Bands customizing big transport jets for tours is nothing new. For instance, Alice Cooper, the Allman Brothers Band, Deep Purple, Elton John, Olivia Newton-John, and Peter Frampton all made use of The Starship (a Boeing 720) back in the 1970s. Legendary metal band Iron Maiden has turned the volume up to 11 with their custom-liveried “Ed Force One” — named after their evil mascot, Eddie.
What makes Iron Maiden’s tour planes even more unusual is that they’ve been piloted by lead singer Bruce Dickinson, who holds a transport pilot license. Iron Maiden’s last tour made use of a customized 757-200.
After the band’s April 11 show in Tacoma, WA, they made the short hop up to Paine Field in Everett, WA on April 12 for a VIP tour of their bird’s birthplace, the Boeing assembly plant, before leaving the same day for their next tour stop in Denver (Editor’s note: I got to see the beautiful #EdForceOne fly over my Denver office on departure!). Before they left Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, I was able to be there, on the ground, and get some up-close photos of the plane.
In early 2015, in preparation for the construction of its giant new Aviation Pavilion, Seattle”s Museum of Flight moved its Boeing 727 (former American Airlines N874AA) from the parking lot on the west wide of East Marginal Way where it had been displayed along with other large aircraft. Instead of being towed to the museum”s air park with the other planes, it was towed all the way across King County International Airport (also known as Boeing Field) to a parking stall.
By now, some of your might have seen some bit of news concerning Everett, WA-based Windspeed Technologies” new SkyDeck modification for large passenger aircraft. If you”ve managed to miss it, imagine adding a big fighter-jet cockpit canopy to the top of a jetliner, with a couple of first class seats inside, and you”ve got the idea.
”I travel a lot,” Windspeed Technologies President and CEO Shakil Hussain explained to AirlineReporter. ”I was trying to find ways to reduce the boredom of long fights and realized over the years that the offerings of in-flight entertainment have not changed much you”re watching a movie on a screen or something else while being confined to a relatively tight space. I was once invited into the cockpit of a 747 in flight the view was unbelievable. I thought that if I could design something to allow the public to access such an amazing view, that this could be even better than what the pilots could see.”
Boeing opened its new Seattle delivery center for its booming 737 program on October 19 at King County International Airport, a.k.a. Boeing Field. The 90,000 sq. ft. building is more than twice the size of the previous facility, which was located on the same site. It took 15 months to demolish the old structure, build the new one, […]
There are few aircraft as readily identifiable as the 747-200B/VC-25 known as Air Force One (even though there are actually two of them; more on that in a bit). The aircraft is designed to ferry the President of the United States, other elected and government officials, VIPs, and the White House press corps, anywhere in the […]
