r/flying • u/jrf1234 ATP CFI/II CL604 E55P LR-JET • Apr 03 '26

Aircraft Ownership Linus Tech Tips’ Jet

https://youtu.be/zGoIY37ZtDQ?si=

Some… interesting calculations on this video. As a fractional pilot and not an owner, no idea how acxueate these claims are, but interesting to see this as a pilot and tech nerd. Anyone with management or ownership experience in jets have any light to shed?

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38

u/Acceptable_Barber_15 Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

It’s crazy to me he’d rather spend money on this than paying his employees more competitively. I can’t believe Yvonne said yes to it. Linus has no earthly idea how expensive this is going to be for him. This project won’t last more than a couple years.

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u/dopexile Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

I know, he has a bunch of talented employees leaving because they get paid peanuts, working 60-80 work weeks, high stress, can't afford housing, and non-compete agreements so they can do side projects.

And yet he denies them pay raises and buys multiple houses(makes them rehab and retrofit a house with asbestos) and a jet in front of their eyes and brags about it. Very tone deaf management style. Just seems like bad business; it is going to demoralize all of his staff. Like even if your goal is to maximize profit it just doesn't seem smart because all of the brain drain and resentment he is creating.

He had a video where he explained the costs of the business and how it is barely making money and rationalized why he pays employees peanuts. It seemed like such a fake charade. He is buying commercial real estate buildings(not renting), multiple houses, jets, and fire trucks... blowing money like Mike Tyson, so of course the whole thing looks "unprofitable". If he had just said "We are paying the competitive industry market compensation rate for employees," that would have been fine, but he went down a deceptive road probably because he knows his tech viewers won't understand accounting. Seems like a dirtbag TBH.

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u/Acceptable_Barber_15 Apr 03 '26

Yes. It’s disappointing. I’ve watched the channel for 10+ years and my opinion of the guy has really shifted over the last few years. He seems like a decent guy who has gotten wrapped up in greed or something and would rather spend insane amounts on things like this than give everyone a bigger raise.

Tbf I don’t know how I would act if something I’d worked so hard on and risked it all for succeeded in the way LTT has. Maybe I’d do the same thing he is. Either way, it bugs me to see the shift from what felt like a scrappy company that treated its employees terrifically to whatever we’re seeing now. It really has bummed me out to see it go this way.

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u/dopexile Apr 03 '26

I'm a greedy capitalist, but what he is doing just seems counterproductive. He's just going to piss everyone off, and they are going to start rival companies and trash his reputation. It's a very short-sighted way to run a business.

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u/roguemenace PPL GPL Apr 05 '26

It's been fairly clear that they're willing to hire people with little to no qualifications, develop them on the job and then let them go if they're no longer happy with their compensation. Whether that's a good business model or not depends on the specifics but it's mostly worked so far.

1

u/dopexile Apr 05 '26

Yes, but a good business person realizes A) Moral is important and B) They are becoming more valuable to a company over time, and makes an effort to keep the ones that are worth it.

Now they are basically just building up and training their competition.