Sulako recently posted a picture of a corporate jet featuring the anarchist symbol as tail art. You could be forgiven for thinking this is an act of vandalism perpetrated by anti-corporate aviation protesters, but the airplane is in fact the Cessna CitationJet CJ1 flown by Dexter Holland, lead singer and guitarist of Punk Rock band The Offspring. Thinking about it, the opening line of Offspring’s first hit Come out and Play could be an Air Traffic Controllers’ anthem of sorts: you gotta keep ‘em separated.

Back in 2004, Holland flew the airplane single-pilot around the world in just 10 days, subjecting himself to a strict pilot diet of “Doritos and beef jerky”. Even without mentioning that he also owns and flies a MiG jet fighter, you would agree that Holland scores fairly high on the coolness scale. Being a rock star or a pilot already classifies as major cool, but being a rock star AND a pilot? That’s coolness squared.

Listing musicians who are also pilots is not very different from walking through the Rock Music Hall of Fame. Joe Perry, lead guitarist for Aerosmith has a private pilot licence. So does Dave Rowntree, best-known as drummer of Blur and also co-founder of a band called The Ailerons. David Gilmour, lead guitarist of Pink Floyd, nurtured a passion for aviation all his life, collecting many vintage airplanes at North Weald Airfield in England. You may also remember David Gilmour from the hit single Learning to Fly.

Still, which is cooler? Rock star or pilot? Bruce Dickinson, lead singer for Iron Maiden answered that question once and for all. He started a second career as a commercial jet pilot after leaving the band, flying charter 737s across Europe. From singing heavy metal to flying heavy metal. The final sentence of this article nicely sums up his new lifestyle: “He said he would continue to perform with the band when he vacations from his new day job”. Enough said.