available in aviation market. This flying luxury is the number 1 choice of travel for numerous tycoons around the planet. The Chairman of MS Corp. also owns one such beauty for his travel.The Bombardier can cruise at 51,000 feet with a payload of 8 VIPs. It has an excellent range of 6,500 nautical miles allowing non-stop Tokyo-New York or Los Angeles-Moscow flights.

6. Roman Abramovich’s Boeing 767

 

Roman Abramovich is a russian businessman with an estimated fortune of $ 11.2 billion. The owner of of the private investment company Millhouse LLC, Roman is the fourth richest man in Russia. The insides of this flying private palace are little known though it is reportedly outfitted with chestnut and decorated with gold. The Chelsea club owner extends seclusion of his daily life to air travel through this private 767.

5. Elvis Presley’s Convair 880

 

Elvis Presley bought this jet in 1975 after its expulsion from Delta Airlines. The vintage Convair 880 was purchased for the then substantial amount of $250,000. The aircraft was extravagantly customized to a 28 seater from the usual 110. The post over haul cost was estimated to be $600,000. Elvis rechristened his private aircraft after his daughter “Lisa Marie”. The aircraft survives today in good condition.

4. Mark Cuban’s Boeing 767

 

 Billionaire Mark Cuban the owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA basketball team also owns a healthy fleet of private jets. His private fleet includes Gulfstream V, Boeing 757 and 767. In addition to other lavish upgrades, the 767 is reportedly fitted with custom made seats that are large enough to accommodate the tallest team player.

 

3. Brunei Sultan’s Boeing 747

 

When it comes to lavish life style the Sultan of Brunei is one of the most extravagant ruler in the world. The Sultan was literally fed with gold spoons after his birth. His private Boeing 747 is considered to be the most luxurious jet in the world. Bought in an excess of $100 million, an additional $120 million were spent to plush the interior with gold furniture and fittings. The over haul included bedrooms, lounges, bars and the installation of a whirl pool bath made entirely out of gold.

2. USA President’s Air Force 1

 

Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. Since 1990, the presidential fleet has consisted of two specifically configured, highly customized Boeing 747-200B series aircraft with serial numbers “28000″ and “29000″ with Air Force designation “VC-25A”. While these aircraft have the call sign “Air Force One” only while the president is on board, the term is still used colloquially to describe either of the two aircraft normally used and maintained by the U.S. Air Force solely for the president, as well as any additional Air Force aircraft used by the president. The aircraft might not be the most luxurious but it surely is the safest plane in the world. Air Force 1 is heavily modified with state of the art defense counter measures providing fool proof safety to its precious cargo.

1. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud’s A380

 

The Saudi Prince has decided to invest a major chunk of his oil wealth in buying a flying palace. Prince Al-Waleed is set to become the owner of the first private custom built A380 jet at a whopping cost of $485 million. The lavish interior is being designed by the prestigious British firm “Design Q”. The plane initially designed for a staggering 600 passengers will be cleared up to provide unimaginable amenities in flight including on-board garage, prayer room with computer generated mats that always face Makkah and luxury bedrooms for upto 20 guests. Other major attractions for this exotic comfort opulence include a concert hall that seats ten and has a baby grand piano; a boardroom with a holographic projector; and a full size steamroom. The most entertaining perk is a “Wellbeing Room” which has a floor upon which is projected an enormous image of what the plane is flying over, thus creating a “magic carpet” effect. The most incredible touch might just be the approximately $58 million he is spending to have the plane painted in gold leaf on the outside.

 

Lake Hillier

Lake Hillier, is a lake on Middle Island, the largest of the islands and islets that make up the Recherche Archipelago, Western Australia. It is the most prominent lacustrine feature on any island of the archipelago and air passengers often take note of it.

 The specialty of this lake is its flamboyant colour, rose pink. The colour is permanent, as it does not alter when the water is taken in a container. The length of the lake is about six hundred meters. A narrow strip of land composed of sand dunes covered by vegetation separates it from the ocean. The lake is surrounded by a rim of white salt and a dense woodland of paperbark and eucalypt trees with sand dunes separating the lake from the Southern Ocean to the north.

