Iron Maiden's Tour Plane?

[Felipe Garcia]

Does anyone know what is Iron Maiden using as the official tour plane? are they still flying the 757 or are they flying commercial now that Astraeus is not flying?

[Jan-Jasinski]

I heard he doesn't own the 757 anymore. He was in Ottawa, Canada a couple of weeks ago and arrived in a Private Embraer 135 fitted in a business configuration.

[brianw999]

The band Iron Maiden did not own the 757 known as "Ed Force One" it was commissioned from Astraeus. Here's a short narrative courtesy of Wikipedia.....

The heavy metal band Iron Maiden commissioned an Astraeus 757 as transport for their 'Somewhere Back in Time' tour in 2008 and nicknamed it Ed Force One. The aircraft was converted into a combi configuration, repainted with an Iron Maiden livery and was used in this scheme until 28 May 2008. The same aircraft (G-OJIB) was used again on the second leg of the Somewhere Back in Time tour in 2009. The same aircraft was meant to be used for The Final Frontier World Tour in 2011, however on February 8, 2011 another 757 200 aircraft (G-STRX) departed Southend with a sightly differing Iron Maiden livery for The Final Frontier World Tour.
When not performing as lead singer for Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson was an Astraeus Captain flying the Boeing 757 aircraft[6] and was Astraeus's Marketing Director. On 20 October 2010, Dickinson flew the Liverpool FC team to Naples, Italy, for their European Cup match against Napoli.

Maiden's lead singer Bruce Dickinson opened an aircraft maintenance company at St Athan in Wales.....

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/busines...1466-31440068/

[transitfan]

How cool is that, the lead singer of arguably one of the best heavy metal bands ever also a licensed airline pilot! (As long as Bruce doesn't try to recreate "The flight of Icarus*")

*-my all-time favorite Maiden song, from the Piece of Mind album (only Maiden album I own on vinyl!)

[C-GEPA]

"Does anyone know what is Iron Maiden using as the official tour plane? are they still flying the 757 or are they flying commercial now that Astraeus is not flying?"

DC-4

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/enter...343/story.html

[canair67]

A kick ass story as I viewed this DC3 when it was at YXD last month. A beautiful rare aircraft.

[Felipe Garcia]

Originally Posted by C-GEPA

"Does anyone know what is Iron Maiden using as the official tour plane? are they still flying the 757 or are they flying commercial now that Astraeus is not flying?"

DC-4

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/enter...343/story.html

He flew the DC-3, the DC-4, he probably would have flown the Canso if they still had it. He's also flown an A320. I sometimes wonder if being a musician is just his side job.

[transitfan]

Originally Posted by Felipe Garcia

He flew the DC-3, the DC-4, he probably would have flown the Canso if they still had it. He's also flown an A320. I sometimes wonder if being a musician is just his side job.

Didn't Bruce leave Maiden for a few years in the mid to late 90s? Maybe that's when he picked up all those flying skills

(I know Maiden released a CD in 2000 when Bruce had returned to the group. I bought it unheard, didn't get around to playing it, moved the next year and haven't seen it since Probably packed somewhere in storage.)