By: Diane Benjamin
How about a fun story! I thought about naming it “De Plane De Plane”, but I refrained.
Bloomington has some airport/flight enthusiasts, apps are available that show information on flights out of CIRA. One plane that makes frequent flights from CIRA didn’t show any information on the apps. Of course that made at least one person wonder who was flying a Boeing 737, frequently in the middle of the night.
This mystery wasn’t horribly difficult to solve because I know people who know people. H/t a long time friend and reader who pointed me to people who know.
The plane is flying people from Long Beach California, through Ft Worth Texas, and then to CIRA. It is a charter by Rivian from what looks like a company Ross Perot owns. (Remember him?)
The only question left was why, so I asked Rivian. Zach Dietmeier responded quickly. In case the email is too small for you to read, Rivian brings in 200-300 visiting employees a week. They are software and vehicle design engineers. The employees are temporary and they rotate.
The plant currently has 2,690 employees, 85% of them from Central Illinois. 300 people have relocated to the area. Global employment passed 8,000 this week.
The local hotels are hopefully recovering from years of less than optimal occupancy.
Mystery solved.
I’m working on others that aren’t this easy. If you have information people should know, I have more anonymous sources than I can remember. Contact me! blnnews@yahoo.com
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How many batteries does it take to fly a 737 from California to Texas? How long does it take to recharge the batteries? 😉
Well FEDUP, it takes MANY EXTRA batteries, since they fly at night, they don’t charge as well, so it takes more.. NOW, if they flew during the day, it would be an ultralight.
So does the 2,900 employee number include just Rivian employees or also contractors and those working on the buildings? Would be interesting to see a breakdown from. Rivian. Also, 300 permanent relocations is pretty insignificant. Heard from realtors that Rivian is buying houses for management to rent and not buy just like Mitsubishi did. Realize some management is never permanent but seems at least 200 or so would be looking to buy and not rent? As far as the plane goes, companies do this all the time and do it for company secrecy. It’s no indication of a flourishing operation.Everyone should be skeptical of everything Scaringe says or does.
Scaringe owns a house
Not bad, one confirmed out of three hundred. Looks like Rivian is the next State Farm then.BN’s economic future is in good hands. Silly me.