Why Private Jets Are the Next Big Investment Trend | Tia Minzoni DSH #1422

Summary

Digital Social Hour: Episode Summary Why Private Jets Are the Next Big Investment Trend | Tia Minzoni DSH #1422

Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Tia Minzoni, Owner of Stella Jets
Release Date: June 27, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of Digital Social Hour, host Sean Kelly engages in an insightful conversation with Tia Minzoni, the innovative mind behind Stella Jets, a pioneering company in the private aviation sector. The discussion delves deep into the burgeoning trend of private jet investments, the evolution of private aviation, safety statistics, technological advancements, and the industry's future trajectory.

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Investment Trends in Private Jets

Tia Minzoni opens the discussion by addressing the perception of private jets not just as symbols of luxury but as solid investment opportunities. She emphasizes the financial advantages tied to tax benefits and market movements.

Key Points:

• Tax Depreciation Benefits: Tia highlights the impending return of 100% bonus depreciation, allowing investors to write off the entire value of a jet in the first year. She explains, "With this bonus depreciation now, you can write off the entire amount of what the jet is worth, even if you only put down 20%" ([03:21]).

• Market Predictions: Anticipating a significant increase in jet prices post-depreciation, Tia advises potential investors to act swiftly. She states, "Prices increase because our inventory is definitely going to get light" ([07:05]) and warns that waiting could lead to substantial price hikes, exemplified by her case where a plane could appreciate by nearly $2 million within a few months ([07:12]).

• Investment Viability: Tia underscores that private jet investment is ideal for individuals who fly frequently and are diligent in selecting the right aircraft. She cautions against unrealistic expectations, reminding investors to partner with industry experts to navigate the complexities of aircraft investment ([02:10]).

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Shared Private Aviation

Transitioning to innovative models within private aviation, Tia introduces Stella Share, Stella Jets' venture into shared private jet services.

Key Points:

• Cost Efficiency: Stella Share allows multiple individuals to share the cost of a private jet for specific trips, making private aviation more accessible. Tia explains, "Why can't I share this? So we do that with Stella Share" ([09:05]).

• Market Adaptation: Drawing parallels with tiered pricing models like restaurant price ranges, Tia categorizes private aviation services from $1 to $5, highlighting the emerging shared private option as a cost-effective middle ground ([08:00]).

• Event-Centric Solutions: The model proves particularly advantageous during high-demand events such as the Super Bowl or F1 races. By consolidating flights to a central location, Stella Share minimizes logistical hassles and optimizes costs ([12:12]).

• Industry Growth: Tia expresses optimism about the scalability of shared private aviation, suggesting potential franchise opportunities and collaborative growth with industry leaders like JSX ([09:32]).

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Safety in Private Aviation

Addressing common fears associated with flying, Tia provides a data-driven perspective on aviation safety.

Key Points:

• Statistical Safety: Tia dispels fears by presenting concrete data, stating, "people that die in a car crash, it's 1 in 93 car crashes. There will be someone who dies in a car crash. In plane crashes, it's actually 1 in 13 million" ([15:21]). This stark contrast underscores the relative safety of flying compared to driving.

• Media Influence: She explains the disproportionate media coverage of aviation accidents, noting that while crashes are rare, they receive extensive attention, thereby skewing public perception of flying safety ([15:20]).

• Educational Initiatives: To combat fear of flying, Tia emphasizes the importance of understanding aeronautics and the mechanisms of aircraft, which can alleviate anxiety by demystifying flight operations ([16:56]).

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Technological Innovations

The conversation shifts to the forefront of aviation technology, highlighting advancements that enhance safety and efficiency.

Key Points:

• Autopilot Systems: Both Sean and Tia discuss the prevalence of autopilot in modern aircraft. Tia mentions that on certain flights, pilots primarily handle takeoff and landing, relying on autopilot for the majority of the journey ([21:16]).

• Self-Flying Planes: Tia predicts the advent of fully autonomous small planes serving as air taxis, though she acknowledges regulatory and acceptance hurdles. She is optimistic about the rapid adoption by younger generations, who are more adaptable to technological changes ([19:35], [20:14]).

