When I was at NASA, I had a house on a small private airstrip that we shared between the flying community. I had a hangar in my backyard with my airplane in it so I could just fly from my home.
I could buy an island. I could buy a private jet - but I have NetJets.
I fly my own airplane, and I have since 1960. I rarely fly anywhere other than my own airplane.
My dad couldn't connect to my wanting to be a filmmaker. He was very connected in entertainment, and through him I met Steven Spielberg and got rides on his private plane to California. I'd see Spielberg's people reading scripts. I was like, 'That's what I want to be when I grow up.'
The helicopter is a fine way to travel, but it induces a view of the world that only God and CEOs share on a regular basis.
The only way to get around Arizona is by small private plane.
My greatest pleasure is still flying private. I spend between $300,000 to $500,000, depending on my year, on flying private.
In the late 1990s, I was a guest on a private plane. By the time my partners and I got off the flight, we knew we had to figure out how to fly privately more often.
Private flights back home, no stop-over
I have a helicopter that I use for U.K. business trips, and I fly myself. I have a yacht in Antibes in the south of France, which is a sort of indulgence, as we only use it for about four weeks a year. The rest of the time, it is chartered out to people as a business.
In the U.S., the term 'general aviation' means its exact opposite, the way 'public school' does in England. An English public school is private and, on top of that, exclusive. Likewise, general-aviation airports in the U.S. are for everyone but the general public.
We used to have our own plane with the band's name on the side. It was a dream come true. You drive to a local airport. There's none of this checking in stuff; you just get on the plane.
I don't own a jet, but I rent jets in my spare time. That's the quickest and most comfortable.
I'm also very fond of a light business jet, so I'd like to get it before it's too late.
In the coming era of manned space exploration by the private sector, market forces will spur development and yield new, low-cost space technologies. If the history of private aviation is any guide, private development efforts will be safer, too.
I would always be going from L.A. to Miami to New York, to Russia, St-Tropez. Costs about $50,000 for a domestic flight, $250,000 for overseas. Yeah, that's an expensive habit.
It's great to have a private jet. Anyone that tells you that having your own private jet isn't great is lying to you.
Never fly commercial. That's the moral of this story.
Non-commercial general aviation flights serve as a lifeline to thousands of communities where airlines do not fly, while contributing a fraction of total U.S. air traffic congestion.
Harrison Ford invited me to fly on his private plane to Los Angeles, and he's great to work with. He's really down to earth, and we got to know each other quite well.
There's probably about 150 charters in the world. We're the biggest international club there is.
It's a drag not to have your own plane, man. That way, you could go where you wanna go when you wanna go.
I've owned about 18 airplanes over the years, and I've never bought one of them new.
A couple of years ago, I bought my own helicopter, a Robinson R44. I use it occasionally to fly myself to sets where I am filming or to business meetings.
