✈️ The VIP Seat Weekly

Your business aviation hot takes, served fresh.

October 14th, 2026 | Season 3 Episode 41 Companion | 15-minute read

Good morning and welcome back to the VIP Seat. This week in private jet news, a U.S.-registered Learjet turns up in a Laos meth bust, rogue pilots move to the top of the airline safety worry list, Fortune runs another private jet tax story we have to push back on, IADA raises the bar for its certified brokers, and a Purdue-backed team heads to Nikumaroro hunting for Amelia Earhart's Electra. Sit back, buckle up, and let's take off.

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The Brief

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The Scoop: Lao authorities arrested 13 people after 521 kg of suspected methamphetamine was allegedly found in bags being loaded onto a private Learjet at Luang Prabang International Airport on October 1, according to AsiaOne, citing Malaysian police and regional media. Malaysia's Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department said the chartered jet flew in from Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang carrying no cargo, with a Singaporean pilot, a Malaysian co-pilot, and a Filipino passenger aboard, and that the drugs were believed to be bound for Manila. Lao authorities had reportedly received a tip on September 21 about a cross-border smuggling operation using a private aircraft. According to the reports, two vehicles arrived at the airport that afternoon and airport staff allegedly helped move 23 bags through an X-ray machine and toward the aircraft. Officials said the bags held 500 packages weighing 521 kg. Those detained reportedly include seven airport employees. Bernama identified the aircraft as a Learjet registered N73GP. No one has been convicted, and Malaysian police say they are sending investigators to Laos.

Why it matters: U.S.-registered aircraft fly for hire all over the world, and when one turns up in a criminal case abroad, owners, trustees, managers, and brokers all get asked the same question: under whose authority was it flying?

Our Take: Quick conversion for our American readers: 521 kilograms is roughly 1,150 pounds. That is the last public math we are doing this week. Twenty-three bags for a light crew and one passenger is the kind of load that should make anyone on the ramp ask a question, and from the reporting, it was a tip and an X-ray that brought this one down.

An N-registered Learjet flying a paid trip between Southeast Asian countries is not what you would expect, and we could not find the aircraft on any U.S. charter certificate. Foreign owners of N-registered aircraft commonly hold them through an owner trust, which is a normal and legitimate structure. So can an N-registered airplane fly charter under a foreign operator's certificate? Our best read is that it depends on the local civil aviation authority, since that is who grants the right to fly for hire, and there are reciprocal arrangements between some registries. We genuinely do not know the answer here, and if you do, please write in. If this turns out to have been a gray charter, and we are not saying it was, that would add another layer to an already strange story.

It is also worth remembering that much of Asia treats drug offenses far more harshly than the U.S. does. Laos can impose the death penalty for drug crimes, and Singapore has a mandatory death penalty above certain quantities. The case echoes a similar one in the Dominican Republic, where roughly 700 kilos of cocaine turned up aboard a business jet and later became a documentary. Pilots flying international trips: know your passengers, know what is in the baggage compartment, and know the law where you land. See something, say something.

What to watch: Whether Malaysian investigators tie the alleged syndicate to anyone beyond the airport, and whether the aircraft's operating authority for the trip becomes public.

Read More: AsiaOne

The Scoop: At least 800 people worldwide have died since 2005 in airline crashes that U.S. government officials suspect or have confirmed were intentionally caused by pilots, according to accident data reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The analysis follows the September flydubai incident on a Boeing 737 MAX bound for Israel, in which a co-pilot allegedly attacked the captain with an axe in what authorities have described as a suspected attempt to crash the jet. The aircraft reportedly dropped 16,000 feet in 30 seconds before the captain got the cockpit door open and passengers intervened, per Reuters reporting carried by Arab News. Over the same 2005 to 2025 period, global commercial aviation fatalities fell 35% while flight volume grew 37%, according to data cited by the Journal. The Journal also reported that senior Boeing executives have discussed the vulnerability of a rogue pilot alone in the cockpit, and that regulators are moving in different directions: the EU now requires doctors to report pilots' severe mental health issues, while the FAA has expanded the psychiatric medications pilots can fly with and shortened the wait to return to flying after treatment.

Why it matters: FAA medical standards cover business aviation crews as well as airline crews, so whatever changes come out of this conversation will reach Part 91 and Part 135 flight departments too.

Our Take: Here is the good news buried in a grim story: airplanes have gotten so safe that mechanical failures are no longer the headline risk. This is not a new trend so much as what is left when everything else gets fixed. The human factor, and in rare cases human intent, is now the hard problem.

