Chatting with Travolta

CaptBill

CaptBill

Well-Known Member
Flying through Washington center airspace tonight I hear John Travolta check on the frequency at FL400. He was in his new Eclipse. Fearing the wrath of the controller, I reluctantly asked Travolta how high his plane would fly. He said it would fly at FL410 at about Mach .64. He explained he had been in Philadelphia visiting the sick mother of a very close friend. He was on his way back to his Florida home. I jokingly mentioned that the Eclipse must be saving him tons of money based on the fuel costs of his Boeing and he agreed with a laugh. The controller even piped in with questions of his own. At one point Air France checked on and it was almost jokingly seen as an interruption to our private conversation with JT. He also said he was looking forward to using the Eclipse when Kelly (his wife) and the kids wanted to go someplace so he didn't have to call out the support team needed when he uses the 707 or G2.


He seemed very friendly and willing to talk, and we were lucky that Washington center wasn't overly busy tonight and allowed our little chat session. We got a frequency change and wished him well with his new airplane.


Just one of those fun little moments in this crazy career of ours.
 
That's really neat. Lucky center wasn't busy as usual like you said.

I guess he still lives in this one? Spruce Creek, Florida.

travolta_estate.jpg
 
Nick said:
That's really neat. Lucky center wasn't busy as usual like you said.

I guess he still lives in this one? Spruce Creek, Florida.

travolta_estate.jpg
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That's not The Creek. That's JumboAir in Ocala, FL. I think he got kicked out of the Creek because the G2 makes too much noise. According to an interview on Letterman, Kelly is regularly spotted at Wal-Mart. Gotta love small towns.
 
ERfly said:
That's not The Creek. That's JumboAir in Ocala, FL. I think he got kicked out of the Creek because the G2 makes too much noise. According to an interview on Letterman, Kelly is regularly spotted at Wal-Mart. Gotta love small towns.
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Okay, that is what I originally thought. I google-imaged for it and when I scrolled down to the forum it was posted in it was confusing as to which one the picture was of. Both were mentioned and the noise issue was too.

Anway, Calcapt you should have asked him if he wears his Qantas uniform in the private jet. :p
 
That is a cool story CalCapt. Thanks for sharing. I used to run into JT on a fairly regular basis at Santa Barbara Aviation many yeas ago. He kept his Citation and Jetstar there. Later he bought the 707 and a Constellation that sat neaby waiting to be refurbished. He was quite approachable if you wanted to talk aviation.


TP
 
That would be a fun house to grow up in. You know Travolta doesn't sleep at night, maybe he could fly freight part time.

"The actor keeps off-hours by staying up all night and sleeping half the day. He has even had his wife, actress Kelly Preston, 44, their son Jett, 15, and their daughter, Ella Bleu, 7, adopt the same lifestyle so that the family can maintain their privacy. “My kids probably stay up too late,” Travolta, 53, reveals in the new issue of Parade. “My wife goes to bed around 3, and I follow around 7. We’re like the Addams family or the Munsters, living sort of an odd nocturnal life. But it works.”
In fact, the interview with the magazine, which comes out this weekend, was conducted at 2 a.m."
 
.64 at FL410? Everybody except NJACapt and anybody else in an X who can just climb over him is going to love that. Can you say "vectors off the airways"?
 
calcapt said:
Flying through Washington center airspace tonight I hear John Travolta check on the frequency at FL400. He was in his new Eclipse. Fearing the wrath of the controller, I reluctantly asked Travolta how high his plane would fly. He said it would fly at FL410 at about Mach .64. He explained he had been in Philadelphia visiting the sick mother of a very close friend. He was on his way back to his Florida home. I jokingly mentioned that the Eclipse must be saving him tons of money based on the fuel costs of his Boeing and he agreed with a laugh. The controller even piped in with questions of his own. At one point Air France checked on and it was almost jokingly seen as an interruption to our private conversation with JT. He also said he was looking forward to using the Eclipse when Kelly (his wife) and the kids wanted to go someplace so he didn't have to call out the support team needed when he uses the 707 or G2.


He seemed very friendly and willing to talk, and we were lucky that Washington center wasn't overly busy tonight and allowed our little chat session. We got a frequency change and wished him well with his new airplane.


Just one of those fun little moments in this crazy career of ours.
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Dang it! I just missed that whole conversation last night. I remember him checking on and not even a minute later we were switching freqs...ah well.
 
I thought the Eclipse was rated for VFR only? I guess I was wrong.

I'm flying into JumbolAir next time they offer the breakfast fly in. :rawk:
 
How do you know it was him? did he check in with "Washington Center, this is John Travolta 6NC level 410, with you"
 
FiveO said:
I thought the Eclipse was rated for VFR only? I guess I was wrong.

I'm flying into JumbolAir next time they offer the breakfast fly in. :rawk:
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Yeah, that's what I thought. I thought I heard no auto pilot, but he wouldn't be able to fly in RVSM airspace if that was the case, so...

butt said:
How do you know it was him? did he check in with "Washington Center, this is John Travolta 6NC level 410, with you"
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Nope, just his tail number N218JT...
 
butt said:
How do you know it was him? did he check in with "Washington Center, this is John Travolta 6NC level 410, with you"
Click to expand...


I had just read a newsletter from Eclipse that mentioned they had recently delivered the airplane to him. I know his other planes have the JT on the tail so when I heard Eclipse XXXJT check on, I put two and two together. He was very respectful on the radio and never came across as "I am John Travolta."
 
JDE said:
Yeah, that's what I thought. I thought I heard no auto pilot, but he wouldn't be able to fly in RVSM airspace if that was the case, so...



Nope, just his tail number N218JT...
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and I guess we know his production company as well:

Registered Owner

Name CONSTELLATION PRODUCTIONS INC
Street 15821 VENTURA BLVD STE 400
City ENCINO State CALIFORNIA Zip Code 91436-2943
County LOS ANGELES
Country UNITED STATES
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There are a lot of flying celebrities but Travolta is probably tops on the list for promoting aviation. Good story.
 
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