Owning and piloting a variety of aircraft has enriched the life of this actor-aviator
JOHN TRAVOLTA
Raised in Englewood, N.J., I could not avoid aviation. Aircraft flew over our house all the time on their way to LaGuardia Airport. Looking at these aircraft and their freedom of movement made me want to fly. My father knew this, so he would take me every other Sunday to one of the airports in the area to watch takeoffs and landings. Plus, with my family in show business, there were many trips to the airports to watch them either leave or arrive.
This fascination with airplanes led me to start studying for a pilot's license when I was 15, and I started taking flight lessons when I was 16. I soloed at 19, received my pilot's license at 23 and my jet license at 26. Because I had to earn the money for my flying lessons, it took me longer than it would have otherwise.
I owned my first aircraft before I owned a car. I had accumulated $2,500 and realized that I was probably not going to get a good car for that amount. I did have a motorcycle, so I bought an Aircoupe, which I flew for several years. The Aircoupe was followed by a Douglas DC-3 and then a Rockwell Commander 114, in which I accumulated 150 hr.
Along the way, I have also owned and flown a Cessna 414, Cessna Citation 1SP and 2SP, a Lockheed Jetstar 2, a Lockheed Constellation and a Hawker Siddeley 125-1A. I bought a Lear 24 because people said it was difficult to fly. I really liked the Lear 24, which I kept for 10 years, because as long as you were focused, kept within the envelope and minded your reference speeds, it was a great aircraft to fly. I took the Lear into a lot of airports many times near minimums, without difficulty.
I am qualified as a first officer in the Boeing 707 and 747 and as a captain in the Gulfstream II, Hawker 125-1A, Citation 1SP, Lear 24, Vampire fighter and the Canadian Tudor trainer. I recently donated a Tudor, in great shape, to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
At present, I have a Gulfstream II and a Boeing 707. My plan is to keep what I have and not acquire anything new. The 707 is a former Qantas aircraft, and this has led me to become a spokesperson for the airline. After spending time with them, it did not take me long to discover why they have not had any fatalities in their more than 83-year history.
During the piston engine aircraft era, Australia was a long distance in time from the U.S. and Europe, so they had to develop their engineering, maintenance, training and operations themselves. They figured out that if you kept the Lockheed Constellations at 12,000 ft. or lower, except to get over the Swiss Alps, you would not run the engine turbochargers and would lessen engine removals and failures. They also looked closely at the Lockheed Electra and realized it had a whirl mode in the wing before Lockheed itself realized the problem.
The Qantas airline crews I have flown with, and I am sure this applies to all their crews, operate as a tight, well-coordinated team. Qantas adopted the coordinated crew concept before it became fashionable. Their training requirements are exact and some of the best I have experienced. The instructors love to teach, and they do not make you feel as if you were dumb not to get a principle or a procedure the first time.
This association with Qantas has just been another part of my aviation life. I have found that flying has brought an excitement into my life I would not have experienced otherwise. Flying has given me a fuller life, the ability to trust my knowledge and explore new frontiers with confidence.
This year I am participating in some special events commemorating the 100 Years of Flight. I believe the combination of being an actor and a pilot is helping me reach generations of people and perhaps motivate younger people to take up flying or study math and science.
It surprised me, at first, that I could have this impact to motivate younger people to look at aviation. This fact was brought home to me when I was the master of ceremonies at the kickoff for the 100 Years of Flight celebration at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. I would hope some of these younger people develop the same love of aviation as I have. It will take this sort of dedication to develop the advanced technology for transports, airports and air traffic control that is needed to grow the air transportation system of the future. Air transportation is the heartbeat of the planet and cannot be ignored.