• Vision Jet Features: Highlighting the Vision Jet, Tia describes its auto-landing capabilities and safety features, including gliding functionalities in case of engine failure. She remarks, "The Vision Jet can glide even if all the engines stalled. It's so safe" ([22:28]).

• Innovative Safety Features: Discussion includes advanced safety technologies like parachute systems for planes, enhancing the overall safety profile of private aviation ([22:36]).

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Industry Challenges and Opportunities

Tia outlines the current challenges facing the private aviation industry and the opportunities they present.

Key Points:

• Workforce Shortages: The industry faces significant shortages in pilots and air traffic controllers, exacerbated by the retirement of baby boomers and a lack of recruitment among younger generations. Tia sees this as an opportunity for new professionals to enter and invigorate the sector ([23:01]).

• Diversity and Inclusion: Highlighting the underrepresentation of women and people of color in aviation leadership, Tia stresses the importance of diversity for fostering innovation. She notes, "less than 6% of aviation companies actually are ran by women. And then if you talk about putting brown skin on those women, it's less than 1%." ([18:28], [18:35]).

• Adoption of New Practices: Tia criticizes outdated practices within the industry, advocating for modernization and efficiency. She remarks on Stella Jets' role in breaking away from "dinosaur practices" to introduce more streamlined and customer-focused operations ([01:29], [19:26]).

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Personal Experiences and Practices

Tia shares personal anecdotes and the operational standards Stella Jets upholds to ensure client safety and satisfaction.

Key Points:

• Booking Standards: Stella Jets maintains strict quality and safety standards, refusing to book flights that do not meet their criteria. Tia shares instances where they declined bookings to prioritize safety over cost, stating, "I won't put somebody on that if I wouldn't put my own son on it" ([24:20], [25:10]).

• Client Relations: Tia emphasizes treating clients with the utmost care, akin to her own family. She mentions instructing her daughter, the company's Vice President, to oversee operations meticulously ([18:04], [25:16]).

• Safety Protocols: In rare cases where pilot qualifications or aircraft standards are not met, Stella Jets prioritizes client safety by declining such engagements. This rigorous approach helps build trust and ensures high safety standards ([24:36], [25:10]).

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Conclusion

In this episode, Tia Minzoni effectively positions private jets not just as luxury commodities but as lucrative investment opportunities bolstered by favorable tax laws and increasing demand for shared services. By addressing safety concerns with factual data and showcasing technological advancements, she builds a compelling case for private aviation's future growth. Furthermore, her commitment to diversity and high operational standards highlights a progressive approach to navigating and modernizing the traditionally conservative aviation industry.

For those interested in exploring private jet investment or experiencing the convenience of shared private aviation, Tia directs listeners to StellaJets.com for more information ([27:26]).

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Notable Quotes:

• "There's a lot of dinosaur practices in the industry. So we came in and we're like, we're innovating and we've been having fun doing it." ([01:29])
• "With this bonus depreciation now, you can write off the entire amount of what the jet is worth, even if you only put down 20%." ([03:21])
• "It's way safer to fly than it is to drive." ([15:21])
• "I won't put somebody on that if I wouldn't put my own son on it." ([25:10])

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Resources Mentioned:

• StellaJets.com: www.stellajets.com

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Stay tuned for more unfiltered conversations with trailblazers and thought leaders on Digital Social Hour.

Transcript

[A]

So we actually have less crashes in Q1 of 2025 than we have for the decade before. It's actually safer to fly now than it's ever been. So I think when you do a little bit of education, whether it's about fear of flying or fear of anything, the more, you know, the less scary it is.

[B]

Yeah, turbulence does give me anxiety, but knowing that actually helps. Okay, guys, we're going to talk private jets and private aviation. Today. We got one of the experts in the space, Tia from Stella Jets. Thanks for coming on today.

[A]

Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

[B]

Yeah, it's a very interesting and fascinating space. Right. How long have you been in this?