We land in different places on the fix. One view is that cases like this support strict mental health standards for pilots, and that the bigger issue is how long the topic was pushed under the rug. When the consequences are this severe, it needs to be talked about openly. The counterpoint is that the current rules are stringent but outdated: they can keep pilots with well-managed conditions out of the cockpit while doing little to catch the rare person who is a real danger. And how do you screen for extremist views without crossing lines on personal rights and free speech? Employers are already walking that tightrope.

Who owns the fix? The airlines, the FAA, the manufacturers, or all of them together? We think it has to be a multipronged answer. AIN's Matt Thurber raised a point in a social media comment that stuck with us: on the flydubai flight, the captain barely got back through one door. With secondary cockpit barriers becoming more common, would two doors have made that harder? Nobody has a clean answer to that, and that is the point.

What to watch: The Saudi air accident investigation and the separate UAE-led criminal probe into the flydubai incident, and whether Boeing or regulators propose cockpit-level safeguards.

Read More: The Wall Street Journal (subscription) | More from The VIP Seat: our earlier rant on pilot mental healthcare

The Scoop: Fortune reported on October 1 that private jet flyers benefit from tax breaks and taxpayer-funded infrastructure while paying a small share of the taxes that fund the FAA, drawing on the Institute for Policy Studies' September "High Flyers 2026" report. Citing Department of Transportation data, the article says noncommercial private jets account for about 7% of FAA-handled flights but contribute 0.6% of the taxes flowing into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. IPS estimates that about 256,000 people fly privately and points to three channels it calls “subsidies”: 100% bonus depreciation restored under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, state sales tax exemptions on aircraft purchases, and federal airport grants, about $1.1 billion of which it flagged as likely to benefit private jets. The article notes that private jet owners do pay fuel taxes and landing fees, and that NBAA and other groups argue the tax treatment supports jobs.

Why it matters: Reports like this become talking points for new taxes, including the proposed Stop Subsidizing Private Jets Act of 2026 and state-level sales and luxury tax fights, so owners and operators should be ready to answer the "subsidy" argument with facts.

Our Take: We think this piece gets our industry wrong, and it is not the first time. It leans heavily on a single advocacy report, from a group that has published a series of reports calling for higher taxes on private aviation, and presents that framing with little outside context. Private jets make an easy headline. Here is the other side of the ledger.

The ticket tax is not airline-only. The article opens with the 7.5% tax on airline tickets and says private jet flyers are not subject to it. Charter flights on private jets pay federal excise tax too, and reputable operators and brokers collect and remit it on every trip. The 0.6% figure counts only noncommercial flying, which pays through a federal tax on every gallon of fuel instead. Leaving charter out makes the gap look bigger than it is.

Bonus depreciation is not a private jet loophole. It applies to qualifying business equipment across the economy, from tractors and bulldozers to trucks and machine tools. Its purpose is to pull investment forward, and the research backs that up: a 2017 American Economic Review study by Eric Zwick and James Mahon found bonus depreciation raised eligible investment by roughly 10% to 17% in the periods studied. Tax treatment is one input into an aircraft purchase, not the reason the airplane exists. When bonus depreciation was phasing down, people did not stop buying jets in the aggregate.

We have tried a luxury tax before. Congress enacted one in 1990 that covered aircraft and boats, then repealed most of it in 1993 after it was widely blamed for job losses in boat building and aircraft manufacturing. Business aviation supports well-paid manufacturing, maintenance, and technical jobs, and any new tax has to answer for that trade-off.

Not every flight is an O'Hare flight. As NBAA's response points out, a Dreamliner from Newark to Chicago at peak hour is not the same demand on the system as a PC-12 from Chattanooga (shout out to Preston’s home airport) to a small field in Pennsylvania. Private flyers headed to Chicago are far more likely to land at Midway or Chicago Executive than at O'Hare.

Finally, the core claim, that someone hunting for a budget airfare is subsidizing private jets, ignores who carries the broader tax burden. Business owners pay income tax, employer payroll taxes, and plenty more. If you want to debate whether the very wealthy should pay more, that is a fair debate. Our objection is to the math. Know these facts and use them, because this argument will come up at your next dinner party.

What to watch: Whether the Stop Subsidizing Private Jets Act gains any traction, and whether the House version of the ALERT Act, which would block state and local officials from using aircraft tracking data to tax private jets, survives the Senate.

Read More: Fortune | More from The VIP Seat: our take on the New York jet tax threat

The Scoop: The International Aircraft Dealers Association (IADA) has tightened the path to its Certified Aircraft Broker designation and now requires candidates to complete a study course and a three-month preparation period before sitting for the exam, according to AIN. The certification is available to brokers who work for IADA-accredited dealers. IADA has previously said applicants must be employed by an accredited dealer or OEM for at least a year, recommends two to three years of brokerage experience, and uses an independent third party to administer the exam.

