Google's "party plane"

Larry Page and Sergey Brin's customised Boeing 767 is making headlines - contrary to the Google founders' wishes. The pair had requested a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge to bar their aircraft designer from talking to the press (so much for Google's mission of making the world's information accessible, eh?).

Judge Joe Huber yesterday declined to issue an immediate ruling, the Mercury News reported. So another hearing has been scheduled for August 7 over allegations that Leslie Jennings spoke to newspaper reporters in violation of a confidentiality agreement he signed when he was hire to deck out the 767.

So, what's all the fuss about?

Well, Jennings had been quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying that Brin and Page "had some pretty strange requests" for their jet. Hammocks and a California king-sized bed were mentioned, it seems.

He also repeated a remark, allegedly made by Eric Schmidt, the Google chief executive, that "It's a party plane".

So far, so very Google. This, after all, is a company now famous for lavish parties. And if you allow your employees to play giant Jenga in the office, why not have a hammock on your private plane?

But are Page and Brin worried that reports claiming to detail their lavish spending will spoil their garage-geeks-made-good image? According to the Mercury, "Jennings said he was fired after he objected to $738,000 cabinets" requested by Ken Ambrose, who was described to Jennings as a friend of Schmidt. A pilot himself, Ambrose was allegedly in charge of managing the plane project.

$738,000 for cabinets?

Jennings isn’t passing judgement. He says he just wants to clear his name of the accusation that he did a bad job. "To a designer, I can't tell you how much that hurt," he said.