[A]

I actually bought Stella Jets a little less than three years ago and the learning curve was incredible. But I think I've learned more in the last three years than I have in my entire life.

[B]

Yeah, there does feel like a lot of gatekeeping in the private aviation space about, like, who's actually what, running it, what the best deals are and everything. Right?

[A]

Yeah, it's. There's a lot of dinosaur practices in the industry. So we came in and we're like, we're innovating and we've been having fun doing it.

[B]

Yeah, it was kind of old school. You didn't really know where to get flights. Right. How to get the best deal.

[A]

Yeah. And we do broker service, so when we came in, we partnered with 700 aircraft operators. So through the operators we have partners with, we have access to just a ton of jets. So you can go to one place and find all the best deals instead of having to call around, figure out who's going to give you a deal, who's going to treat you right. So, yeah, so it's been, it's been fun being able to do that and put people on planes.

[B]

Nice. Yeah, there's a lot of brokers and middlemen. Upselling, right?

[A]

Yeah, for sure. And, you know, there's independent brokers and then there's broker companies. So for us, Stella jets, we do a lot of brokerage, but we're a company that we do quality control, quality checks. If a plane doesn't pass the maintenance checks, if their pilots don't have the right amount of hours, we won't book them. So even you could probably get a better price on a plane that might, you know, drop a wing or something. But we as a company have so much P's and Q's that you wouldn't have with an independent broker. So it also depends on who you're working with.

[B]

How do you see jets as an investment, like over time, do they perform well?

[A]

You know, it kind of, there's a lot of factors that go in. So for the right person, it's a great investment. If it's someone who, you know, they're flying a lot of hours and they don't have time to charter it or they don't buy the right aircraft, you really have to get an expert in the industry that can go over exactly what you need, what you want, what you're looking to get out of it. That'll be super straight with you and just say, hey, man, you're, you're dreaming here. This is never going to happen. Because sometimes you'll have people that are like, oh yeah, you can make a million dollars a year, but if you're flying the aircraft so much you can't charter it, or you buy an aircraft that's not able to go on a charter certificate, then it's a lot harder to make money. So you definitely want to partner with an expert in the field if you're going to try and invest in aircraft.

[B]

Charter certificate. I haven't heard of that before.

[A]

Yeah, it's called a 135. So it has to be registered as a 135. And there's a lot of qualifications that the aircraft has to have to make sure that it's safe to go on a charter certificate. If you own it, you're the only one flying it, then it's a 91 certificate and it doesn't have to pass as much of these regulations as if you're going to charter it.

[B]

That makes sense. Plus now there, there's rumors about the write off coming back, right?

[A]

Yeah. Super excited about that. So with, you know, we're looking at, it's actually, we've got probably less than 60 days before we expect it to pass. And it's a hundred percent depreciation, which we've had in the past. And so we know kind of how the market's gonna go. What that means is that, you know, an airplane is a business asset, it's a business depreciation. So you can take the depreciation over five years, over 10 years, or with this bonus depreciation now, you can write off the entire amount of what the jet is worth, even if you only put down 20%. And you can write the entire thing off in the first year if you would like to. Wow. So, yeah, up to 100% depreciation, which means if you buy, you know, if you have a $2 million tax bill and you buy $4 million aircraft, even though you might have only put down less than a million dollars on this plane, you get to write off all 4 million of that and put $2 million back in your pocket that you would have had to pay the irs. Wow. Yeah.

[B]

That's great. That is crazy. That's what Grant Cardone did, right?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. We had 100% bonus depreciation. It went away and now it's coming back. So we're really excited about it. And typically we see when this bonus depreciation hits, you have people who have smaller aircraft sell them and buy bigger aircraft. Then you have new people coming into the market that buy up the smaller aircraft. So we end up having limited inventory. And just like with real estate or anything else, when your inventory is limited, prices start to go up. So I always tell everybody, don't wait until the last minute, don't wait until the depreciation is passed. Get an aircraft now because it's going to be retro to the first of the year. So you'll still be able to write off 100%, but you got to lock in that price before.

