Iron Maiden’s Ed Force One Flies Again after Airplane Gets Two New $4 Million Jet Engines

I’m not sure why Ed Force One, the custom-fitted and Eddie-adorned airplane Iron Maiden are using to transport band, crew and gear on their current world tour, is so fascinating to the entire Internet… this writer included. I think part of it is fantasy — how cool would it be to have your own chartered airplane take you around the world? — and part of it scratches a little kid itch that still lives on inside of all of us: AIRPLANES! They’re inherently really fucking cool. Especially big gigantic ones flown by the lead singer of one of the biggest bands on planet Earth.

So we were all very sad to learn that an accident involving a tow truck at the airport in Santiago, Chile resulted in two of the aircraft’s jet engines being badly damaged last week. The show — of course — went on, but not without an incredible feat of logistical mastery to obtain new engines and qualified crew to install them from halfway across the world, and not without a labyrinth of alternate arrangements for the band to keep the tour going while all that unfolded over the course of several days.

The cost of each engine? A whopping $4 million! Plus the cost of transporting those beasts, which each weigh 5000kg (about 11,000 lbs), and to transport and pay all the mechanics to install them over 12,000km (7410 miles). That’s a huge sum of money to keep the show going, although we’ll assume that insurance covered all or most of it.

Explains Maiden in a post to their Facebook page:

Yeesh! Sounds like a lot of sleepless nights for a whole lot of people to me. Thank you to everyone who worked tirelessly to get Ed Force One back into the air so we can all exclaim, “WHHHOOOOOAAA, AIRPLANES!” as Ed Force One passes overhead… or at least marvel at its awesomeness via photos.