John Travolta's Boeing 707

If you need proof that it is his plane, it's right there on the tail section of the Boeing 707. The call letters N707JT: JT standing for John Travolta.

You may know the actor John Travolta from such films as Face Off, Pulp Fiction, or possibly even that little-known cult hit Grease. Never heard of it? Sorry. Well, anyway, a few days ago Mr. John Travolta flew in to our small rural airport, where I used to work, waved to the small crowd, then hitched a limousine ride to Toronto where he is filming Hairspray. It's due out in 2007.

Anyhoo, not many can claim ownership of a quad-engined Boeing 707b (or any other 200ish passenger airliner for that matter) and actually know how to fly it.

He purchased the massive jetliner from those kickass Aussies at Qantas, and has kept the paint job the same. He, himself, pilots the plane to pretty much wherever he wants to go. I haven't read very much about his plane, or his skills, or his obsession, but I've heard that he has converted some of the interior into bedrooms and bathrooms. Wild!

John flew his bright red and white 707 from his home in Ocala, Florida a distance of about 1,200 miles, or 1,920 kilometres, using up many gallons of jet fuel. I could cover that same distance in my Insight with less than 20 gallons of 87 octane fuel, which is less than two tanks.

For me, two tanks of gas costs about $80, at $1 per litre. John would have spent a little bit more than that. Such is the cost of 2.5 hours versus 2.5 days of travel.

So I drove my Insight, the Cadillac of Hybrids, up to the airport that is seriously in the middle of the country and snapped a couple of pics of his unique mode of travel. Anyone catch my witty John Travolta movie reference quote?

Oh.

The movie was Be Cool, which I never saw specifically because I didn't like Get Shorty. In fact, I didn't like it so much that I turned it off. Don't tell JT.