Why it matters: There is no government license required to call yourself an aircraft broker in the U.S., so voluntary credentials like IADA's are one of the few signals a buyer or seller has when choosing who to trust with a deal.

Our Take: This is one of those stories that sounds boring and is actually good news. The pre-owned market has been hot, and anyone can print business cards that say "jet broker." It is a healthy sign that the industry is regulating itself and investing in education.

The credential has real strength and a real limit. When you hire a realtor, you know there is a state license behind the title. This is different: it is a group of firms agreeing to hold themselves to a standard. IADA membership is not cheap, the requirements are real, and its members handle a large share of transactions. The challenge is that end users may not know the credential exists, or why they should care, and brokers outside IADA are not going to explain it to them. So the job becomes educating buyers.

At least this is not a pay-to-play credential, which you cannot say about every corner of our industry. And the contrast with yachts is striking. Florida, one of the biggest boat markets in the country, requires yacht brokers to be licensed and bonded, while aircraft deals are often far larger and require neither. One theory is that regulators treat aircraft buyers more like accredited investors who are expected to hire the right help. As we all know, that does not always happen. Buyer beware.

Read More: AIN

The Scoop: Amelia Earhart's plane has not been found, but a new expedition is checking a possible lead. The Taraia Object Expedition, led by the Archaeological Legacy Institute and backed by Purdue University, was expected to arrive this week at Nikumaroro, an uninhabited island in Kiribati's Phoenix Islands roughly halfway between Australia and Hawaii, according to FOX Television Stations reporting. The team plans to examine a submerged object, spotted in satellite imagery six years ago, that some believe could be the wreckage of Earhart's twin-engine Lockheed Electra 10-E, last seen 89 years ago. The trip was delayed while the team waited for approval from Kiribati's government. If the object is confirmed, Purdue has said it hopes to run a full excavation next year and eventually bring the aircraft back to Purdue for display.

Why it matters: Nikumaroro is one of the most persistent theories in aviation history, and a confirmed find would close one of the field's most famous open cases.

Our Take: We will admit we did not realize anyone was still looking. The Pacific is a very big place. But this is deep-level aviation nerd material, and we are here for it. As a refresher on the story: in 1932 Earhart flew solo nonstop from Los Angeles to Newark, and in 1935 she became the first person to fly solo from Honolulu to Oakland. Purdue has been posting videos from the boat, and they are worth a watch.

Now the skepticism. At least one researcher who has been to the island has said the object is likely a tree. There is even a Polymarket on the outcome if you are so inclined. The bigger problem may be proof: aluminum in shallow seawater degrades quickly, so even if the team finds something, tying it to the Electra will take something like a serial number. A piece of wing found near these islands years ago was never confirmed as hers. Wheels up to the search team, and we will be watching.

What to watch: Whether the team recovers anything with an identifying mark that ties the object to Earhart's Electra.

Read More: FOX 5 Atlanta

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Squawk Six Seven

A pilot asked ATC for a squawk code built around a certain two numbers, and the controller obliged. If you have kids, you already know which numbers. If you do not, consider yourself lucky. The phrase has been banned in at least one of our houses, and we are fairly sure this request was made for the kids in the back. Our verdict: once it shows up on a transponder, it is officially no longer cool. Let it die.

Jet Not Included

A recurring favorite of ours: a shirtless online guru in a cowboy hat, working out on a private jet, promising you too can be a millionaire if you just comment below. Our standing reminder: standing next to a private jet is not a business plan, and it is not proof that anyone knows what they are talking about.

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Headed to NBAA-BACE next week? If you see us walking around, come say hi and grab a selfie. Post it on LinkedIn, tag us, and we may give you a shout on the show.

Jessie's Links:
Private Aviation Safety Alliance
FlyVizor
LinkedIn

Preston's Links:
Prestige Aircraft Finance
Private Jet Insider (Newsletter)
LinkedIn
X (Formerly Known as Twitter)
FastJets

Disclaimer: The VIP Seat Weekly is for informational and entertainment purposes only. Coverage of publicly traded companies reflects the personal opinions of the hosts and does not constitute investment, financial, tax, or legal advice, nor a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. Descriptions of criminal investigations, legal proceedings, regulatory matters, and safety incidents reflect published reports and public records, and are not findings of fact by The VIP Seat, its hosts, or any company named. No one named or described in a criminal investigation in this issue has been convicted, and no probable cause has been determined in any incident discussed. Commentary on tax policy reflects the opinions of the hosts and is not tax advice for any particular situation. Preston Holland is a member of GLADA, an aircraft dealer association separate from IADA, which is discussed in this issue. The hosts are not registered investment advisors and may hold positions in companies discussed. All investments carry risk. Readers should conduct their own research and consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decision.