I did not know that yesterday!

Fly-in Home of the Rich & Famous...

What do you do when your neighbours won't let you park your Boeing 707 outside your home? You move to another "housing development" - one that lets you have close-parking privileges, complete with a 1.4-mile airstrip!

Following a lifelong love of aviation, 70's TV phenom actor John Travolta now lives in Jumbolair, just north of Ocala, Florida. Shown are two of Travolta's jets - a Gulfstream and a Boeing 707B - there aren't very many non-commercial airstrips where planes of that size can take off and land. About a decade ago, Travolta had a home in a fly-in community near Daytona, but was sued by neighbours who claimed his jet airplanes were too big and noisy for their facility.

The very layout of his new house is testament to Travolta's love of flying. It's located immediately off the main airstrip, and is designed so his jets can taxi right up to two outbuildings connected to the main structure, which is shaped like a squat air-control tower. Travolta literally can walk out his door, under a canopied walkway and into the cockpit, open the long mechanized gate and be airborne in a
matter of minutes.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration pilot database, Travolta is qualified in several types of single and multi-engine aircraft, and has the highest pilot medical certification possible.

"We know that Travolta's an accomplished pilot. A lot of people fly for the pleasure of it, and he's one of them," said John Clabes, an FAA spokesman. "If you have this many ratings on these types of high-performance aircraft, you're obviously a good pilot."

In layman's terms, Travolta has enough experience flying large multi-engine jets that he could easily switch to piloting commercial airliners for a living - but why bother when you can make a hobby of it? Tough life, but someone has to do it, eh?