"Wheel of Fortune" costar invests in aviation

By Grant McLaren

Professional Pilot Magazine June 1996

Although Vanna White has built a career as a television celebrity, not many know that she operates two charter Learjet 35s that fly almost 1400 hours a year. 

After a successful 13 years on the Wheel of Fortune, publication of her autobiography "Vanna Speaks," a role in the NBC movie "Goddess of Love" and many lucrative commercial endorsements Vanna chose to branch out into the Learjet charter business in August of 1994.  Within six months of buying her first aircraft Vanna was doing so much charter time that she went out and bought a second Lear 35.  Today business is so brisk that Vanna often has difficulty booking her own aircraft.

"A great deal of Vanna's charter business comes from the entertainment world," says husband George Santo Pietro, a pilot who flies the Lears on occasion.  "What she brings to the table in this deal are a couple of aircraft and some great connections."

"Several of my friends had given me rides on their private jets and I felt it would be nice to have my own," recalls Vanna.  "I knew the reputation of Learjets, and of Clay Lacy Aviation's aircraft management, and felt this would be a good investment."  Now, when Vanna needs to do a show in Las Vegas, make a personal appearance in Seattle or do a product endorsement up in Fresno she goes directly where she wants to go without having to check luggage or linger in airport terminals.

Clay Lacy of Clay Lacy Aviation at Van Nuys CA, who advised Vanna on Lears as charter vehicles, also provides a turnkey aircraft management package.

Vanna turned her Learjets (approximately $2.1 million apiece) over to Lacy, who provides everything including pilots, maintenance, record-keeping and the air taxi certificate.  The aircraft are chartered out at $1350 an hour with the owner paid $675 per hour on a dry lease basis.  Out of this $675 the owner is responsible for MSP costs of $220/hour, general maintenance of $75/hour, hangerage of $1600/month and insurance at $1500/month.

Based on a projected 60 hours of charter time a month an owner would gross $40,500 per month with a net income (after costs of $347/hour in maintenance, insurance and hangerage) of $19,680 a month or $236,160 per year.  In this 60 hour per month charter example the net return on capital works out to a little over 11%.

Vannamania

Vanna White enjoys an enormous media following and receives a barrage of fan mail, numbering in the thousands of pieces each week, from the Wheel of Fortune's worldwide viewing audience of 100 million.   Vanna also holds a world record for having displayed the greatest quantity of apparel on television - 5,500 outfits so far.  The answer to her most frequently asked question - "Does she get to keep the dresses?" - is a definite "no" according to Vanna.

Apart from Wheel of Fortune activities and both her publishing, and made-for-TV movie, debuts Vanna is involved in a number of commercial endorsements including a nutritional video, her own line of dresses, photo layouts and more.

Over the years psychologists have attempted to understand what inner forces drive 100 million weekly US viewers to watch Pat Sajak and Vanna White spin a big wheel and flip letters every day.

According to New York-based psychologist Dr Joyce Brothers, "You can play it mindlessly, you can play it competitively... and you can fantasize about having this stuff fall into your lap."

Dr James Fletcher, a professor at the University of Georgia, postulates, "After people have been through stressful days, and have misfortunes and haven't achieved anything, they can come home, watch this, and see how easy life could be."

Despite elusive psychological motivations which snare viewers in droves the "Wheel of Fortune" is an unqualified commercial success and Vanna's white-on-white Learjets represent some of the fruits of her labors in logging an estimated 443.18 miles since 1982 turning letters at the puzzle board.

Charters prove profitable

A profitable charter busines depends on being able to charge out the aircraft the necessary number of hours to cover fixed and direct operating costs each month, usually 60 to 70.  In Vanna's case her pipeline into the entertainment and business community is the kicker to a slightly profitable charter business.

The contacts who inspired Vanna to invest in Learjets have now turned out to be some of her best sources of business, making up between 30% and 40% of her total Learjet bookings.

With charter hours up to 650 hours per year per aircraft Vanna's Lears pay for themselves and have added the benefit of giving her some 40 to 50 hours a year of Learjet time for personal travel needs.  "I don't have to be there everyday but I do stay on top of things.   Since I own the company I like to know where my aircraft are and what they're doing," says Vanna.

Vanna's jets cover North America on everything from half day hops to Aspen and Las Vegas to longer trips into Mexico and the Bahamas.  One recent contract had Vanna's #2 Lear (N136JP) flying back and forth to Dallas every day for four days while one regular charter client takes Vanna's #1 Lear (N456CL) for weeks at a time in support of a program of nationwide seminars.

"Nobody has put anything on the market that will compete with the Lear 35.  Nothing goes as fast and as far as efficiently," says Santo Pietro.  "It's a relatively low maintenance, stage three, eight-passenger aircraft.  It was revolutionary at the time it came out and it's still just as fabulous."

Selecting the Lear 35

No aircraft, other than the Lear 35, was seriously considered by Vanna when she went out shopping for aircraft last year.  "The great thing about a Lear 35 is that it works for short hops yet will also fly to Van Nuys to New York nonstop."  Learjet Tucson stripped, painted and refurbed Vanna's #1 Learjet in August of 1994 and the client was delighted with the end result.

"I chose a beige interior with light burl woods, a one-piece headliner and sand beige carpets," recalls Vanna.  "For the exterior I didn't know there would be so many whites to choose from - they had twenty shades of white - I ended up selecting a white-on-white with stripes."

While Vanna has a need to fly her jets from time to time, and this was a motivation for buying a Learjet in the first place, she also appreciates the costs of keeping a Lear and had planned right from the start to make her aircraft available for charter.

"I've used my jets mostly on short trips of maybe one or two days in duration," says Vanna.   "If I fly to the East Cost for a week I'll go airline - I don't want to take my aircraft off charter for too long."

"The more I fly the more I want to fly..."

Inspired by her 18 month old son Nicholas, Vanna is preparing to launch into the singing of children's songs and expects to produce her first music CD in late 1996.  Vanna's Lears will no doubt come in handy here for multi-stop promotional tours, and anticipated singing engagements, throughout the country.  A few years ago, before her Lears arrived on the scene, Vanna conducted a 22 city nationwide tour in just 21 days to promote her book "Vanna Speaks" and this experience gave her a real appreciation for the rigors and difficulties of airline travel.

"I was always standing in check-in lines, waiting in airport terminals and dealing with inconvenient schedules," recalls Vanna.  "Now, I'll just take one of my jets."

Photography by Chad Slattery