The world's richest man, Bill Gates, probably doesn't worry too much about money. But he does, on occasion, feel a little guilty about spending it.
He has called his private jet his "guilty pleasure" and "his big splurge,"on multiple Reddit Ask-Me-Anything sessions.
You might wonder why owning a plane feels like a guilty splurge to Gates, given that he's constantly jetting around the world, and he has some pretty demanding security needs.
Maybe the answer is because the jet is massive.
As part of his somewhat confidential, unofficial trip to the Philippines earlier this month, the local TV news station got a glimpse of him and wife Melinda getting onto a private jet and taking off. You can really see how big this private plane is:
Some news reports also said that the Gates entourage brought a helicopter on that trip, but the Gates Foundation never confirmed that. The whole trip was a bit under the radar, leading to reports that the country's president snubbed the billionaire by not meeting with him. But apparently, the Gates weren't on a political social call and weren't interested in a meeting. They were reportedly paying a visit to the International Rice Research Institute, as part of research they support on highly nutritious hybrid grains of rice.
It has been widely reported that Gates' plane is a Bombardier BD-700 Global Express that cost $40-ish million and seats up to 19 people. We can only imagine what it costs to fly this plane between jet fuel and crew.
Here's another video of that type of jet.
