Travolta still keen on Qantas
 

Fri "The Australian"

Travolta still keen on Qantas
From Peter Mitchell in Los Angeles
April 16, 2004

JOHN Travolta still wears his Qantas pilot cap proudly and says he is keen to continue his role as Qantas' Ambassador-at-Large.

The Hollywood favourite is to undertake another world-wide flying tour in his vintage Boeing 707, a former Qantas passenger jet.

"I hope to do it for as long as Qantas wants me to," Travolta said.

The two-time Oscar nominee, who is qualified to fly a 747, says he will be a regular visitor to Australia.

To keep his qualifications as a 747 pilot Travolta has to undertake testing three times a year and his preference is to do it at the Qantas flight facility in Sydney.

Travolta and some of his co-pilots fly to Australia to undertake the gruelling testing.

"There's a big Qantas building at the airport and in that building there's the latest up-to-date simulators for the 747 and we go over there and do it," Travolta said.

"They throw simulated dangers at you, one after another.

"All day long you are bombarded by fake emergencies, but you have to treat them as though they're really happening to you so your heart pounds, your adrenalin goes but you handle it."

Travolta is also qualified to fly 707 passenger planes and Gulfstream jets so he also has to do specific training to remain proficient in both.

The strict training regime means the actor has to juggle his $US20 million ($27.04 million) a film Hollywood career with his passion for flying.

"That's why I don't produce or direct because the time I take to keep up my hours and professional profile as a pilot would be the time I would be producing and directing," he said.

"You can't do both.

"You can be a hired actor and be a professional pilot, but you can't be a hired actor, producer, director and still be a professional pilot. There's not enough time in the day.

"Whenever I'm finished with a movie then I have to dedicate so much time to the flying to keep proficiency."

The 50-year-old actor was able to combine his acting career with flying on his latest film, the Marvel Comics adaptation The Punisher.

While most actors rent a luxurious home or stay in a hotel suite while shooting a film away from home, Travolta flew himself each day from his home in Ocala, Florida, to The Punisher set in Tampa Bay, also in Florida.

His six bedroom mansion is built in a "pilot's resort" and has two garages connected to the house to park his 707 and Gulfstream jets. The house is also connected to a runway capable of landing a 747.

"It was great because I was able to see my wife and kids each day," Travolta said.

In 2002 Travolta embarked on The Spirit Of Friendship Tour for Qantas, flying his 707 from Los Angeles to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Rome, Paris, Frankfurt and New York.

Travolta said he approached Qantas about teaming up.

"I went to them and said 'I love your airline, it has a perfect safety record for 84 years and I would like to be part of it somehow' and they came up with the ambassador idea," he said.

"They offered me to get my 747 wings and I did then I flew around the world twice for them and I enjoyed every second of it. I love being their ambassador." The Punisher is due for release in Australia in August.

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Quote

"I went to them and said 'I love your airline, it has a perfect safety record for 84 years and I would like to be part of it somehow' and they came up with the ambassador idea," he said.

Unquote.

Travolta had better check his facts about a perfect safety record.

Dear John T, I know your busy but never too busy to log onto PPRuNE;) . So next time your in D&G send me a PM, I look forward to hearing from you:) . Safe flying:ok: .

Besides the little incident with the golf course in Bangkok back in '99 I couldn't find any going back to '45. I know they lost an Empire Flying Boat in '42 - after the Japanese shot it up, but it was moored at the time.

In fact, you'd have to say that El Capitano Travolta is too smart to be a pilotHow many pilots can lay claim to having made THAT sort of money!! :} NONE that I know of :(

BTW, ugly, "perfect" means precisely that - the "little incident with the golf course in Bangkok back in '99" was more than a "little" incident - it was a BIG ACCIDENT!
One which sufficiently blemished QANTAS' record, to the point where the word "perfect" is no longer applicable.

Ugly, QF has lots of prangs in it's history- some of them fatal as well.

In no particular order, we've had more than one aircraft shot down (and never recovered I think!) during WWII, we had a Lancastrian 'swing' on landing with subsequnt gear failure and fire (ironically, also due in part to poor flap selection for the met conditions prevalent at the time!) ran a Super Connie off the runway in Mauritius in 1960 . None killed in those last two but as I said, I'm pretty sure we had crew and pax killed during WWII but I haven't found any hard numbers yet. Others may recall those other accidents and BKK certainly factors in with that term 'accident'.

