Elon Musk’s private jet flew from San Jose to San Francisco, a 35-mile flight that took a total of nine minutes, according to Twitter users who track the tech mogul’s movements.
the New York Post reported that the super-short flight across the San Francisco Bay took place on May 6, but the satellite map showing the plane’s flight path was widely shared by Twitter users over the weekend, with many expressing outrage. for the carbon footprint left by the head of an electric car. business.
“Elon Musk took a 9 minute flight to San Francisco from San Jose which is 5 stops on Caltrain,” tweeted Hayden Clarkin, referring to a local train that connects San Francisco to cities to the south along the Bay.
“I literally have no words.”
According to the map, Musk’s plane flew about 56 km from San Jose International Airport to San Francisco International Airport. By car it would be a 40 minute drive depending on traffic.
Ken Klippenstein posted a tweet juxtaposing the short flight path map with a message from Musk in which he wrote: “Tesla exists to help reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change, which affects all species on Earth.”
“Even if your faith in humanity is failing, this is worth worrying about,” Musk tweeted in 2018.
“Support makes a difference. Thank you.”
New York Times editor and CNBC anchor Andrew Ross Sorkin offered an alternative explanation.
“It is likely that the plane was just being ‘repositioned,’ as the plane was sitting at one airport and was later moved to a different airport to pick up its passengers,” Sorkin tweeted.
“This happens all the time. Planes often stop at a less busy airport and then fly to another nearby.”
Sorkin did not convince some on Twitter. One commenter wrote: “Lol dude, that’s still an incredibly short and wasteful flight, passenger or not. It’s funny that you see how your job is to defend the absurd excesses of billionaires.”
Last year, Jack Sweeney, a tech-savvy 19-year-old college student, founded the Twitter account @ElonsJet, which provides regular updates on the flights made by the world’s richest human in his private plane.
Musk, who said the site was a security risk, was so alarmed by Sweeney’s Twitter account that he contacted the student last year and offered him $5,000 to take it down.
“I don’t like the idea of being shot by a madman,” Musk wrote to Sweeney in a private message.
Sweeney turned down the $5,000 offer. He then demanded $50,000 from the Tesla boss.
After considering the offer, Musk said he didn’t “feel right” about paying to close the account. Finally, he stopped responding.
In addition to his duties as CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Musk is also the founder and CEO of The Boring Company, a tunneling company that creates “loop” projects for underground automobile travel.
Musk founded the company after he grew tired of the traffic in Los Angeles.
The tech mogul is also locked in a legal fight with Twitter after the social media company sued him for trying to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy out its shareholders and take the company private.
Last month, several celebrities were criticized for using private planes for short flights, even while publicly declaring their support for the fight against climate change.
Social media influencer and reality TV star Kylie Jenner was deemed a “climate criminal” online after she bragged about taking private jets for short three-minute flights for trips most people would take by car in about 45 minutes.
Other A-list stars who have been flagged online for excessive use of private jets include Taylor Swift, Floyd Mayweather, Jay-Z, Alex Rodriguez, Blake Shelton, Steven Spielberg, Mark Wahlberg and Oprah Winfrey.
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and is reproduced with permission.
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