RAF Pilots Flown Home by Bruce Dickinson

From The Independent:

RAF pilots flown home courtesy of Iron Maiden

Bruce Dickinson, the singer with heavy metal outfit Iron Maiden, has in the past performed for British troops in Iraq. On Sunday, he did his bit for our boys in Afghanistan.

Dickinson, a qualified pilot for British airline Astraeus, was behind the controls of a Boeing 747 that the Ministry of Defence had chartered to transport a group of RAF pilots back home.

“A lot of them recognised him because they are Maiden fans, but he was there in his professional capacity as a pilot,” says an RAF spokesman. “He gave out lots of signatures to the guys.”
And from The Mirror:

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson takes the pilot’s seat of a Boeing 757

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, 50, shocked 106 members of the RAF returning from Afghanistan, when he took control of a Boeing 757 and flew them from Cyprus to RAF Wittering, Cambs, on Sunday.

But don’t panic, he’s a trained pilot.

News for passengers on Bruce Air

A personal message from Captain Bruce Dickinson

Dear 666 passenger,

I am gutted to have to tell you that Astraeus Airlines have been forced to remove the Iron Maiden decals (artwork transfers) from the Boeing 757 and that its now highly unlikely that operational proceedures will allow enough time to have the Ed Force One livery reinstated for my Bruce Air trips.

When we originally commissioned the 757 from Astraeus it was due to be reverted back to their normal airline branding at the end of the first leg of our tour.  However Astraeus were getting such great feedback from passengers and airports around our tour, that they asked if they could retain the Iron Maiden decals when they took the plane back for their own normal charter flights.  We thought this was great and it has since been flying European and Middle East routes with spectacular reaction.

Unfortunately for us, ‘Ed Force One’ was the only plane available from the Astraeus fleet to fly a new and regular route into and out of an African country on a recent new route.  The striking Iron Maiden imagery had a violent reaction from the locals as they regarded the artwork, particularly that of Eddie, as very bad ju ju. Not only would local passengers refuse to board the plane because of the artwork, but other passengers were refusing to board planes of other airlines parked nearby in case they were tainted by the evil spirits!  This resulted in some furore among the attending passengers and even more among the airlines involved!  As the liveried 757 is owned and maintained by Astraeus, they had no alternative but to strip off all the Iron Maiden artwork and return the plane to its usual livery to be able to continue on the new route .

As most seats on these trips were taken up before I announced that we would be using Ed Force One (Warsaw/Prague was already sold out), I really hope this isn’t too much of a disappointment to you, and I much look forward to welcoming you aboard Bruce Air Flight AEU 666.
The team at ICT will keep you advised of any developments.
Best wishes,

Bruce

Bruce pilots some heavy metal

Bruce Dickinson recently spoke to Australia’s News.com.au about his career as a commercial airline pilot with Astraeus Airlines. Dickinson has been flying for Astraeus for six years and moved to the captain’s seat last May.

“I never got into flying because I was pretty crap at maths and physics at school so I just thought I’d be too stupid so ended up being a rock singer instead,” he said. “Then when our drummer got his pilot’s licence I thought, ‘Blimey, if he can get a pilot’s licence, I must be able to’.”

After qualifying, the rock star flew the band around the world in a Cessna 421 but quickly developed a hunger for bigger planes. “Although they pay me pretty well as the singer with IRON MAIDEN, I’m not quite in the John Travolta league of being able to afford my own 707,” he said.

Dickinson circulated his CV and finally got a job as a 757 first officer with British World Airlines. The company failed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks but Astraeus rose from its ashes. The conversion of Ed Force One to a combination passenger and freight aircraft cost more than $500,000.

Dickinson says the band is attracting a new generation of fans. “We’re playing to a million and half people on this tour, it’s incredible,” he said. “I just think it’s the fact that we’re one of the last originals.” “We haven’t changed, we haven’t compromised ourselves, we haven’t done a deal with Mastercard.” “With Maiden it’s about the music and that’s it. What you see is what you get.”

Sources: Blabbermouth.net