[B]

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[A]

Prices increase because our inventory is definitely going to get light.

[B]

So do you see when this passes, prices of planes going up a lot?

[A]

Oh, absolutely, yeah. We have, you know, we're helping someone buy an aircraft right now and we did the numbers based on historical data and this plane would go up almost $2 million within the next three to four months if he doesn't lock in the price before that depreciation passes.

[B]

That's insane.

[A]

Yeah, it's a wow.

[B]

So just from an investment point of view, someone should look into this right now. There's a short window to take advantage of this.

[A]

Yeah. Even if you were going to buy an aircraft, depreciate it and sell it in a year or two, it makes perfect sense because prices of planes are going to go up and you get to have the full write off.

[B]

Yeah. Do you see people switching from business class to private these days?

[A]

Yes and no. We really see it's kind of a stair step program. So, you know, I kind of see it as the dollar signs on Google restaurants. Right. Where it's like, is this one dollar sign or five dollar signs? So, so you have like spirit, which is your $1 sign. You have your American, your Delta, which is two. You have your JSX and your arrow, which is semi private, that would be a three. And then you have your private, which would be a five. So we've seen that in the industry, there's not a lot of space in the 4. And I think that's really where the industry is going is with shared private. So we have a brand called Stella Share where you can actually share a private jet and share the cost on these, you know, trips that Then you're going to go on. Sometimes you have a long trip. Let's say we're going Van Nuys to New York. We want to have a big aircraft. We don't want to have to have a fuel stop. So even if it's one or two people, you have to have a really big aircraft. So it only makes sense that everybody's like, why can't I share this? So we do that with Stella. Share. I really think that's where the industry is going. And what's cool to answer your question is you see people from business and first class that are going to jump into semi private, which is a lot easier step than going all the way into getting a full private charter, which is a much bigger increase in how much you're going to pay on that.

[B]

Yeah, that's a good point though. Coast to coast private is super expensive.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But there is room for maybe that $4 sign range. Like, like I wouldn't pay 40k for that, but maybe 10.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You know what I mean?

[A]

Yeah, absolutely.

[B]

If I could find people to split it with, I would do that.

[A]

Yeah. And I think that's really where our industry is going. I think there's a lot of people that are trying to figure out semi and shared private. JSX has done a lot of the hard work in the industry. So we, you know, we've looked and researched people that have done a good job, people that, you know, went out of business, people that did it right, did it wrong. There's so many lessons in the people that did it wrong. And we've been, we've been building this for five years and we just launched this year and it's been incredible. So we're hoping to grow it pretty big and get some of these investors who are buying aircraft to put them into that higher margin company and, you know, really help everybody out. It's just a win, win all the way around.

[B]

Yeah. Shout out to jsx. Because I hated flying prior to jsx, like absolutely dreaded it. But JSX makes it so seamless.

[A]

Yeah. And with commercial, you know, you've got to find parking, pay for parking or shuttle to the airport. Then you've got TSA and you know, you've got germs and crowds and delays and it's just, it's just so stressful.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And most of the time they're not going to fly into smaller towns as well. So a lot of times we have people that will fly with us, like golfers who need to go to a Tournament, and it's in a small town. They land on a commercial plane, They've still got a three hour drive.

[B]

Damn.

[A]

Where with private or semi private or shared private, you can actually get into some of these smaller places. You arrive at the airport, 15 minutes for your plane goes, you know, flies out. You drive right up to the plane, they take your bags out of the car, put them on the plane, hop on, take a nap. We have a client that we make, make sure we have the bed made out every time he gets on the flight because we know he's going to take a nap. You know, there's just so much ease to being able to fly private. Takes so much. People think that you fly private for luxury. Most of our clients fly private to save time and because they need to not be stressed or they're able to do meetings in the air between they do a meeting in this city, do a meeting in the air, do a meeting in the next city, and they're home that night to coach their son's, you know, football. Football game. So there's just a lot of convenience to it.

[B]

Absolutely. Time is money, right?

[A]

Absolutely.

[B]

Especially for people flying private. Their hourly rates are probably in the tens of thousands.

