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Published Feb 19, 2026, 12:33 PM EST
Alejandro Josan is a contributor on Screen Rant. He has years of experience writing about video games and entertainment, and he recently found his niche and passion in true crime and crime news reporting.
John Travolta has turned 72, and while many at his age would probably choose to slow down, he has chosen to do the exact opposite. Not by taking part in extremely dangerous sequences for an upcoming film of his, but rather by adding yet another pilot license to his collection.
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, February 18, the Saturday Night Fever actor is shown piloting a jet, a Bombardier Global Express. While inside the plane's cockpit, Travolta revealed that he had "accomplished his license in the Global Express SIC."
He showed the aircraft to his followers while standing next to it and congratulated himself on such an accomplishment for his 72nd birthday. The clip's caption read:
It’s my birthday today! And I’m very proud to say I got my license in the Global Express! Thank you for all my birthday wishes!
According to Fly Blade, the Bombardier Global Express is an ultra-long-range business jet created by Bombardier Aviation and designed for luxury travel, government missions, and high-value charter operations. It can reportedly travel from New York to Tokyo and London to Singapore without breaking a sweat.
It might come as a surprise to some, but this is not Travolta's first rodeo with aviation. PEOPLE reported that the Grease star has been a licensed pilot since he was only 22. In 2020, Travolta detailed that, when he was 15, his school offered an aviation class. This ultimately led him to what he described as his "second career."
Ever since his first time inside a plane's cockpit, he has collected various licenses to pilot planes such as the Boeing 747, 707, and 737, and he has been a Qantas Airways ambassador since 2002. His decades of flight experience have not transpired without its scares, though.
Back on November 24, 1992, Travolta was flying his $5 million Gulfstream N728T to Rockland, Maine, for a Thanksgiving celebration, as per the Orlando Sentinel. Inside the plane were his family and friends. Suddenly, a total electrical failure forced the actor to perform an emergency landing.
In a lapse of judgment, an air traffic controller asked another aircraft's pilot to help search for Travolta's jet, which was virtually impossible. Potentially, both planes could've collided midair, leading to multiple casualties, including Travolta's. Thankfully, the actor landed safely, and the controller was reprimanded and reassigned.
Travolta's passion for aviation appears to know no match, with him sharing multiple clips of himself piloting aircraft on social media.
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