Ed Force One, named after the skeletal mascot emblazoned on the tail, is a Boeing 757 chartered by the band to fly 12 tonnes of equipment and a 60-strong crew as they take their powerful brand of rock to more than 1.5 million fans around the world.
And captaining the plane as it took off from Perth for Melbourne yesterday was lead singer Bruce Dickinson.
Dickinson is a qualified airline pilot who, when he’s not belting out songs to packed stadiums, flies for British-based Astraeus Airlines.
The band played to 10,000 fans in Perth on Monday and will do concerts in Melbourne before heading to Sydney over the weekend and Brisbane early next week.
The Australian dates are part of the first leg of Maiden’s Somewhere Back in Time world tour that will see Dickinson and his crew fly between 80,000km and 161,000km in the plane.
Maiden emerged in the late 1970s and soared to international prominence with the release of their 1982 album The Number of the Beast. They have since sold more than 100 million albums and still manage to pack stadiums. The latest tour will see the band travel as far north as Anchorage, Alaska, and as far south as Santiago, Chile.
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 a 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.”
By: mike currill - 19th February 2008 at 02:32
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Says it all really!!
Aha! Now I know what my problem is, thanks Steve that’s really made my day:D In the words of B A Baracus ‘Shut up fool’.
By: steve rowell - 17th February 2008 at 22:26
The study revealed those who enjoyed heavy metal often had more difficuilties in their relationships with family and friends
.
Says it all really!!
By: Ren Frew - 17th February 2008 at 13:32
It’s official, heavy metal is for clever people ! 😀
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91248-1256804,00.html
By: PMN - 16th February 2008 at 17:56
Ahem… glass houses Steve…:rolleyes:
I was thinking something very similar, Allen!
Paul
By: frankvw - 15th February 2008 at 10:58
How can such a seemingly intelligent man ( Dickinson) have such poor taste in music???
I can only concur … A F-100 engine at low regime is less painful 😉
By: Norman D Lands - 15th February 2008 at 10:28
Well what is he?? doesn’t he sing popular music then …i’ve never heard of the lad
You are joking? he is a rock god.
By: DazDaMan - 14th February 2008 at 12:33
I’ve seen two or three attempts to put a warbird-themed film to this song, but this is still the best version:
:diablo:
By: Ren Frew - 13th February 2008 at 23:29
I think that on the whole we’ve wandered rather a long way off-topic now, chaps.
Anyone got any objection to my moving this thread to General Discussion?
Cheers
GA
Bah… not the Air Force forum ! 😀
By: Grey Area - 13th February 2008 at 22:58
Moderator Message
I think that on the whole we’ve wandered rather a long way off-topic now, chaps.
Anyone got any objection to my moving this thread to General Discussion?
Cheers
GA
By: Ren Frew - 13th February 2008 at 09:15
How can such a seemingly intelligent man ( Dickinson) have such poor taste in music???
Ahem… glass houses Steve…:rolleyes:
By: steve rowell - 13th February 2008 at 05:46
How can such a seemingly intelligent man ( Dickinson) have such poor taste in music???
By: wysiwyg - 12th February 2008 at 23:40
I keep replaying that vid because it just beautifully shows the appreciation of going from the 757 to the ‘bus from a pilots perspective.
By: 'Umble T - 12th February 2008 at 22:41
Just had to post this aviation based vid of “Tailgunner” one of my Iron Maiden faves.
” Nail that Fokker!! ” 😀
By: Ren Frew - 8th February 2008 at 11:42
Airbus make aircraft that are hard to learn and fully understand but they are a delight to operate.
Iron Maiden make records that are hard to learn and fully understand, but they are a delight to play ! 😀 (one for the guitar players on this thread) :diablo:
By: wysiwyg - 8th February 2008 at 10:15
Thanks very much for that. Around the world there are many people that have only ever flown Boeing with very stong opinion about Airbus. I was one of them! I remember being blown away in just the same way. Airbus make aircraft that are hard to learn and fully understand but they are a delight to operate.
By: KabirT - 8th February 2008 at 06:14
cheers PMN..that made my day. 😀
By: A Spalding - 7th February 2008 at 20:53
BRILLIANT!!!! 😀
By: PMN - 7th February 2008 at 20:15
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb4mnNN0ffo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKBABNL-DDM
🙂
Paul
By: Ren Frew - 7th February 2008 at 15:13
I think the back part of the 757 had been converted to carry cargo for the bands gear, so would that make the aircraft tail heavy ? Or would the cargo be evenly spread amongst the other passenger holds.
Im asumeing “Ed Force One” is an ETOPS equipped 757?
Yes it’s been converted into a ‘combi’ for the tour, I think the Iron Maiden official site has an article on it. Basically they decided they were getting fed up flying personnel around on tours but having to spend extra days here and there waiting for their stage gear to turn up by road.
By: Ren Frew - 7th February 2008 at 15:11
Here is a report from Sky News.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBniMHcNR30
Bruce also did a bit of presenting on wings a few years ago. Highlights include Bruce having a little too much fun in a 727.
That was the ‘Flying Heavy Metal’ series which re-runs every so often on one of the Discovery/National Geographic networks. Very good series it was too.
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February 6, 2008 at 2:45 am