[A]

Yeah. And I think you hit a level where you realize that your time is more valuable than a dollar. And so, you know, that's why the majority of people that fly private fly private. Times just their most valuable currency.

[B]

Yeah. Does stuff get hectic around big events like F1 and all the baller events?

[A]

Yeah. There's so many times I feel like I'm standing on top of a mountain, everything's on fire and I've got a water gun. But yeah, it gets super hectic. We definitely have busy seasons and there's so many events. We've tried to help with that. And sometimes you can't even land at those events because, you know, say for super bowl, the landing spots at these airports can be bought out a full year ahead of the actual game.

[B]

You could buy out a landing strip.

[A]

Yeah. Not a landing strip, but a spot so they know that they can have, you know, x amount of aircraft land per hour after you get to that max. Nobody else can land at that airport. And then you also have to park the plane somewhere so the parking spots get reserved early.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So you'll have some of the bigger people on charter that go and buy up multiple landing spots and multiple parking spaces a year ahead of the event before they've ever sold a flight because they know what the demand is.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So they'll sell those spots.

[A]

Exactly. So a lot of the stuff we do with Stella Share is around events like that. Because if five of us need to get a plane and go to the event and there's only one landing spot, somebody has to land an hour out and drive in. And it makes it a little less, you know, convenient.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Excuse me. So for Super bowl, for F1, for a lot of these events, even the Aspire tours and stuff like that, we try and say, okay, if everybody can get to this one central location, then we'll just split the cost of a private jet, fly in together, and then we need one spot instead of five, and it's much easier.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I remember the super bowl here, like two years ago. The. The private airport was full. I think it was Henderson.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Completely full. So you couldn't even fly in.

[A]

And F1 was crazy out here in Vegas.

[B]

Oh, it was.

[A]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

Yeah. Because a lot of international private jets are coming in, right?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And we're doing. I think we're doing F1 Montreal in a couple of weeks, and we have some international events that are coming up too. So you want to talk about an expensive private jet flight.

[B]

What's the most expensive flight you've heard of?

[A]

The most expensive flight we've done, like, with Stella jets, was over 300,000.

[B]

Oh, my gosh.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Where was that from?

[A]

It was from the United States, but we did several stops overseas in Asia. Wow. And then brought them back. So, you know, you have to think you have to have two sets of crews because we have duty time. So pilots can't fly for 24 hours. Just like a truck driver couldn't drive for 24 hours. So when you have a flight that goes over duty time, which, depending on if It's a part 91 or part 135, 10 to 12 hours, and the flight is a 13, 16 hour flight, you have to have other pilots on board to switch out. So there's a lot of things that factor in. It's not just about, like, the cost of the fuel and the landing fees.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But. Yeah. Over $300,000.

[B]

Chase.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's insane.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's a whole salary in one flight.

[A]

Right. Right.

[B]

Holy crap.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. That's nuts. There's levels to this stuff. Let's talk about these crash statistics, because a lot of people fear flying. I think it's one of the most common fears in the world. Right?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But if you actually look at the data, which you have some facts.

[A]

Yeah, I'm. I'm A big data person. My former life, I was a data driven marketing expert. So I always look at the numbers. So anytime someone says something, I'm doing some research, looking at data. And so when we started getting a lot of media attention on crashes this year, I was like, what's happening? There's not. There's not an increase in crashes. Why are we getting all this media attention? So, you know, a couple things that, that factor into that is there's a lot of things politically that are going on that regarding faa, tsa, I hope.

[B]

You guys are enjoying the show. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. It helps the show a lot with the algorithm. Thank you.

