“You need to be in Kansas Monday morning, Arkansas Monday evening, Tulsa Tuesday, and Dallas Wednesday.”
“That’s called having a calendar.”
Denise folded her arms.
“Aaron.”
He knew the tone.
“No.”
“You haven’t even heard the argument.”
“I have heard the argument every month for two years.”
“Then you should know it by now.”
He smiled.
She did not.
“Buy the jet.”
Aaron finally agreed to research it.
Research meant something specific when Aaron Brooks said it.
For three months he spoke with pilots, aircraft managers, insurers, mechanics, finance specialists, charter operators, and two executives who already owned comparable aircraft.
He compared acquisition cost against chartering.
Fixed annual expenses.
Crew.
Insurance.
Scheduled maintenance.
Hangar costs.
Engine programs.
Resale assumptions.
Fuel burn.
Runway requirements.
Mission profile.
He tracked his previous eighteen months of travel.
How many trips would actually justify private aviation?
How many could remain commercial?
How many hours of executive time were being lost?
Denise watched the spreadsheets grow.
One night she walked into the kitchen at 11:20 and found Aaron reading maintenance projections.
“You know some people buy airplanes because they want airplanes.”
“That sounds irresponsible.”
“It sounds fun.”
“I like tractors.”
“You own seventy-three tractors.”
“Exactly.”
Eventually the Gulfstream G280 rose to the top.
Range appropriate for the company’s travel.
Cabin comfortable enough to conduct real work.
Operating economics Aaron considered reasonable for the mission.
Strong support network.
Fast enough to turn trips that consumed entire days into manageable schedules.
There was another factor.
Brooks Agricultural was considering a second aircraft for executive logistics and succession planning if the first purchase proved operationally sound.
Aaron submitted an inquiry through Summit Air Aviation.
Budget range:
$25 million to $35 million per aircraft.
Interest:
Gulfstream G280.
Timing:
Immediate for suitable inventory.
Potential quantity:
Two.
He submitted detailed contact information.
Company domain.
Corporate address.
Assistant information.
The following morning, Summit Air confirmed a 10:00 a.m. appointment at its Oklahoma City facility near Wiley Post Airport.
The confirmation named Craig Whitfield as the senior sales consultant.
Aaron forwarded the email to Denise.
She replied:
Finally.
Saturday morning, Aaron finished checking a section of fence before breakfast.
Rain earlier in the week had softened one corner of the field, and his boots carried red mud around the edges.
He returned to the farmhouse at eight-thirty.
Denise was drinking coffee at the kitchen counter.
Aaron picked up his truck keys.
She looked at him.
Then down.
Then up again.
“You’re going like that?”
Aaron looked at himself.
Work jacket.
Jeans.
Boots.
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re going to buy a thirty-million-dollar airplane.”
“Maybe two.”
“That makes the boots worse.”
“If they need a suit before they’ll take sixty million dollars, they shouldn’t get sixty million dollars.”
Denise gave him a long look.
“This is going to turn into one of your principles, isn’t it?”
“It already is.”
She shook her head.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Aaron kissed her forehead.
“You worry too much.”
“I worry exactly enough.”
He walked outside.
The dogs barked from the porch.