Still, JT is doing the job for QF. Everyone that met him when he was at the jet base in SYD reckoned he was a top bloke- even if his Scientology stuff is a bit dodgy! ;) :E

I marvel at the speed at which some Ppruner's raise the safety record thing.

You never hear bona-fide QF people bring it up It is a good record but we are all very aware of the thread it hangs by.

We are also aware of the "Rain Man" misconceptions generally held by the public about it.

I believe the last QF fatality was in PNG in 1947. 67 years fatality free isn't bad. But there is no doubt that an element of luck is involved in that figure.

Must have been a tough night out Borgie!
 

Maths a bit off today there Borgie! 67 years since '47 would actually make it 2014. 57 is closer to the mark. Either way, it's not bad and as you say, it hangs by a slender thread which we're all aware of!

:D

This is one of several....

ACCIDENT DATE : 16 July 1951

TYPE : DHA3 Drover

REGISTRATION : VH-EBQ

OPERATOR : QANTAS

ON BOARD : 1 Crew / 6 Passengers

FATALITIES 1 Crew / 6 Passengers

LOCATION : Lae, Papua New Guinea

FURTHER DETAILS…

Crashed into the sea off Lae airport.

SOURCE…

“Balus” The Aeroplane in Papua New Guinea, Volume 1, by James Sinclair. Published in 1986 by Robert Brown and Associates (Aust) Pty. Ltd., PO Box 29 Bathurst, New South Wales 2795, Australia.


Since becoming an all jet airline QF has had no fatalities... just like PX and a few others.

I heard someone once say that the B747 should have been written off but they had it repaired so than can say it wasn't an accident but an 'incident'. Anyone confirm?

Animal Thanks for the info on the Drover - something to read up about

Still - not a bad record compared to say US Air? My brother flew with them a few years ago and got a bit worried when the taxi driver said "You're flying with US Scare? Good luck!"

Ugly, the information you have is incorrect- at least according to the information I have! ;) :p From my sources within the airline (and not just flight ops) aircraft was repaired for a lot less than $100 Mill. Try finding a replacement 744 at that price!

Further, no matter what, the QF1 in BKK was an 'accident'. The then CEO may have called it an incident but according to the law, it was an accident and treated as such by all QF crew. What you may have heard is that the aircraft was repaired to stop a 'hull loss' appearing on the QF record. See my first paragraph for an answer to that!

Hope the info is uesful!

Keg Thanks for the heads up ;)

I think you will find the last Qantas fatality was in the mid 50's in the PNG Highlands. The pilot was Rhynus Zuydam (plus passenger?), the aircraft a de Havilland DH-84 Dragon. I'm not sure whether the aircraft belonged to Qantas or was operating a flight on behalf of Qantas.

Nonetheless, an excellent accident and safety record.

I hope it was a reputable repairer! Not the "I've got a cousin in Shenzen that'll fix that for you!" trick!!!

;)

Hoss.
Is it true that JT reads Pprune? If he does, I want my money back for the pirate version of Battlefield Earth that I bought in HKG!!!:}

Torres

I think that one was a Qantas single engined Otter at Togaba
Cpt Zuydam and F/O Brian Badger both killed.

I was always told that no fare paying passenger had been killed in a Qantas plane.

If correct, that is a pretty good record.

Nigel, go back and read the previous page again...

The repair of QF1 in BKK was mainly done by BOEING in conjuction with Qantas engineers. A big part of the socalled Section 41 on the underside got replaced as a whole (the front belly basically). Pretty amazing to see the photos when the structure was supported via huge beams through the main deck pax windows and the lower fuselage got replaced, well done BOEING!:ok:

QANTAS lost a plane way back, and almost lost a second one at, I think Esondon. The balance weights fatigued and fell of giving a life time supply of forward stick. The `almost' incedent supplied the answer to why they had a nasty habit of falling out of the sky.

I think the details can be found in one of the 3 vols of air crashes. Damm, can't think of the authors name at the moment.

and I thought it was hard to get a Qantas gig

AS