Boys Don’t Cry star Hilary Swank will play doomed aviator Amelia Earhardt in an upcoming Hollywood biopic.

Earhardt went missing in 1937.  Despite what Yahoo Entertainment reports (and was widely copied), Earhardt was not attempting an around the world solo flight.  She was flying with navigator Fred Noonan.

According to TMZ.com, the only news source we read and believe without any questions, Brad and Angelina touched down in Prague yesterday.  But not in the Cirrus SR22 that Ange owns and flies.

Very disappointing.

As our friends at avweb.com report, actor, pilot and Fly-intologist John Travolta routinely breaks the 10pm curfew at Knox County Regional Airport (RKD) in Owls Head, Maine by flying his gas-guzzling, noisy Gulfstream jet at all hours of the night.

Travolta, who recently claimed he was “bigger than Elvis”, may be the ambassador for Qantas Airlines but he’s the worst celebrity ambassador ever for general aviation.  He routinely takes thirty people on board a giant Boing 707 and apparently has little concern the impact negative publicity has on regular pilots and those in the aviation field. When he’s not flying over-sized planes, he lectures people on the environment.

Be a better poster boy.  And hit the gym while you’re at it.

-Andrew 

…well maybe your waist-size, John. The pilot, actor, and Scientologist (we call him and Tom Cruise “Fly-intologists”) says that he is now as big as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. Well, looking from the picture, we think we can agree he’s as “big as Elvis.”

But Travolta says he won’t suffer the same fate as those two because of his religion.

Whatever. But getting back to the pilot-thing, we wish Travolta would spend some of that carb-fueled energy on promoting general aviation, which, frankly, he hasn’t really done. He’s aligned himself with an airline- Qantas (not even an airline based in this hemisphere)- and he pisses off environmentalists by piloting a large jet. I rarely, if ever, have heard him promote or defend general aviation.
The better celebrity model for aviators is Harrison Ford. First, he is a real actor. And he flies planes, helicopters, and the Millennium Falcon.
And most importantly, Ford’s the chairman of EAA’s Young Eagles, which promotes aviation for kids.
-Andrew

Actor-pilot-Flyintologist John Travolta confirms that he had no emergency while flying his jet last week in Ireland.

There had been reports that Travolta was forced down due to an engine problem, but he says it was a routine fuel stop.

You can read the story on tmz.com.  By the way, I have no idea what any one did before TMZ.  It’s really the only news source you need.

The London Evening Standard engaged in a Pulp Fiction-like hit job on actor, pilot, and Fly-intologist John Travolta (”Fly-intologist” is our phrase for a Scientologist who is a pilot, like Travolta and Tom Cruise) over his views on the environment.

Now, we have some mixed feelings here. The paper has a point that owning and flying five large jets has a negative environmental impact and that he is, perhaps, a bit hypocritical to talk about reducing carbon emissions. And Travolta is a bit of a whack-job, saying that he believes our environmental problems can be solved by “thinking about other planets and domed cities.” That’s where the Scientology part comes in. And Travolta hasn’t been that great of an ambassador for general aviation, since he’s an ambassador for an airline, Qantas.

But…. in fact, Travolta has used his jets to ferry around staff for film shoots, so they’re not neccesarily a wasted resource. And he deserves credit for using his aviation assets in helping victims of Hurrican Katrina. Also, the Evening Standard’s picture of the Qantas jet out front his Florida home is very old– it was only for a photo shoot, as I understand it.

So, 2flyTV officially defends Travolta.

-Andrew

January 9

We like to keep track of pilots-on-the-news, so we report that WTVJ Miami weatherman and private pilot Lonnie Quinn will be joining WCBS-TV New York, according the New York Post.

Quinn gained exceptional weather forecasting experience during his years as an actor on All My Children. Seriously, according the WTVJ website he holds a meterology certificate from the FAA.

Lonnie, welcome to New York. The flying weather is not as good here as south Florida. But no (few) hurricanes.