Google CEO Eric Schmidt has apparently sold a Gulfstream V jet recently listed for sale on Aviationbusinessindex.com. Could Schmidt at last be shrinking the grotesquely conspicuous fleet he owns with Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin? Hardly. Sources in the private-jet industry tell Valleywag that he's buying another Gulfstream V to replace that one. And, more incredibly, he's said to be have his eye on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, possibly through the auspices of the International Lease Finance Corp. ILFC has ordered 74 hard-to-get Dreamliners for delivery starting in 2010. If Schmidt, Page, and Brin get their hands on one, they'll be flying the 787 long before some of the largest airlines in the world.

"Eat your heart out Larry and Sergey." — Reporter Mary Anne Ostrom, describing the Airbus A380 which landed earlier today at San Francisco International Airport. The humongous jet can carry as many as 800 people — 16 times the passenger capacity of the Google founders' party plane. [San Jose Mercury News]