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.
Vincent Lambercy is a Swiss private pilot now living in Germany. He holds a private pilot certificate with single-engine, multi-engine and instrument ratings and has logged more than 430 hours of flight.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I wonder if I am considered a nerd because I have thought of using that song on some future flight video before this article, for the same reasoning.
Scien: You are a nerd, which makes you perfectly normal for the crowd that hangs out at aviation blogs
Being called a nerd is a badge of honour in my opinion, an acknowledgement of your dedication for and depth of knowledge about a topic. If your video is about ATC or even better, formation flying, then that song is perfectly appropriate!
Small correction: B. Dickinson flies the B752 (Astraeus).
I don’t know if anyone from ELO was a pilot, but I always kind of thought ‘Secret Messages’ was a perfect song for ATC.
“The secret messages across the atmosphere, they whisper in your ear. They’re calling everywhere!”
Hah.
I had no idea Bruce Dickinson started flying for a living. That’d be awesome to show up for work as an FO and realize you’ll be flying with Captain Dickinson. I once made a CD of flying songs including “Learning to Fly” by Pink Floyd, and the one by Tom Petty. Fun post Julien.