[A]

Etc. And anytime something becomes political, it becomes media. So we actually have less crashes in Q1 of 2025 than we have for the decade before. It's actually safer to fly now than it's ever been.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

But the way that they measure, you know, the safety of aircraft is they measure not only how many aircraft have crashed, but how many people have died in aircraft crashes. So anytime you have a commercial flight that is in a crash, like we have this year, your death toll goes up, which makes it huge. Media. So, you know, a lot. There's a lot to factor in. But when you look at it right now, the statistics are, you know, people that die in a car crash, it's 1 in 93 car crashes. There will be someone who dies in a car crash. In plane crashes, it's actually 1 in 13 million.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

So it's way safer to fly than it is to drive. If you live in Dallas, like me, those numbers may be a little different. But also, you know, I think for me, because a long time ago, I had a fear of flying. I'm scared of heights. I'd never jump out of a plane. Right. But I started learning the aeronomics. I started learning how planes actually function. And, you know, we were just talking about this on the flight over here from LA to Vegas, there was a little bit of turbulence. There's always more turbulence when it's hot, Right.

[B]

I didn't know that.

[A]

So there's nothing wrong with the plane. You're completely safe. It's the atmosphere makes a difference in how much turbulence you have.

[B]

Is that why flying into Vegas is always kind of bumpy?

[A]

Always, yeah. And if you're going over mountains, well, air kind of ramps up off mountains and the planes have to adjust for these different ramps of air that causes turbulence. Nothing's wrong with your plane. So I think when you do a little bit of education. Whether it's about fear of flying or fear of anything, the more, you know, the less scary it is.

[B]

Yeah. Turbulence does give me anxiety, but knowing that actually helps me mentally process that.

[A]

Yeah. Well, you take your. Your crystal and you just breathe.

[B]

There's been a few times on flights where I've actually prayed.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm not gonna lie.

[A]

I say a prayer every time I'm. I get on a plane and I say, you know, please keep us. Please protect us on the ground, in the air, and as we land, please keep us in your faithful hands. I say every single flight. Yeah, it makes me feel better.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know?

[B]

Yeah. I've been in the backseat on, like, some commercial. Commercial flights. Is it bumpier in the back usually?

[A]

Yeah, I think so.

[B]

Yeah. So I guess it was bumpier and. Oh, my gosh.

[A]

Yeah. I try to never find.

[B]

I was thinking about texting my mom, like, if I don't make it right. I love you.

[A]

Yeah. Who's the one person you text when you get on a plane? Is there someone that you're like, I'm on the plane.

[B]

It's always my. What? My soon to be wife. But if I'm with her, it would be my mom.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I grew up in a single mother household, so, yeah, she means a lot to me, for sure.

[A]

Yeah, same.

[B]

Oh, you did too.

[A]

Well, I am a single mom. Or I was single mom. And so I actually text my youngest daughter who's part of the company. I'm just like, I'm boarded. Love you.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Make sure to take care of the company if anything happens to me. And she's like, love you too.

[B]

I love that you want to pass the torch to her eventually.

[A]

Yeah. You know, she's our VP. She started interning with me at 14.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah. And she's 26 now, so we've been working together for a really long time. And she's just brilliant. She's. She does operations. She's our vice president. So, you know, I'm the one that has all these crazy ideas, and she's the one that sits down and writes it all out and figures out how we're actually going to accomplish it. So we're a pretty good team.

[B]

Love it. Male dominated space, right?

[A]

Oh, for sure. Less than 6% of aviation companies actually are ran by women.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah. And then if you talk about putting brown skin on those women, it's less than 1%. So, you know, the industry has a lot of. Of diversity as far as bringing in more women. And I think when you diversify an industry, you get a lot of innovation. So it gets exciting to see all these young people coming in, you know, people from different backgrounds, different cultures, and seeing what they say, wait a minute, there's a problem. How come no one's fixed it in aviation? A lot of the time is why do we need to fix it? It's been working just fine. That sounds cool and fun, but we make plenty of money doing it this way, which is why we have dinosaur tech, which is why we have dinosaur practices. So it's been really fun to come in and kind of figure out how can we innovate the industry because we want to. A lot of people in the industry, they make plenty of money. They just have no need to do it. It's not that they don't see it or that it's not there. They just don't have any, any need to do it.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So we're really ambitious about kind of bringing aviation into the space that it should be.

[B]

What do you think are the biggest innovations to keep an eye out for right now?

