Learning how to fly a plane is tough – there are difficult tests to pass, books of knowledge to absorb and years of training but these 5 celebrities have all decided to give it a go and have taken flying lessons. Some now own their own planes and regularly fly on their own as a fun (and expensive!) hobby while others continue to learn how to fly and say they’re totally addicted to the thrill involved!
Angelina decided to learn as a gift to her son: “When Maddox was one and a half, we used to go to the airfield, have lunch and watch the planes. And it dawned on me: I could fly. So I promised him I would fly by his second birthday. It’s the only place I’m completely alone – up in the air, detached from everything. Brad loves the technical aspects. He loves the checks, loves all the maths. I’m terrible at the maths, but I love that I can go anywhere and have that freedom. He’s more patient. I tend to drive it to the ground.”
Harrison reveals that he keeps his acting career only so he can afford to fly his private plane: “I’m so grateful that people still want to see me on screen – with my fees I can finance my armada. If I didn’t get any roles anymore I would have to go by plane as a normal passenger. Apart from the flying I live quite frugally. I’ve never bought a single suit in my whole life. Instead, I just always wear the clothes from my films.”
Hilary Swank
Hilary learned to fly for her part as Amelia Earhart in ‘Amelia’: “I absolutely love flying. I picked up my boyfriend from a meeting in Las Vegas. I said to my instructor, ‘Can we pick my boyfriend up?’ and he said, ‘Sure.’ So we flew to Vegas and showed up at the airport. John said, ‘You cancelled my flight and I’m getting in that plane?’ And I’m like, ‘You’d better – we flew all this way to get you!’ He white-knuckled it the whole flight.”
Tom struggled to learn how to fly at first because of his dyslexia: “I just blew it off. When people asked me what happened, I told them I was too busy preparing for the film, just didn’t have time. The truth is, I couldn’t learn how to do it.” He was able to overcome his problem and studied hard: “When I was studying for my pilot’s license, I kept a model airplane nearby as a reference and pictures of a cockpit in front of me, so I could study the instruments. I would go over to a shop where mechanics were working on planes.”
Zach Braff
Zach decided to learn to fly to cool his nerves: “I got into it because I’d become a really nervous flyer and I thought understanding how everything works would calm me down – now I’m hooked. It quiets your mind; when you are someone who thinks a lot and your brain is going non- stop, it has to become still so you can focus.”
