Bruce Dickinson as airline pilot and rock star
Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, has passed rigorous flight exams to qualify to fly twin-engine passenger jets with a new charter airline based at Gatwick.
He now works as a £35,000-a-year first officer, flying 148-seat Boeing 737s to holiday destinations ranging from Portugal to Egypt.
These days, Dickinson, 48, who once had waist-length, ginger hair and leapt around stage in leathers and skin-hugging tights for crowds of up to 250,000 fans, sets off for work in smart uniform, white shirt and tie.
"The change to real trousers is the end of an era," he said "I usually wear shorts or trousers with an elasticated waistband and my garish trousers in Maiden were the stuff of legend."
Dickinson's band, Iron Maiden, with worldwide sales of more than 50 million records, has a huge following, and Dickinson takes holidays from the airline to tour Britain and the world.
Dickinson became fascinated by aeroplanes after attending airshows as a child in Worksop, Notts, where he grew up. At Oundle school he was a member of the combined cadet force and used the school's Link trainer, a basic full-size cockpit simulator formerly used to teach RAF trainees to fly.
"I used to sneak into the shed where it was kept, switch on, jump into the cockpit and fly it. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was great fun."
His dabblings on the trainer came to an end when he was expelled at the age of 16 for "a moment of madness" involving the headmaster's dinner.
Dickinson took up flight training in the early 1990s. He passed his private pilot's licence test, obtained a commercial licence and eventually, with fellow band members, bought a twin-engine aircraft which he piloted for tours in Europe and the US.
In the late 1990s, a friend who was a commercial pilot invited him to act as his co-pilot on a Boeing 737 simulator while he was being checked on for a job with the charter airline British World Airlines.
The simulator instructor was Capt John Mahon, the airline's operations director. "John was curious to find out about my flying skills and invited me to fly the sim. He later asked me for an interview and said he was looking for pilots."
Dickinson started flying as a co-pilot for British World on charter flights around the Mediterranean and to West Africa, before the airline folded at the end of 2001.
When a number of BWA executives launched their own airline, Astraeus, in January, Dickinson went with them.
Capt Mahon, now operations director of Astraeus said: "Bruce demonstrated a high level of flying skill and an operational maturity required for the position. I am delighted at his progression to flying our Boeing 737s."
Several of Dickinson's passengers have been taken aback to find themselves being flown by a famous rock star.
"We have had Iron Maiden fans on board who when they heard my name being announced as first officer asked the hostesses if it was the rock star. When told it was they spent the flight with their jaws on the floor then ask if they can have a chat with me," he said.
"After we landed a couple of fans have put their heads around the door and have said 'Oh my God, it is him'."
Dickinson is master of the airwaves in another way - he hosts two three-hour rock music programmes on Saturday and Sunday for the new BBC digital radio station 6Music.
However, flying is his real passion. "It's a great job. Every time I arrive at the aircraft to start a flight I think: 'Wow, someone has lent me this for the day'. Nothing else compares."
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