[A]

I think one of the shared and semi private is going to be a huge jump. I think that's the first thing that we're going to see really take off is and you know, I've had people ask me what's going to stop the next guy from doing a shared private or a semi private. And I said, hopefully nothing. Like, they can come in, they can franchise with me. I'll ask Jeff Finster to help me figure it out, you know what I mean? But I think that's really where aviation is going to go because commercials become such a pain. And then eventually, you know, eventually we'll have self flying small planes that are like air taxis. I think that's a little ways off because people still with me, they don't want to fly a plane if it just has one pilot, which is completely safe.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. So I think adaption to that is going to be a little slow. Even though technology is just almost there.

[B]

They'Re self driving cars now. The waymos are crushing it.

[A]

Yeah. Or especially around Vegas, I have a ton.

[B]

Yeah, those aren't even waymos. I don't even know what those are. But yeah, self driving cars are crushing it.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. So we have the technology to have self flying planes. We just don't have all the regulations, the logistics, all of that kind of stuff figured out. But I think it's going to come sooner than people think. And I'm interested to see how us as humans adapt. I think millennials and Gen Z and the next generation. What are they, Alphas or something?

[B]

Gen Alpha. Yeah.

[A]

Are going to adapt to everything super fast because of how they've been born. Where my generation, Gen X, you know, we're a little bit slower.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So it's exciting. It's exciting to see where it's going. It's exciting to see that it's finally advancing and technology has been a huge, huge part of that.

[B]

Well, I don't know if people know this, but a lot of the flights right now are on autopilot.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I was talking to a pilot in Mexico on vacation. He said he only. They even have auto landing on some of them.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

But he was saying he only does the takeoff and landing.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

So it's already pretty much flying itself.

[A]

Yeah. You know, they watch your controls, make sure that where they don't need to have a flight path change if there's, you know, a storm or whatever. But a lot of times in our flights, our pilots will get up and come back and have a chat with us. You know, that's funny. They'll ask you, you know, if they. If they know you, they'll say, hey, you're welcome to sit up in the front seat and some video or whatever.

[B]

I'd be so scared to touch something on accident.

[A]

I know. Every time they do that, I tell people, don't touch anything.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, but. But yeah, the planes. The technology on the planes is incredible.

[B]

Yeah. So that. That'll be within the next five years, I think.

[A]

Yeah. Oh, for sure. And there's a jet called a Vision Jet. Jeff and I were just talking about that. You know, Jeff Finster's taking pilot lessons.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah. So I just did his podcast. We had some fun conversations.

[B]

It's a good skill to have as a businessman, for sure.

[A]

Even if you're just flying on a plane, like, don't you want to know how to land it?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And if you're scared of flying, it's a great thing to do, even if you're just taking the lessons in the books, because then you learn not to be so scared. So kudos to him for doing that. But we're talking about the Vision Jet, which. The Vision Jet has the auto landing. It can. It can glide. Even if all the engine stalled, it can glide and land itself. Whoa. It's so safe.

[B]

That's crazy.

[A]

Yeah, it's tiny. It's like a little sedan inside, but it's picking up steam quite a bit.

[B]

So some of these private jets have. What's it called? If, if their wings malfunction or something. They have a parachute.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

You've seen that?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. It's amazing. There's so much good technology out there right now.

[B]

Yeah, that's nuts. There was a crash in, I think the Henderson Airport like a few years ago. Did you see that one?

[A]

I see all of them. So I don't know which one you're talking about, but what happened?

[B]

Someone was taking off and someone was landing and I guess.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. You know, air traffic control is, should be watching that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

There's a lot of issues right now happening up in New York with air traffic control because they've lost a lot of their, A lot of their people have retired. They haven't replaced people. We also see that with pilots, you know, the baby boomers, there's so many of them and they're all retiring now and not. We've had so many people in my generation, your generation, that become entrepreneurs or gone into, you know, for me, I never would have thought, oh, I could be a pilot one day. Right. And so now that this generation is retiring in massive numbers, it's hard to replace them in some of these jobs that have not been really heavily, you know, I guess I'm going to say marketed to the younger generations because like, I didn't know I was going to grow up and own a private jet company. You know, there's a lot of people who never, ever thought of the opportunity to become a pilot. So same thing with air traffic control. You don't really, you know, you think, oh, I'm going to be a lawyer or a doctor or whatever. You don't think, oh, I'm going to go work at air traffic control. So lots of job opportunities in the industry across the board and they're really good, good jobs to have.

