Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson swapped his heavy metal attire for a pilot’s uniform and this weekend drove stranded tourists from a failed travel agency back home.
Dickinson is a trained commercial airline pilot, so he was able to take command of a Boeing 757 and return passengers from Egypt and Cyprus to Britain, British media reported on Sunday.
"I was just doing my job," he told the Telegraph. "They called me for help like many other pilots, and I was happy to do it." Dickinson (50) worked as a pilot for the airline Astraeus for nine years. He left the band in 1993 and took up piloting when his solo career hit a crisis.
He returned to Iron Maiden in 1999, but still works full-time as a pilot, only taking time off when the band goes on tour. "I earn 80 percent of my income from performing with Iron Maiden, and I spend only 20 percent of my time with the band," he said.
When the third-largest British tour operator XL went into bankruptcy on Friday due to a debt of $253 million, around 85,000 passengers were left without transport in the US, the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe. Iron Maiden performed at Split’s Poljud Stadium on August 10, and the band, of course, arrived in Split on a plane piloted by their lead vocalist. (H)
