Harrison Ford's can't fight the urge not to fly a plane while filming in London. This passion for aviation reached the point when he recently joined the Shropshire Aero Club in England as lifetime member just so he could rent an aircraft and hover on the grass strips of Midwest London while waiting for his cue filming the latest installment of Star Wars: Episode VII movie.
The 72-year old Hollywood A-Lister is seriously into flying since obtaining his pilot license at age 53. He is a private pilot and reportedly owns about 11 private planes including a G4 jet. During the time of his flight training, he even got involved in a helicopter crash Bell 206L4 Long Ranger helicopter in California, something he shared to Inside the Actor's Studio interview as "I broke it". His aircrafts are kept in Santa Monica Airport if not busy in his 800-acre ranch in Jackson, Wyoming.
The uncontrolled urge to fly was well-noted by Bob Pooler who flew the plane to the actor. In a BBC interview, he said, "Harrison Ford owns a couple of Huskys in the States so he wanted to rent and fly one while over here. We happened to have one for rent. He phoned me up last Friday and left me a message. So I flew down on Sunday, did a check ride with him and got him to become a member because he has to be covered by our insurance."
"I delivered the aircraft to Denham Aerodrome, just 10 minutes away from Pinewood Studios where the movie is being filmed... After he left me on Sunday I think he was going to visit friends on their grass strips (landing strips)."
The rented plane, Aviat Husky, will be flown by Harrison Ford until mid-November.
Asked about his passion for flying, Harrison Ford said he "never lost the ambition to fly. I just hadn't found the time... In my life I have two roles. One of them everyone knows about. It provides a means to the other, which I prefer." That is, flying.
