The big thread on celebrities that are pilots.
 

We all know the usual suspects:

John Travolta - multiple ratings, multiple planes.

Harrison Ford - owns a Beaver and a Bell LongRanger and also some private jet.

Clint Eastwood - owns a Eurocopter Squirrel.

Morgan Freeman - used to own a Beech Baron, but stepped up to the sleek Swearingen SJ30 business jet a couple of years ago. Owns one of the few flying.

Tom Cruise - owns a Mustang and apparently some other aircrafts, as well.

Arnold Palmer - famous golfer has been a pilot for decades and frequently flies his jet himself.

Kris Kristofferson - US Army helicopter and commercial pilot, don't know if he still flies.

Angelina Jolie - UK PPL license then either FAA converted or issued on the basis of. Owns a Cirrus SR22 and a Cessna Caravan 208B.

Sydney Pollack - this great director (Tootsie, Three Days Of The Condor etc) owned and flew a Citation 550 before he passed away a couple of years ago.

Dennis Quaid - owns and flies a Citation 500.

Kurt Russell - owns and flies a TBM850.

Jimmy Buffet - singer has been a pilot for decades.

Jay Kay - the Jamiroqui front man is a licensed helicopter pilot.

Nick Mason, David Gilmour - members of Pink Floyd are avid pilots.

Bruce Dickinson - we all know him.

But here are some that you might not know are pilots:

Gisele Bundchen – the mega supermodel learned to fly helicopters a couple of years ago.

Brad Pitt - apparently Angelina Jolie made him take his license so they both could fly the planes they/she owns.

Anthony Edwards - that's right, Goose from Top Gun pretty recently learned to fly and flies a Cirrus SR20 or 22.

Edward Norton - this is straight from the horses mouth. I landed in Peoria, IL one night and the FBO guy who booked me a hotel for the night, said he'd helped Edward book a hotel about 3 months earlier. He'd flown in pretty late in the evening in a C182.

Robert Zemeckis - the successful director has over 1600hrs and is an instrumet rated pilot. Don't know if he owns a plane, but I'm sure he does.

Please add to list if you know any good ones.

celebrity pilots
 

Sir Alan Sugar (is he a celebrity ?) misjudged the approach to Barton (EGCB) a few years back, and ended up slightly bending his Europa.

The top gear duo
James may has a ppl and hamster has a ppl(h)

Pretty certain it was a Cirrus:ouch:

Just to add of course a certain lady that is proposing to fly round the world!

Both Alex James and Dave Rowntree of blur have (at least) PPL(A) with MEP

Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger - both fixed wing and rotary.
(Now retired - Very well known by his title before retiring.)

A real sky pilot then.

The big thread on celebrities that are pilots.
 

Yer man, he used be a lib dem MP and was throwing a leg on one of 'The Cheeky Girls' for a bit. Lembit Opik or something like that

Tom Cruise was a frequent visitor to Farnborough in his Gulfstream 4 N328KC. As the 'K' stood for 'Kidman' he probably doesn't own it any more.
Never heard of Bruce Dickinson; is he famous?

He owned a Grumman Albatross :ok:

Great descriptions of his flying experiences in his autobiography " A Pirate Looks At Fifty"

PS He was once asked to do a concert on an aircraft carrier. His response was "Yes, if I arrive in a Tomcat."

Two Brits: Michael Gambon pilots his own aircraft. and Martin Shaw (of ''The Professionals" fame) is a keen pilot and has presented a couple of TV programmes about flying.




John Denver was a fairly experienced pilot - but that didn't end well. Ditto for Jim Reeves.

Gambon is famous for telling tall stories. He isn't on Ginfo.

Gary Numan, 80's popster, flew round the world in a Harvard or something like that.

Dave Lee Roth-clattercopters

The late Patrick Swayze-mep

Both George Bush senior and Dubbya have CPL's.

Edit: I think DJ's Mike Smith and Noel Edmonds are clatter pilots, seem to remember Mike Smith crashing one some years ago.

Del Boy, David Jason PPL(H) and Joe Pasquale PPL(A)

Gary Newman flew around the world in a Pa 31, trashed it somewhere and had the remains cut in half and mounted on a wall in his house.

