The Detroit CEOs flying privately to DC to beg congress for cash mess was a really dumb PR screwup.

Today Ford and GM both took steps to avoid another PR mess attached to their private jets.

GM asked the Federal Aviation Administration tracking service to block the public’s ability to track one of their planes, a Gulfstream G-IV. This happens to be the G-IV Rick Wagoner used to fly to Washington last month.

Ford announced that their CEO Alan Mulally would be driving to hearings from Detroit.

GM’s spokesman’s original reaction to this news was to say that Wagoner wouldn’t be flying by private jet but he couldn’t discuss his travel further because of security reasons. They must have spent the next few hours on a fantastic security plan because it was announced later in the day that Wagoner too would be driving in a Chevy Malibu Hybrid.

Chrysler’s spokesman has confirmed that CEO Bob Nardelli will not be flying in a private plane but has confirmed nothing else.

Ford’s driving to Congress is transparent damage control that just highlights how tone deaf they were last time. But at least they thought about it though. Why were GM and Chrysler caught off guard? Did nobody come back after round 1 and try to formulate a plan for round 2? Hiding the plane couldn’t have been GM’s whole plan could it?

Truth be told even if all three CEOs had driven a month ago it would have averted some of the mess but not all of it. Companies can no longer hide their true selves behind stunts like this. The story would simply have focused more on how Alan Mulally lives in Seattle not Detroit and uses the company plane to fly home on the weekends. The take away for me is that these companies and the men who run them are out of touch. No amount of PR can cover that up completely. That doesn’t mean they shouldn’t bother to try though.