Jared Isaacman has extensive experience in the Cessna Citation family, including the Citation III (650), Mustang, and all of the CJ lineup. If Isaacman’s name sounds familiar, that’s probably because you have seen headlines about his high-flying adventures—in the flight levels and beyond. The payment processing entrepreneur had a young start in business and aviation, both of which have defined him as a person.
“I have been personally very lucky that aviation has been such a huge part of my life for twenty years. It’s not just a means of transport. I’ve flown airshows for years and co-founded a defense aerospace company where we operated fighter jets to help train the military. I’ve been fortunate to leverage my aviation background to fly in orbit. I can’t even imagine my life without aviation because, again, for me, it’s so much more than just going from A to B. It’s a big part of who I am.”
While he has commanded a spacecraft and a fleet of decommissioned military aircraft (more than 100 at Draken International’s peak with him at the helm), Isaacman’s aviation journey began modestly like any other aviator.
“I’ve had a passion for aviation since I was a kid, I think like many pilots. Maybe that was Top Gun that did it,” he offered before crediting a youth camp as the reason for his initial foray into aviation. “I went to Aviation Challenge, which is a flying version of Space Camp, when I was twelve or thirteen,” Isaacman noted before advising that his early start in the business world provided him the means and the inspiration to take to the skies.
“I got involved in business at a really young age and founded my company [Shift4: NYSE: FOUR] when I was sixteen. I found that I was burning myself out and needed more out of life. So, I started flying when I was twenty, which was twenty years ago. It has just been fantastic ever since.”
Now, Isaacman is an ATP-rated CFI with five business jet type ratings, in addition to six experimental military aircraft ratings. Without question, he is a passionate aviator through and through and is quick to talk about all things aviation.
“A Cessna 182 Turbo is what I learned to fly in, and I flew that to get my private and instrument. From there, I flew a G58 Baron to get my commercial and my multi-engine and accumulated hours to start flying jets. As soon as I had about 600 hours, I started flying a Citation 650, then a Citation Mustang. From there, I’ve flown everything in the CJ family – the 1, 2, 3, and the 4,” he said, also noting that he has flown the Beechcraft Premier as well.
A majority of Isaacman’s straight-and-level flying has been behind the yokes of Citations. He currently owns a 2012 Citation CJ4, that he purchased in March of 2023. The ability to continue moving up within one product family was a huge advantage for the time-crunched aviator and helped drive the buying decision, he explained.
“Part of it [deciding to get a CJ4] is that already having the type rating makes it very easy to pick it up again versus setting aside the time to learn and get checked out in a new platform. I’ve had the 525 rating for a very long time and had probably 3,000 CJ flight hours across the various platforms before stepping into the CJ4. So, it was pretty easy to adapt to it.”
Whenever asked about aircraft he’s flown, Isaacman quickly makes it clear that Citations are thoroughbreds. He contends that there are some hallmark distinctions of the product family, which make them great options for current and potential jet owners.
“I think the whole CJ family is awesome. The CJ2 is an incredible step up from the CJ1. The CJ3 was a great step up from the CJ2, just in terms of performance – payload, range, and speed. Then the CJ4 gives you more payload and it gives you more speed. That’s really the only difference between the CJ3 and the CJ4. And really, for that matter, between the CJ2 – because the CJ2 and CJ3 are very close to each other in that regard. In the CJ4, you’re going across the country at Mach .76 instead of .72, so that’s nice. It also has more payload, so you can have more passengers when you fully fuel it. The predominant difference, though, is that it’s faster,” he stated.
“Other than that, its range is essentially the same as the CJ3 and the cabin is a touch bigger. But I think the point is that the entire CJ line is super reliable and has really great performance. I’ve enjoyed flying them all and especially the CJ4, now.”
The twin engine jet is employed to meet a varied mission, which has a distinct long cross-country component. A routine flight of Isaacman’s is nearly 2,100 nautical miles long, a trip that’s close to the aircraft’s advertised maximum range.
“I practically live on the road. I think I slept in my own bed two nights this month. My mission could be anything from a forty-five-minute flight to what’s more common – flying across the country. I routinely fly to Hawthorne, California, where we do a lot of SpaceX training, and I’m there half the month. Going from there to Pennsylvania and back is quite normal. Over the last six months, I’ve probably flown the CJ [4] 200 hours, and it’s been all over the place.”
Including the largest single pilot Citation, Isaacman has flown roughly 25 different unique aircraft models, a growing list which is headlined by a Soviet-era fighter and former spot as an Aero L-39 pilot on the Black Diamond Jet Team, which he co-founded. Unsurprisingly, the twin-engine Mikoyan MiG-29 is an unbridled joy to fly and is a frequent sight on the airshow tour. “I’m super lucky and have gotten to fly a lot of great airplanes,” he simply concluded.
