Flying on the Ground

Business Jet Traveler » December 2006

by Kirby J. Harrison

Race car driver Jesse Harris with BizJet International’s Bern Kowalewski and,
Friday, December 1, 2006 - 4:00am

When it comes to a hot ride, it doesn't get much hotter on the ground than Jessie Harris' dragster, the Queen of Diamonds. A 6,000-lb thrust GE J-85-5 turbojet engine powers the dragster to speeds in excess of 300 mph. A native of Rome, N.Y., Harris had her debut in 2003 and was crowned International Hot Rod Association World Champion, running the quarter-mile in 5.16 seconds at an average speed of 304 mph. She's pictured here at the BizJet International exhibit at the 2006 National Business Aviation Association convention in Orlando, Fla. BizJet International, an aviation services and aircraft engine specialist in Tulsa, Okla., keeps the Queen of Diamonds' engine purring.

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“When you get into the larger aircraft it becomes like a hotel, with dozens of staff supporting the plane based in a galley area down below. You have very comprehensive cooking facilities, and on larger aircraft we have looked at theatres, with spiral staircases and a Steinway grand piano. The limitations for what you can put inside a plane are pretty much the limits of physics, and even money cannot always overcome that. Even so, people are still always trying to push [the limits]. ”

-Howard Guy of Design Q, a UK-based consultancy