Famous Private Jet Owners—And The 20-Year-Old Student Who Tracks Their Every Move

He may be only 20 years old, but a brilliant young University of Central Florida college student created headlines earlier this year when he got the attention of the wealthiest man in the world, Elon Musk.

Jack Sweeney is soft-spoken, shy, and not at all affected by the attention he has received following his encounter with Musk. The billionaire offered to pay him to stop tracking his private jet travel after Sweeney launched the enormously popular Twitter account @elonjet, with almost half a million followers. Even though he turned down Musk’s cash offer to take the account down, there is a chance the two of them could eventually settle...if Musk takes him along for a ride on his jet and lets him film it.

Surprisingly, Jack Sweeney has never flown on a private jet and is really just fascinated by airplanes of all types, not just famous ones. We spoke at length about his popular Twitter account @CelebJets, which follows celebrities, Russian oligarchs, and others and their private jet trips, many of them lasting under 20 minutes.

Sweeney began his aviation adventure by writing unique code that was taken from data through public websites like ADS-B Exchange (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) and OpenSky Network, which post the location of every federally regulated aircraft.

He started a company called Ground Control that monitors the flights of the world's most wealthy and has plans to start a website with more detailed coverage. He is also passionate about Offset4Jets, which was created to bring awareness to companies' efforts toward cleaner travel. Billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates are among those who have pledged to offset carbon emissions caused by their jets.

Jet owners would buy offsets through a company that runs a facility that removes carbon dioxide from the air. “This ultimately helps balance their carbon footprint by funding environmental projects that reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. One carbon offset credit supposedly equals one metric ton of carbon dioxide, or a comparable amount of other greenhouse gases, removed from the air.”

There are now dozens of flight trackers who are fascinated with the activities of private jet owners. My friends at SuperYachtFan have also launched a private jets database of who owns these magnificent jets. They list the most popular jets among the rich and famous as; Gulfstream G650 ($70 million) owned by Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, David Geffen, Laurene Powell Jobs, Ralph Lauren, Elon Musk, Steven Spielberg, Nancy Walton Laurie, Robert Kraft, Ralph Lauren, Ronald Perelman, James Simons, and Oprah Winfrey; Dassault Falcon ($60 Million) owned by Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift; and Bombardier ($50 Million) owned by Mark Wahlberg, Tom Cruise, Marc Cuban, Barry Diller, John Henry, Shahid Khan, and Kylie Jenner.

Ground Control offers a unique perspective on how much money is spent on these extravagant jet journeys, with many trips lasting under an hour. Here is a sampling of famous private jet owners that the company has tracked throughout the summer.

Mark Wahlberg

Bombardier BD-700:

Summer jet trips: London, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, Las Vegas, Toronto

Blake Shelton

Gulfstream 4

Summer jet trips: Dallas, Calgary, Oklahoma, Iowa

Tom Cruise

Bombardier Challenger 300

Summer jet trips: Ireland, Aspen, Maryland, Bangor-Maine, Las Vegas, Napa, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Denver, Tennessee.

Harrison Ford

Cessna 680 Citation

Summer jet trips: Idaho Falls, Jackson-Wyoming, Montana, Tennessee

Alex Rodriguez

Gulfstream 4

Summer jet trips: Miami, Atlanta, New York, Las Vegas, Coeur d’Alene-Idaho, Westhampton

Kylie Jenner

Bombardier BD-700

Summer jet trips: Turks & Caicos, Palm Springs, Milan, London, Big Whale Cay-Bahamas, Berry Islands-Bahamas, Miami, Westhampton

Kim Kardashian

Gulfstream 5

Summer jet trips: Turks & Caicos, Westhampton, Paris, Australia, Nice, Naples, Big Whale Cay-Bahamas.

Kenny Chesney

Dassault Falcon 900

Summer jet trips: Nashville, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Monterey, Rhode Island, Key West, Utah, Virgin Islands.

Jay Z

Gulfstream 5

Summer jet trips: Puerto Vallarta, New Jersey, Colorado, Seattle, Dusseldorf, Bavaria, Hawaii, Iceland, Medellin-Colombia.

Jack Nicklaus

Gulfstream 5

Summer jet trips: Aspen, Westhampton, Lake Tahoe, Sardinia, Naplesm Nice, Tuscany, Milan.

Floyd Mayweather

Gulfstream 4

Summer jet trips: Honolulu, Las Vegas, Utah, Atlantic City, Miami, Dallas

Travis Scott

Embraer ERJ 170-100

Summer jet trips: Miami, London, Westhampton, Oregon, Napa, Bangor-Maine, Copenhagen, Denver, Salt Lake City.

Dan Bilzerian

Gulfstream 4

Summer jet trips: Dubai, Nice, Bangor-Maine, Las Vegas, Austin, Paraguay, Tijuana

Steven Spielberg

Gulfstream G-650

Summer jet trips: Ireland, London, Martha’s Vineyard, London, Rotterdam, Westhampton.

Taylor Swift

Dassault Falcon 7x

Summer jet trips: London, Nashville, Missouri, Connecticut, Florida, Denver, Toronto

Tiger Woods

Gulfstream 5

Summer jet trips: West Palm Beach, Stockholm, Ireland, Scotland, Barcelona, Mallorca

Drake

Boeing 767-200

Summer jet trips: Stockholm, Ibiza, Nice, Barcelona, Turks & Caicos, Toronto

Oprah Winfrey

Gulfstream G650

Summer jet trips: Hawaii, Santa Barbara

Elon Musk

Gulfstream G650

Summer jet trips: Rome, Venice, Austin, Hailey-Idaho, Mykonos, Bodrum-Turkey, Westhampton, Norway, Berlin.

Jeff Bezos (@BezosJets)

Gulfstream G650

Summer jet trips: Tanzania, Paris, Switzerland, London, Seattle

Bill Gates (@gatesjets)

Gulfstream G65

Summer jet trips: Johannesburg, Nairobi, Canouan-Grenadines, Washington, Idaho, London, Marseilles, Provence, Seattle, Montana, St George-Utah, Seoul-Korea, Tokyo

George Lucas

Gulfstream 5

Summer jet trips: Marseilles, Provence, Perugia, Tuscany, San Francisco

Mark Zuckerberg (@ZuccJet)

Gulfstream G650 and Airbus Helicopter EC-145

Summer jet trips: Lake Tahoe, Idaho, Seattle, Wyoming, Austin

Lauren Powell Jobs

Gulfstream G650

Summer jet trips: Austria, Spain, Corsica, Sardinia, Paris, Naples, Trieste, Palermo, London, Venice