As became known recently, Gisele Bündchen’s January runway is of a different kind – the Brazilian beauty’s learning hard for a helicopter pilot license. She’s got past the written test successfully and is now preparing for the practice test. The supermodel is into her ninth month of pregnancy, likely to be hampered by the bun in her oven while she’s piloting, yet she is set to make the max number of flights she can manage and be in good time for the examination.
The horse-walk diva is the latest newcomer to the club of on-the-wing luminaries. There are quite a few others who are keen on trading the skies.
Tom Cruise
The actor took to flying when he starred in Top Gun as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell; the film was about the Navy fighters. Actually, Cruise’s height was too short to let him qualify for a Navy pilot (he stands only 5’7’’), but he has gotten a license of a private pilot for about 20 years now.
The Cruise family is in possessions of four planes, which they are supposedly using all the time for shopping, showing up for fashion shows all over the world and taking the children places. Dubbed by eco-lobbyists “Emissions Impossible” for flying for groceries, Cruise does nothing to dispel the rumors.
Some of the aircraft he possessed was military fighter planes, including a World War II P-51 Mustang (carrying the inscription “Kiss me, Kate”) – the one he has been dreaming of since childhood when he used to always have a picture of the plane with him wherever he went. It seems childhood dreams are not just so much smoke!
John Travolta
Undoubtedly the most outspoken ardent flyer in the celebrity world is Travolta. You don’t drive up to his home – you fly up, for the drive is a landing strip a mile and a half long right up to the front door. In photographs he is often seen by one of his planes which he has got five of various sizes for various kinds of trips. The gem of the collection is supposed to be a commercial version of Boeing 707 adorned with the Qantas logo (Travolta is the company’s goodwill ambassador).
It is small wonder that the actor’s residence (dating back to the middle of the last century) bears a strong resemblance to an airport with its air control tower shape. Inside the flying theme is furthered by a 15-by-17-foot mural decorating the dining-room; it depicts an airport scene taken from a Fortune magazine ad (1937). The living-room windows are wall-to-wall to provide an unobstructed view of planes on the tarmac. It may be that Travolta has long forgotten how to drive a car.
Clint Eastwood
A dedicated flyer, Eastwood has over 30 ears of licensed flying under his belt. He has a lot to tell for his favorite hobby. Discussing helicopter flying with Ellen DeGeneres he said he loves it because up in the sky “you are the only one.” Back in 1997, appearing in 60 Minutes, the actor showed Steve Kroft his Monterey, California, unfinished golf course from a helicopter. Flying makes him anonymous, he explained to Kroft, and when you’re flying you’re just a code of your plane – an ID number. Eastwood appears to appreciate being able to spend some time alone where nobody can get at him.
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie’s piloting career is into the sixth year. When interviewed by Vogue soon after she got her license, Jolie mounted the aircraft attired in a tight designer skirt, high-heeled shoes and Gucci shades. As soon as she got it, she hitched up her skirt and removed the shoes. Was it comfortable or regulation-wise to control the plane like that? Also, experts believe that, having learned to fly on easily controllable Cessna 172, she went on to purchase an SR22 which is not considered a suitable aircraft for a beginner (it set her back $360,000). One thing is sure, she never takes off without a parachute that can take care of the airliner, so the children and she enjoy comparative safety.
At the time it was alleged that she took up flying in order to provide aid to Asian and African refugees, but so far the good deeds don’t seem to have come to fruition.
Harrison Ford
It was in the 60ies that Harrison Ford first got interested in flying and took flying training at the Wild Rose Airport in Wisconsin, but later he shelved both the training and the hobby. Not for good, though – by now he has had an enviable experience with airplanes and helicopters, and owns a Millennium Falcon. But Ford is not the one to take to wing for clothes and groceries. For five years he held the position of Chairman of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles program; he participated in rescue flights for lost hikers in the vicinity of his ranch in Jackson, Wyoming. His achievements were marked at the 6th Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards. And, a more dangerous feather in his hat, he had a helicopter crash but came out alive and flying.
Kris Kristofferson
When yet unknown to the music biz, Kristofferson was already an accomplished helicopter pilot serving in the U.S. Army. It was not before mid-60ies that he came to Nashville and set out to conquer the world with music. While the going was not so good he filled up holes by doing odd jobs like flying a helicopter for a gas company in Louisiana – or cleaning at Columbia Studios, where he made an acquaintance of Johnny Cash and witnessed the recording of Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde. Kristofferson’s demo tapes didn’t cut any ice with Cash, but when he flew over on his copter to the singer’s back yard with a new set, he caught his attention, and soon J.C. came out with a rendering of K.K.’s Sunday Morning Coming Down. That record did away with any possibilities of Kristofferson’s career as a flyer.
Hilary Swank
Swank came face to face with flying when working on Amelia, a film telling the story of a famous woman flyer doing a round-the-world flight and getting lost in the process. Yet she got no license being constrained by the studio’s insurance policy which admitted no solo flights. So she kept flying with an instructor having made up her mind to apply for a license after the completion of her contract. She had a wonderful chance to sport her achievements at a recent program with Oprah where she participated with her instructor and even took a viewer on a ride to help her get rid of her fear of flying.
Morgan Freeman
With Morgan Freeman piloting is said to be a life-long desire. When at school he used to dream about flying on fighter jets instead of paying attention to his studies. Later he did join the Air Force, but only as a mechanic, and didn’t get round to flying before he turned 65. Except for the period when he had his license suspended for 1.5 months for violating altitude rules, his on-the-wing experience covers about 7 years. Freeman is a happy possessor of a Cessna Citation 501 SP jet and a twin-engine Cessna 414, but he is looking forward to piloting a Sino Swearingen SJ30 business jet. This wish may well go the way of his other dreams and be realized in the foreseeable future. The plane will cost him around $7 million.
Jimmy Buffett
Rising from Margaritaville back in 1986, Buffett got certified for piloting and has been up in seaplanes for an incredible number of years.
He had a succession of planes, the most memorable being the Hemisphere Dancer, the craft that was involved in his 1996 misadventure. While Buffett was giving a ride to Bono and his relatives, Jamaican police suspected them of smuggling drugs and pressed triggers. The plane, bearing bullet holes all over the fuselage, became an exhibit in Orlando, and the accident got immortalized in the song Jamaica Mistaica.
Now Buffett flies a Dassault Falcon 900ex jet.
