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Comment by patentatt | Hacker News Reader

Didn’t know who this was, so I looked him up. Who has a personal 787? Turns out he’s an Argentine actor and film magnate who is an ex-commercial pilot. I guess that’s one way to come to own your own ~$122m aircraft.

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That reminds me of the Iron Maiden 747, piloted by their singer:

https://simpleflying.com/iron-maiden-747/

And John Travolta with a 707.

He has donated it to a great aircraft museum in Australia - it should be making its way down this year.

They have spent years getting it back to spec to make the trans-pacfic flight back home

The irony of not being able to the transport the thing that usually transports the things.

Would have been easier to ship by boat, even without dismounting it, since it’s the cheapest transportation. But it seems I’m wrong, since they didn’t do it.

Well, if the aim is to make it fly anyway (not just show on the ground)...

IIRC, he had it parked right up to his house.

Yup.

Description of property: https://www.aerotime.aero/22859-john-travoltas-house

Photo of house w/ 707 in "car-port" from above article: https://www.aerotime.aero/upload/files/john-travoltas-house-...

I'm not a fan of Iron Maiden's music but from all I read they sound like absolute top blokes. They also licensed "Eddie" to Robinsons Brewery, a smallish company based in Stockport, to produce their "Trooper" beer - which is actually pretty fine.

Spent some time in Brimingham. Worked crazy hours, but would wander at night.

Local beer was a little rare in the places around our hotel (probably because we were near Broad Street), but they had "Trooper" at Malt House. It was actually really great.

That may also be influenced by the fact that I mostly only could get foreign light lagers everywhere else, and Malt House was a great place to relax on the canal a little away from the Hen Party craziness.

403 Forbidden :(

ha - works ok from here

The owners of the now defunct Fry's Electronics also owned the Arena Football team the San Jose SaberCats and additionally owned/leased/rented/sponsored various aircraft including a 747 SP.

1968 GULFSTREAM G1159B N24YS (still owned by the Fry family)

1976 ROCKWELL NA-265-60 N607CF (now owned by an airshow)

1955 PIPER PA-23 N3494B (owned by someone else)

1971 GULFSTREAM G1159B N44YS (still owned by the Fry family)

1976 ROCKWELL NA-265-60 N39CB (now owned by an airshow)

1977 DEHAVILLAND CANADA DHC-6-300 N814BC (still owned by the Fry family)

1978 BOEING 727-281(A)(RE) N724YS (now registered to a UK blind trust)

1980 BOEING 747SP-27 N747A (now owned by NASA)

1981 ROCKWELL NA-265-65 N88BF (still owned by the Fry family)

1981 ROCKWELL NA-265-65 N654YS (still owned by the Fry family)

1992 BEECH B300 N4YS (still owned by the Fry family)

2011 GULFSTREAM G280 N38GL (now owned by a casino corporation)

Wow this reminded me, I saw the fry's 747 at an airshow. I was pretty young at the time, but it was crazy seeing a 747 fly so low.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08G4z63PShc

I thought the camera was distorted as hell until I realized that no, the 747SP is just... super stumpy hahaha.

That is -insane- low for a craft like that.

Fry is defunct? That's so sad!

I bought a number of things there on a few trips I made to Cali back in... 2013! Well, that explains it.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/business/frys-electronics-clo...

Edit: Yes, the electronics store chain and not just the grocery store that was at Kooser and Camden many, many years.

Yeah! Bruce Dickinson is an amazingly talented person. And Iron Maiden is one of the greatest rock bands of all time.

He’s also the nephew of Paolo Rocca, CEO of the Techint conglomerate (steel, mining, oil and gas, etc.) and worth $3.7 billion according to Wikipedia.

Is he single?

A mining & oil tycoon flies his private 787 over some fishing vessels to complain about ecological damage. Pot... Kettle...

A person’s hypocrisy has nothing to do with the validity of the complaints they make. A given complaint is valid/invalid on its own merits and the fact that the person making the complaint is a hypocrite does not invalidate the legitimacy of the complaint.

I fully agree, but I still found it interesting/funny.

I know u jest. fwiw at least he's an Argentine pot; maybe he was saying 'if we're to have ecological disasters in Argentina it should at least benefit Argentines'

One airliner flight is going to do a little less overall environmental damage than 400 illegal fishing trawlers operating every day.

Comlux bought it from Aeromexico in their bankruptcy, but it looks like Piñeyro might be leasing it from Comlux.

His Wikipedia entry reads like he's some sort of MacGyver meets Batman and goes business.

So... Tony Stark?

Pretty much so.

I have to imagine maintenance and storage of a 787 is way worse than the purchase price

According to [1], it costs United about $15,000 an hour to run their 787. Of that, $7,371 finances the plane ("ac cost"), $786 for maintenance ("mx"), $5,259 for fuel, and $1,335 for crew. I'm assuming industry average utilization of roughly ~4000 hours a year of flight time so that works out to about $3 million in maintenance and $28 million in loan repayments per year.

Thing is, you have to keep the 787 flying - they're not designed to be parked for weeks or months at a time. Normally that'd be a problem for a business jet since they're little more than toys for rich people but the 787 is up to 20% more fuel efficient than comparable older models. As long as its set up for cargo, the owner can just rent it out and have someone else cover the majority of the maintenance burden. It wouldn't be profitable, but if you need (or want) a brand new commercial jet, it's an easy way to subsidize that cost.

[1] https://www.planestats.com/bhsw_2014sep

The question then is whether he owns it and farms it out to the airlines or if the airline owns it and rents it to him.

Would reply to child but too nested. Maybe it's this one for charter?

https://www.privatefly.com/private-jets/large-airliner-hire/...

Looks pretty cool if I was wealthier and wanted a destination wedding this would be the way!

There is no “too nested”. If it doesn't show a “reply” button, click on the timestamp instead.

thanks i didn't know that! or maybe im just too blind!

I like John Travolta.

I've wondered lately if he is working so much because of his hobbies, or just loves any acting gig?

(I need a life?)

Also interview during the flight here: https://youtu.be/jCCJQjEq4b8 (In Spanish but subtitles will work well for English translation)

He is also a member of the Rocca family, one of the richest families of Argentina. That helps.

> Enrique Piñeyro (born 1956 in Genoa, Italy) is an Argentine-Italian ex air line pilot turned film actor, producer, crash analyst, aeronautical physician, film director, and screenplay writer, working partly in Argentina.

That's quite a career!

John Travolta also has his own 707, which he flies himself.

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