Celebrity Pilots: 20 Famous People Who Really Fly

Ask a room full of kids what they want to be and somebody always says pilot. Most people let the dream go. The people on this list did not, and some of them you know from somewhere else entirely: movie sets, stadium stages, golf courses, even a throne. Every entry here is a real person who really flies, not an actor who once sat in a cockpit for a role.

And if reading this stirs the old dream back up: you do not need a license to take the controls of a real plane. Our Las Vegas flight experiences put you in the front seat with a veteran pilot beside you, no logbook required.

1. Tom Cruise

The Top Gun star has held a pilot's license since 1994 and is rated for both airplanes and helicopters. He owns a vintage P-51 Mustang, flew the helicopter stunts himself in the Mission: Impossible films, and did real aerial work filming Top Gun: Maverick, though the Navy handled the F/A-18s. Civilians cannot fly a military fighter, which is exactly why fighter jet style experiences exist.

2. Harrison Ford

Ford wanted to fly as a teenager, could not afford the lessons, and finally earned his license in his fifties. He became one of aviation's most dedicated advocates, flying both planes and helicopters, volunteering for mountain rescue flights, and working with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. He has kept flying into his eighties.

3. John Travolta

The most qualified actor-pilot alive. Travolta started lessons at 15, was licensed in his early twenties, and went on to earn type ratings in airliners including the Boeing 747 and 707, adding a 737 qualification in 2022. He lives at a residential airpark with a runway at his door and has served as an aviation ambassador for Qantas.

4. Morgan Freeman

Freeman served in the Air Force before acting but left without ever piloting a plane. He fixed that at age 65, earned his license, and has been flying himself between film sets ever since. Proof that the dream has no expiration date.

5. Angelina Jolie

Jolie learned to fly in 2004 after taking her son Maddox to a small airfield to watch planes take off. She holds a private license and has owned her own aircraft. And since people ask: yes, she is the licensed pilot in that household.

6. Clint Eastwood

As a young Army draftee in 1951, Eastwood survived the ditching of a Navy bomber off the California coast and swam to shore. It did not put him off flying: he later became a licensed helicopter pilot and has flown himself to sets for decades.

7. Kurt Russell

Russell earned his license partly in tribute to his grandfather, an aerobatic pilot who flew for TWA. He is instrument rated and has owned serious hardware, including a Piaggio Avanti twin turboprop. He also says he was one of the pilots who reported the famous Phoenix Lights in 1997.

8. Hilary Swank

Cast as Amelia Earhart in the 2009 film Amelia, Swank trained to fly to make the role believable. The production's insurance would not let her solo during filming, so she completed her license afterward. Method acting with a checkride at the end.

9. Zach Braff

The Scrubs actor was afraid of flying, so he attacked the fear head-on: he studied how airplanes actually work, took lessons, and earned his pilot's license. Understanding the machine cured the anxiety. There is a lesson in that for nervous flyers everywhere.

10. Michael Dorn

Star Trek's Worf is one of the most serious aviators in Hollywood. Dorn learned to fly in 1988 and went on to own and fly ex-military jets. He has flown with both the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds, a double almost no civilian can claim.

11. Bruce Dickinson

The Iron Maiden frontman is not just licensed, he is a professional airline pilot. Dickinson flew commercially for the UK airline Astraeus and captained the band's own Boeing 747, Ed Force One, on world tours, hauling the crew and gear between continents and then walking on stage.

12. Dierks Bentley

The country star is a roughly 4,000 hour pilot with instrument and multiengine ratings and a jet type rating in the Cessna Citation CJ4. He took his first small-plane flight at 13 and has flown himself to shows for years, including in a 1946 Piper floatplane that starred in one of his music videos.

13. Tim McGraw

McGraw is a certified pilot and a committed Cirrus flyer, known for a customized SR22 with his wife Faith Hill's name lettered on a window. Flying is his way of unwinding between tours.

14. Enrique Iglesias

Iglesias did it backwards: he bought a plane first, then earned the license to fly it. His logic was simple, learn on the aircraft you intend to own. He regularly flies himself to his home in the Florida Keys.

15. King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands

The Dutch king has held a pilot's license since 1985 and a commercial certification since 2001. For years he quietly flew as a guest co-pilot on KLM Cityhopper passenger flights, mostly unrecognized by the people in the back.

16. Prince Harry

Harry trained as a military helicopter pilot with the British Army Air Corps and qualified on the Apache attack helicopter, one of the hardest aircraft in any military to master, flying a combat tour in Afghanistan as an Apache co-pilot gunner.

17. Phil Mickelson

The golf legend earned his pilot's license in the mid-1990s, partly to honor his father, a Navy and airline pilot. He has flown himself between tournaments for much of his career.

18. Carol Vorderman

The British TV presenter took time off in 2013 to earn her private pilot's license, chasing a lifelong dream of flying solo around the world. In 2014 she was named the first female ambassador to the RAF Air Cadets, with the honorary rank of Group Captain.

19. Gisele Bundchen

The supermodel earned her pilot certification in 2009, reportedly while seven months pregnant. Her reason was practical: she spent so much time in small planes getting to shoots that she wanted to be able to take over in an emergency. She has since reportedly added helicopter training.

20. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger

The professional on the list. In 2009 Sully dead-sticked US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River after a bird strike took out both engines. All 155 people aboard survived, and a career airline pilot became a household name overnight.

Some of the most famous pilots of all time were celebrities because they flew, not pilots who happened to be celebrities. These four belong in any conversation about famous aviators.

Amelia Earhart

The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic and still the most famous female pilot of all time. Her disappearance over the Pacific on July 2, 1937, during her attempt to fly around the world, remains one of aviation's great mysteries.

The Red Baron

Manfred von Richthofen, the WWI German ace credited with 80 aerial victories, flew a bright red fighter that made him a legend on both sides of the front. Generations now know him best as Snoopy's imaginary arch-nemesis in Peanuts.

Chuck Yeager

A WWII ace who became the most famous test pilot in history when he broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1 on October 14, 1947. Yeager kept flying for decades and remained aviation's plainspoken icon until his death in 2020 at age 97.

Jimmy Buffett

The Margaritaville singer, who died in 2023, was a dedicated aviator with a commercial pilot's license and a lifelong love of seaplanes. His famous Grumman Albatross flying boat, the Hemisphere Dancer, survived gunfire in Jamaica in 1996 (an incident he turned into a song) and is now preserved for fans to visit.

Celebrity Pilot FAQs

Fly an Airplane Like Your Favorite Celebrity Today

Every pilot on this list started with a first flight. At Sky Combat Ace you can ride along through full aerobatics, take the controls yourself, or fly head-to-head air combat against your friends, no license required. Book your flight today and see why the famous ones never stopped flying.

Sources:

1. AOPA. Pilots: Dierks Bentley. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
2. AOPA. Jimmy Buffett Mourned. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
3. General Aviation News. Brad Pitt Buys Spitfire. Retrieved 26 October 2026.
4. Airport Journals. Michael Dorn: A Trek Worth Remembering. Retrieved 26 October 2026.