Flight 666 to take off

Heavy metal veterans Iron Maiden are making their film debut in a new feature length documentary following them on tour.

Titled Flight 666, it is also the name of Maiden’s specially-converted Boeing 757, which flies them between gigs.

The plane is flown by the band’s singer Bruce Dickinson, who is also a qualified commercial pilot.

Iron Maiden say the film, set for release on 21 April, gives unprecedented access to the band.

They regard their Somewhere Back In Time World Tour, in February and March of 2008, as one of their most ambitious.

They played 23 sold-out stadium and arena shows in 45 days, travelling nearly 44,000 miles and performing to almost half a million fans in 13 countries.

Their customised plane carried the crew and 12 tons of music and stage equipment.

The band were followed by an award-winning documentary team from Canada, behind films like Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and Global Metal.

There has been a spate of metal documentaries in recent years, starting with Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster in 2004 to last year’s The Story of Anvil.

Iron Maiden have also been nominated for a best live act at this year’s Brit Awards, to be held at London’s Earls Court on 18 February.

Iron Maiden fly high again for the final leg of their ‘SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME WORLD TOUR’

Following the huge international success of their spectacular ‘Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 08′ Iron Maiden will be taking to the skies once again in 2009 for a fourth and final leg starting in Dubai on February 13th.

Loaded up with a full complement of band, crew and twelve tons of stage set and equipment, the band’s customised Boeing 757, christened Ed Force One by the fans and flown again by Astraeus Airlines Captain and Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, will once again be circumnavigating 80,000km around the planet for concerts in 19 cities in eleven countries, making it a staggering 37 countries in total visited on this tour, playing to almost two million fans.

Taking off in early February Maiden will make their first appearances in New Zealand for 16 years via Dubai and Bangalore followed by the long haul journey for a return to Mexico in some even larger venues and then finishing with an extended run through Central and South America to include countries and cities they have not visited before. The dates are as follows — (more…)

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 on ABC News

There are 2 videos available at the ABC News website where Bruce chats about earning his wings and shows off the band’s tour jet, “Ed Force One.” Here are the links for respectively:

‘Lord of the Skies’ and ‘Maiden Voyage’

BRUCE DICKINSON ‘CHEMICAL WEDDING’ FILM LAUNCH @ CANNES FILM FESTIVAL - MAY 17

In addition to performing for two hours on stage with Iron Maiden and then donning his captain’s uniform and flying the band, a 50-man crew, 12 tons of equipment and stage set around the world (50,000 miles, 10 countries and 21 cities!) in Maiden’s own specially customised 757 Boeing named ‘Ed Force One’,  Bruce Dickinson has also moved into the world of film and has co-written the screenplay for the forthcoming supernatural thriller ‘Chemical Wedding ‘ which is to be released theatrically around the UK regions in the early summer.

The film is directed by Julian Doyle, who co-wrote the screen play with Bruce and who first stepped into the Iron Maiden world back in 1988 when he wrote and directed the intriguing promotional video for ‘Can I Play With Madness’.   ‘Chemical Wedding’ will be launched at Cannes Film Festival on May 17th when Bruce will fly Ed Force One full of VIP’s for a special viewing of the film.  The film stars Simon Callow as Professor Haddo a reincarnated Aleister Crowley who was once dubbed “the most evil man in Britain”.

Bruce Air - Now with added Ed Force One!

FLY ON ‘ED FORCE ONE’ * with Captain Bruce Dickinson at the controls and see IRON MAIDEN LIVE!

The best way to go to a Maiden show! This is your chance to fly on ED FORCE ONE - the actual 757 plane currently transporting the band crew and equipment around the world on the first leg of their SOMEWHERE BACK IN TIME TOUR - with Captain Bruce Dickinson. (more…)

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