Travolta - did he ever ditch an aircraft?

Peter,

Thank goodness we have little people in this world who work so hard to
tear down those who happen to have worked even harder and succeeded in
doing well. I was never a fan of Mr. Travolta until the movie
"Phenomena". Nevertheless, I did pay attention to a very successful
actor who liked airplanes and who took the trouble to learn a great
deal about them and how to fly them rather than behave as do so many
musicians and actors and simply trash the interiors of the bizjets in
which they ride.

Travolta bought and was type rated in the DC-3 fairly early in his
career. Do you have that rating? He later was type rated in various
jets, including the 707, having completed the training and passed the
checkride required by Qantas which put its name on Travolta's airplane
on an around the world flight he made as a part of a fundraiser for
charity. Have you done an aviation charity flight recently?

Travolta has given numerous interviews in which he has spoken
enthusiastically about his love for aviation. How the interviews were
slanted, I don't care, he spoke of his love for flight. "Worf" an
actor on Star Trek has given a massive number of interviews in support
of general aviation and worked with the EAA's Young Eagles program.
Harrison Ford is one of the biggest supporters general aviation has.
He just signed on to do another project in support of it.

BTW, a question for every single one of us general aviation pilots:
when was the last talk or program you gave on general aviation in your
area? How about the last time you testified or argued in front of
your local government in support of your airport?

It's real easy to cast aspersions on famous folks on the Internet,
yeah, that CB radio for those who can type, but how many of us are
actually getting out there and doing something to support the aviation
we care for?

All the best,
Rick


"Peter Duniho" wrote in message ...
"Rick Durden" wrote in message
m...
[...]
We can certainly use all of the folks like Travolta that our little
industry can get. He's certainly gotten a lot of good press and
attention for general aviation.

Such as?

As near as I can tell, the handful of "famous pilots" who might have gotten
more involved with aviation and done things to foster the industry have not
bothered. People aren't going around saying "hey, did you see that
interview with Travolta? I guess we don't really need all these silly
restrictions on general aviation after all", or "hey, did you see that
interview with Harrison? Turns out you DON'T need to be a rich actor to
learn to fly".

What little press people like that have received, all they've done is
reinforced the idea that flying is for rich folks who can afford the fancy
toys, and that when you restrict aviation, you're not really hurting anyone
who can't afford to be hurt a bit.

These are people who, if they cared to, could use their substantial media
presence to fight on behalf of general aviation. I've seen absolutely no
evidence that suggests they've ever bothered to try.

Pete

"Rick Durden" wrote in message
m...
[irrelevant tirade snipped]
It's real easy to cast aspersions on famous folks on the Internet,
yeah, that CB radio for those who can type, but how many of us are
actually getting out there and doing something to support the aviation
we care for?

In other words, you have NO examples of instances where Travolta got "a lot
of good press and attention for general aviation".

It's funny that in your own post, at the same time that you make a lame
attempt to discredit me rather than answering the question, you criticize
the very sort of behavior that you are engaging in.

IMHO, if there were really "a lot of good press and attention for general
aviation", you'd be able to come up with at least a half dozen specific
examples of situations where Travolta actually made a real attempt to use
his public profile to improve general aviation.

Pete

Pete,

While you were busy criticizing John Travolta for not making public
comments that were in favor of aviation, he was busy giving an
extensive interview to Architectural Digest magazine about his love
for flying and airplanes in support of the long article the magazine
did on his aviation-themed home in Florida. See the April issue.
It's pretty impressive and it outlines the comments of some high
rollers who have been guest of the Travoltas at their home and came to
understant the importance of aviation in his life. He designed, built
and furnished the house every one of us would love to own. From the
compass rose on the floor in the entry way to the paintings and
sculptures of airplanes, and the view out the windows of his G-II and
707 parked outside, it's pretty amazing.

You might also take a look at the series of interviews he gave while
doing the around the world flight as PIC of the 707 he owns.

