High-Class Passengers Meet Match in This Plane

Donald Callender’s business jet is fit for a king, and it needs to be.

Passengers who have chartered it include foreign dignitaries on vacation trips around the U.S.; a half-dozen former heads of the Department of Defense being ferried to a GOP strategy meeting in Texas several years ago; and an assortment of Hollywood types including Danny DeVito and Sylvester Stallone.

With a refueling stop on the East Coast, the plane can easily make Paris, and it has been to Europe several times, said co-pilot Bill Matlock, one of the two pilots who operate it.

While the plane is kept in a huge, white-floored hangar at Long Beach airport-- hangar space there is about 30% less than at Orange County, and air and ground traffic is far lighter--location really doesn’t matter. Those who charter Callender’s jet usually are picked up at the airport of their choice.

When it arrives, passengers see a gleaming metallic silvery-gray jet with burgundy pinstripes roll up to the apron. With its wide body, dual fuselage-mounted turbojet engines and nearly 70-foot length and wingspan, it looks like a small commercial passenger jet.

But that resemblance ends when the cabin door opens and a carpeted staircase is lowered by hydraulics.

At the top of the stairs, passengers step into what amounts to a private entryway and are surrounded by walls of distressed burled walnut.

The cockpit is outfitted with a pair of sheepskin-covered seats for the pilots, a jump seat for the flight attendant and a mind-numbing array of dials, switches and levers.

Doors in the wall--or bulkhead--directly opposite the passenger hatch open up to reveal and seal off from passengers and crew a spacious lavatory about twice the size of those on commercial airliners. It has a leather-upholstered commode, a mirrored vanity, a sink with gold-plated fixtures, and a pot of silk flowers fastened securely to one walnut cabinet.

The main passenger cabin appears to be a cozy but luxurious living room. A ceiling covered in suede-like cloth is high enough to allow anyone under 6-foot-2 to walk unimpeded down the center aisle on the custom-made gray and burgundy wool carpeting.

In the front section of the cabin are four oversized burgundy leather club seats--two on each side. Special hardware allows passengers to slide the reclining chairs out from the walls and to swivel so they face one another.

Along the walls in the back portion are two couches covered in a pale burgundy crushed velvet. Each could seat three in comfort, but to keep the jet out of the commuter class that requires so much more paperwork, Callender, like most big jet owners, only provides seat belts for a total of nine--leaving one of the couches with an empty center place.

Hardware throughout the cabin, including seat belt buckles, drink holders and the knobs and faucets in the galley, is plated with gold. A sophisticated stereo and television/VCR system are hidden in the burled walnut cabinetry.

A refrigerator keeps drinks cold while a convection oven warms up hot dishes. Meals, for those who pay for the luxury ride, are served with china and crystal dinnerware.

Passengers who need a new book or a sweater can get to their suitcases by opening a door at the rear of the cabin and stepping into a stand-up baggage compartment. Luggage and other equipment is loaded and unloaded into the compartment through an outside hatch, however, so it doesn’t have to be hauled through the cabin.

That handcrafted interior, after all, cost almost $1 million--about $3,300 a square foot.