IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Mark DiLullo, CEO of Threshold Aviation Group, has secured his fourth city-pair aviation speed record, piloting a Gulfstream G550 from Narita, Japan (NRT), to Green Bay, Wisconsin (GRB), in just 10 hours and 31 minutes.
The 6,300-mile transpacific flight, pending certification by the France-based Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI), averaged approximately 600 knots. DiLullo served as Pilot in Command, supported by co-captains Jerry Perez and Travis Holland.
Setting an aviation speed record requires a fundamentally different approach from a typical long-range corporate flight. While flight departments ordinarily balance speed with fuel efficiency and operating cost, DiLullo and his crew had one overriding objective: minimize elapsed time.
That meant deliberately trading efficiency for speed.
From the outset, the flight deck executed a carefully calculated, high-speed profile designed to shave minutes wherever possible. The crew utilized an aggressive climb schedule to reach a predetermined cruise altitude quickly, accepting greater fuel burn early in the flight in exchange for increased speed.
Rather than simply climbing to the highest available altitude, where thinner air can improve fuel efficiency, the crew selected altitudes that allowed the G550’s engines to produce greater thrust while maintaining higher true airspeeds. Every decision—from altitude to routing—was evaluated against the clock.
Routing was equally critical. Throughout the flight, the crew worked with air traffic controllers to obtain shortcuts and direct clearances whenever possible, attempting to remain as close as practical to the Great Circle route—the shortest distance between departure and destination—and eliminate unnecessary mileage.
Behind those decisions was a constant stream of real-time analysis.
Throughout the flight, the crew cross-referenced manual calculations with multiple computer flight-planning models, continuously evaluating altitude, winds, fuel burn and routing. As jet-stream conditions shifted across the Pacific and North America, the team recalculated the flight profile to determine where the aircraft could gain the greatest advantage.
The record attempt also began well before the G550 left the ground.
The crew identified the flight as a “World Record Attempt” in the remarks section of its FAA flight plan, alerting air traffic control facilities along the route to the nature of the mission. That coordination helped controllers provide efficient handling when operationally possible, including direct routing and expedited clearances that helped keep the aircraft moving toward Green Bay with minimal deviation.
For DiLullo, the flight represents his fourth city-pair speed record—and another example of the planning, precision and decision-making required to extract maximum performance from a long-range business jet.
On an ordinary mission, efficiency matters. On this one, every mile, every knot and every minute counted.
When asked if he was proud of this record, he stated, “It’s a team effort. Shepherd Air and Threshold worked very hard in planning and executing this operation and I’m proud of them.”