[B]

So that makes sense.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Have you ever turned down a booking? The guy was sketchy or something.

[A]

Oh, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. I've turned it down on both sides. I've turned it down on a customer base and I've turned it down on the operator base because the aircraft didn't meet, you know, our quality standards, our safety standards.

[B]

They're trying to give you an old ass plan or something.

[A]

Yeah. And you know, pilots that were like, you know, how long have you been flying? Oh, 500 hours. No, you need to be flying 5,000 hours before you're flying a jet. And I won't put somebody on a plane that I wouldn't put my kids on. And we do have clients that come to us and say, I Just want the absolute cheapest thing and. Or they'll give us like, oh, my budget's, you know, five grand and we don't have a five grand flight. Maybe we have an eight grand flight. But we know there's one out there he can get for five grand. But I'm not going to put you on that if I wouldn't put my own son on it. So if they're insistent on that, they just have to go to another broker.

[B]

Wow. Respect to you putting their safety before the dollar amount.

[A]

Yeah. I always say I'm a mom first.

[B]

Right.

[A]

You know, my number one goal is to be the coolest grandma in the world. But everybody, every client there, I treat them just like I would treat my own kids. And I want to make sure that I'm protecting them for their parents sake, for their kids sake, you know, it's not just for our sake.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. 500 hours. Wow. Is that commercial or is there a difference with ours?

[A]

Commercial is very, very strict on that. With private aviation it's not as strict unless you are 135 operator. So there's different places where you can kind of sneak in with low hours. It's good when you're training, you have to get hours somewhere.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

But it's not necessarily good if we're putting a client on there and there's not someone, you know, a couple. If something happens to the main pilot and it's not a plane that can land itself. Guess what? We need somebody that has some experience to take care of our clients. If you're flying by yourself, I don't. You can have a hundred hours, you can have 10 hours. Like that's how you learn. But not when we're paying to put somebody else on your plane.

[B]

Yeah. Has that happened to you on a flight where the main pilot couldn't function?

[A]

No, it's very rare.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. Like you said, one out of 13 million.

[A]

Million. Yeah.

[B]

There's a lot of flights too.

[A]

Yeah. It's really where it's just one of those things that it's so rare. It's like a volcano erupting. It's going to get news everywhere. Right. Because doesn't erupt every day. So it's the same thing in aviation. Most of the things that happen are super, super rare. So it gets a ton of media and then it feels like, oh, this could happen to me. When it's very unlikely.

[B]

Yeah. That, that media blitz, because it was like a crash a week, I felt like for like a month straight. It even scared me. I was supposed to go to D.C. for the inauguration, and I was like, should I fly right now? They did well with that attack.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

I think a lot of people got scared that month.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[B]

Even today, I still hear people are like, I'm scared of it because of those crashes.

[A]

Yeah. We have people call us. You know, I've had a client that's a celebrity client, and his mom called me and was like, I just need you to tell me, is it safe? Because he's flying a lot. And so I had to, you know, tell her, here's the statistics. And it's actually safer now than it's ever been, which is absolutely true. So. So, yeah, they did a. They did a good thing, or they did a good job in the media, scaring people on these flights. But it became big media, and, you know, that's their.

[B]

So where can people watching this potentially get a flight off you?

[A]

StellaJets.com is where we're linked up. So they can go on there anywhere in any of our companies and show some interest, and we'll get in touch.

[B]

Perfect. Please don't ask for a free jet, guys. Yeah, she gets asked out every day.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Costs money, right?

[A]

Yeah, it costs money.

[B]

All right, we'll check her out, guys. Thanks for watching. Thank you.