I have a LAPL and am a legend in my own mind. Also famous in my house. Love the fixation on celebrity. Anyone watching big brother?

Nicholas Lyndhurst - "Rodney" Only Fools and Horses.
(Goodwood)

Roger Whittaker - Musician.
(Stansted)

I have flown with both. :p

celebrity pilots
 

Has anyone mentioned Carol Vordermann ? Has she got a licence yet, or is she still learning ?

Jonathan Agnew from Test Match Special.

In reply to a question in an earlier post: Bruce Dickinson is famous for having belonged to the same fencing club as me for a number of years. I think he also has something to do with a band called Iron Maiden :)

Michael Dorn - actor in Star Trek The Next Generation

There are more, just can't think of them right now.

Wilbur and Orville. The list goes on and on from there.

I really don't understand this obsession with celebrity.

The late Hughie Green used to pilot his own C337...still remember the reg from my spotting days as a kid a t Manchester..G-ASLL

Mark Evens the TV vet has a PPL.

A well know black footballer who's name escapes me has a PPL H...I'm sure somebody will know who I mean,

Doesn't Chris Evens???

Stan Stennet

Bet you youngsters have never heard of him,much loved Welsh comedian and all rounder had his own light twin back in the day he's still around aged about 85 now.

Chris Evans does, PPL(h) I believe.

Also believe Michael Owen, the footballer has a PPL(h)

The late Colin Mcrae....

Jurgen Klinsman... (h)

Tom Fletcher (from the mcfly band) is either a PPL or learning...

Some other band member mentioned in this months pilot mag aswell.

John seargent has some sort of flying experience also I believe.

George Bush - cpl, not really a celeb though is he, more of a knob.

I remember reading in a tabloid newspaper, following Mike Smith's helicopter crash in the late 80's that Sarah Greene (who I think was his girlfriend at the time) was "pulled from the wreckage of Mike Smith's chopper". Caused some amusement for a teenage me.

Stan Stennet also had a V tail Bonanza in the early 80's based at Swansea

Don Maclean ( not the singer, the comedian and Crackerjack presenter).
PPL (A) PA28-180. I know, because I bought it from him...

George Bush Junior: I agree!

George Bush Senior: flew combat in WW2, was shot down in the Pacific and rescued by a US submarine.

She was my earlier reference about "a certain lady"

Hughie Green got shot at most sincerely by MiGs when opportunity knocked whilst flying his C310 along (or outside...) one of the Berlin corridors...

Yes, many people have regretted their poor marksmanship...

I am amazed to see that Stan Stennet is still alive. I can remember laughing so much it hurt at a pantomime when I was a kid. In keeping with the thread I also flew in a Lycoming powered Auster which had been owned by him.

Derek Piggot
Author and stunt pilot in The Blue Max, Those magnificent men in their flying machines. etc
He was still flying earlier this year well into his 80s

I remember seeing Stan Stennet at Haverfordwest a couple of years ago. He'd flown in from Swansea. I reminisced with him about the many times I had met him in 1967-8 at Speke Airport along with Hughie Green. I was working in the flight briefing room. They were both very professional as far as I could see. Happy days!

Bill Gates - took on flight simulator to help himself learn instrument flying. Kennedy junior.

F1
 

Martin Brundle - helicopter
David Coulthard - helicopter
Mark Webber - helicopter student (at Duxford I believe)

Noisy job, noisy hobby :)

Former footballer Les Ferdinand is a helicopter pilot, and goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann has a PPL.

Niki Lauda was a commercial pilot, may still be flying. Graham Hill was another F1 pilot, as is Jack Brabham.

FBW

Lewis Collins (a.k.a. 'Bodie' of 'The Professionals') was also a PPL holder - he did some flying with us at the Covert Oxonian Aerodrome and was quite happy to muck in with all the normal jobs such as refuelling and putting the aircraft away.

By all accounts, the lads on the gate were a bit surprised when he turned up though....:)

Nigel Mansell aswell,

He flies (or used to) his own jet.

Fergie - the female version - gained a PPL(H) in 1987.

Jack