All the best,
Rick

"Peter Duniho" wrote in message ...
"Rick Durden" wrote in message
m...
[irrelevant tirade snipped]
It's real easy to cast aspersions on famous folks on the Internet,
yeah, that CB radio for those who can type, but how many of us are
actually getting out there and doing something to support the aviation
we care for?

In other words, you have NO examples of instances where Travolta got "a lot
of good press and attention for general aviation".

It's funny that in your own post, at the same time that you make a lame
attempt to discredit me rather than answering the question, you criticize
the very sort of behavior that you are engaging in.

IMHO, if there were really "a lot of good press and attention for general
aviation", you'd be able to come up with at least a half dozen specific
examples of situations where Travolta actually made a real attempt to use
his public profile to improve general aviation.

Pete

"Rick Durden" wrote in message
...
While you were busy criticizing John Travolta

"Busy criticizing"? Get a grip. What I was busy doing was calling you out
for making the false claim that he's a strong proponent of GA. I've
invested very little time and effort criticizing Travolta.

for not making public
comments that were in favor of aviation, he was busy giving an
extensive interview to Architectural Digest magazine about his love
for flying and airplanes in support of the long article the magazine
did on his aviation-themed home in Florida.

You've got to be kidding me. Travolta stroking his ego in a high-end
rich-folk's magazine is supposed to be a promotion of GA?

Could you be any more star-struck?

How about a list of famous pilots....not pilots for majors or authors
but famous people who happen to be pilots.

We already have Harrison Ford and John Travolta.

My entry is guitarist Steve Morse who has played with everyone
from the Dixie Dregs to Manuel Barrueco (classical guitarist) to
Deep Purple and everyone in between. He's an ATP, private glider
and has an A&P certificate. when the Dixie Dregs got out of
their recording contract and they called it quits, he started
flying Twin Otters (???) commercially. And right out of college,
he was wrote off the cost of (I think) a C310 to fly the band around.
Apparently they couldn't afford the taxi's from teh airport to the gigs
but they/he had a plane. Now after winning best guitarist for 5 years
straight in Guitar Player magazine and touring the world too many times
to count, he has I think 4 airplanes. He also wrote a song for
one of the displays at the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers in
Kitty Hawk.

I took my PPL checkride on 12/17/03 (that's 2003, not 1903 ). For
"historical purposes," I took along one of his CD's along (also my
bike pedals since the Wrights were first bike mechanics). It's ok,
call it corny.

ok, what other famous GA pilots are there?

Gerald

Gerald Sylvester wrote:

ok, what other famous GA pilots are there?


Try this list as a start:

http://www.aerofiles.com/00stars.html

Bruce Dickinson - singer for heavy metal band Iron Maiden (very popular in
the 80's). When he's not doing the heavy metal thing, he co-pilots 737's
and 757's commercially for a charter airline in Europe.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0...812005,00.html
http://www.ironmaiden.com/media/imag...ID00001041.JPG


"Gerald Sylvester" wrote in message
link.net...
How about a list of famous pilots....not pilots for majors or authors
but famous people who happen to be pilots.

Les Wilson wrote:
Bruce Dickinson - singer for heavy metal band Iron Maiden (very popular in
the 80's). When he's not doing the heavy metal thing, he co-pilots 737's
and 757's commercially for a charter airline in Europe.


AWESOME!!! Rock on dude.


hehehehehe. Man, that made me laugh really really hard.

Gerald

I forgot to mention in my original post that Steve Morse apparently
would carry a guitar with him at times into the cockpit. Maybe
music for the boarding process.

Gerald

That is too cool - I was a huge Maiden fan for ages. WTG, Bruce!

Les Wilson wrote:
Bruce Dickinson - singer for heavy metal band Iron Maiden (very popular in
the 80's). When he's not doing the heavy metal thing, he co-pilots 737's
and 757's commercially for a charter airline in Europe.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0...812005,00.html
http://www.ironmaiden.com/media/imag...ID00001041.JPG