The island and lake are thought to have been first charted by the Flinders expedition in 1802. Captain Flinders is said to have observed the pink lake after ascending the island's peak. John Thistle, the ships master, collected some of the lake's water which he found to be saturated with salt.The reason for the lake's colour is still under investigation, and so far no one has come up with a reasonable explanation. However, the most probable explanation according to some scientists involves the low nutrient concentrations and different types of bacteria and algae that are responsible for the lake's pink colour. The lake is one of the natural wonders of Australia.
The pink coloration of the lake water could be from a sea salt and nahcolite (sodium bicarbonate) deposit reaction as well as red halophilic bacteria in the salt crusts.

Heaven Gate Mountain

This is called"Gate to Heaven"

About 8KM from downtown of Zhangjiajie lies the Tianmen Mountain, also known as Heaven Gate Mountain.

This beautiful site is quite a journey to get to through a 7 mile hike. The Chinese people believe that t
his is the Closest Earth Landmark To God.

For those unable to trek, they have a cable car that is considered the longest cable ride in the world- A distance of 7455m Also on the top is a 500 year old Temple.

Electrical Power Substations

Outdoor Substations are used for all voltage levels from 52 to 765 kV. They are built outside cities, usually at points along the cross-country lines of bulk transmission systems.

They comprise switchgear like circuit breakers, disconnectors, instrument transformers, power transformers, surge arrestors and busbars.

The control and protection equipment is housed in central buildings or in small switching bay oriented containers in the switchyard

Electrical Power Substations

 The hybrid HVDC breaker

ABB has successfully designed and developed a hybrid DC breaker after years of research, functional testing and simulation in the R&D laboratories. This breaker is a breakthrough that solves a technical challenge that has been unresolved for over a hundred years and was perhaps one the main influencers in the ‘war of currents‘ outcome. The ‘hybrid’ breaker combines

mechanical and power electronics switching that enables it to interrupt power flows equivalent to the output of a nuclear power station within 5 milliseconds – that’s as fast as a honey bee takes per flap of its wing – and twice as fast as it takes Usain Bolt to react to the starter’s gun! But its not just about speed. The challenge was to do it ‘ultra-fast’ with minimal operational losses and this has been achieved by combining advanced ultrafast mechanical actuators with our inhouse semiconductor IGBT valve technologies or power electronics (watch video: Hybrid HVDC Breaker – How does it work).

In terms of significance, this breaker is a ‘game changer’. It removes a significant stumbling block in the development of HVDC transmission grids where planning can start now. These grids will enable interconnection and load balancing between HVDC power superhighways integrating renewables and transporting bulk power across long distances with minimal losses. DC grids will enable sharing of resources like lines and converter stations that provides reliability and redundancy in a power network in an economically viable manner with minimal losses. ABB’s new Hybrid HVDC breaker, in simple terms will enable the transmission system to maintain power flow even if there is a fault on one of the lines.

This is a major achievement for the global R&D team in ABB who have worked for years on the challenge and finally come up with a circuit breaker capable of blocking and breaking DC currents at thousands of amperes and several hundred thousands of volts - corresponding to the average power consumption of one million Europeans ! It amounts to stopping power capable of feeding a large city much faster than an eye blink ! This speed helps protect the DC transmission system and prevent power outages in new low loss compact power superhighways. The next step is to install the breaker in pilot installations.

HVDC transmission remains a technology of choice for bulk power transmission over long distances with minimum losses. HVDC lines also require less space and are capable of going underground or underwater. Voltage source converter based HVDC applications in embedded AC grids and for offshore connections have grown substantially, in line with quantum leaps in power ratings and significant loss reductions. ABB pioneered HVDC transmission nearly 60 years ago and accounts for half the world’s HVDC installed base. It is befitting that the company that commissioned the world’s first 800 kilovolt UHVDC systems, the longest overhead HVDC link to go into commercial operation, the world’s longest underwater and underground HVDC links now writes the next chapter in the history of this technology and marks an important milestone in the legacy of electrical engineering.