Bruce

[Bucko]

Heavy metal legend Bruce Dickinson, of Iron Maiden, was at the controls as Rangers football club flew to Israel for a Uefa Cup tie.

Iron Maiden star captains Rangers

Bruce Dickinson doubles as Iron Maiden frontman and pilot
Heavy metal legend Bruce Dickinson was at the controls as Rangers football club flew to Israel for a Uefa Cup tie.
The Iron Maiden frontman piloted a 757 jet from Glasgow ahead of Wednesday's match against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

Dickinson is qualified as a commercial pilot and regularly flies for UK-based charter firm Astraeus.

He specifically asked to fly the Ibrox men to the Israeli capital when he learned that the charter firm had landed the contract.

Rangers manager Walter Smith told the club's website: "I know their stuff quite well.

"I remember going to meet the band when they played in Edinburgh a few years ago.

"I would never have thought that Bruce would be flying our plane."

Iron Maiden with Dickinson at the helm are still going strong after two decades of hard rock and an estimated 80 million album sales.

Their hits include Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter, Run to the Hills, The Number of the Beast and The Trooper.

The band played the Glasgow SECC in December last year as part of a successful world tour.

Astraeus, based in Crawley, West Sussex, confirmed that Dickinson was at the controls of Rangers' jet.

 

[Spiff]

For rock singers doing un-rock singer things, I think this is the best of the lot:

SILENT FORCE vocalist D.C. Cooper — who works as a firefighter in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area — has updated his MySpace page with the following message:

"We here at the staff at DCPStudio would like to let everyone know that D.C. Cooper is OK and doing well.

"D.C. was released from the hospital after being transported by NorthWest EMS during a structure fire that Station 108 Bellevue FD and 11 other fire companies were battling in the Avalon section of Pittsburgh. D.C., along with three other firefighters, [was] transported after recieving injuries at this blaze. D.C. and a few others recieved injuries mainly revolved around hypothermia and dehydration due to the sub-zero temperatures the fire crews dealt with after being on the fire scene for several hours. An injury to D.C.'s left hand will be re-x-rayed on Monday to rule out a hairline fracture, once the swelling subsides.

"As many of you know, D.C. Cooper is a firefighter as well as an Emergency Medical Technician for NorthWest Emergency Medical Services.

"D.C. wanted us to let everyone know that he feels he was a small part of such a huge effort by many incredible firefighters and companies to bring this fire under control and that he is proud to be involved with such a great team of fire personel.

"We here at DCPS, and D.C. himself, want to thank the well wishes and care shown by everyone. Especially the Station 108, Northwest EMS, and Mercy Hospital Emergency Dept."

For more information on the fire and pictures, go to www.nbfd.us (click on the Avalon fire).

SILENT FORCE's fourth album, "Walk the Earth", will be released on February 16 via AFM Records.

 

[Spiff]

Bruce Dickinson - metal legend.

 

[Winmar]

Cool stories! How awesome, that Brucey flew Rangers, and that the manager (in his fifties) knew who he was.

 

[Bucko]

I love this quote " Rangers manager Walter Smith told the club's website: "I know their stuff quite well" hhahahaha

 

[Priest of Evil]

from what I've heard about him, he is a genuine fellow. Looks good on paper too. Maybe he should write an autobiography like Sharon Osbourne, my wife read that one and suggested I should read it also...