Last month in our GlobalAir.com poll, we asked pilots and aviation fans to vote for their favorite songs for flying. Here are the results, as chosen by you, of the best songs for flying.
7. “Steve Miller Band – Jet Airliner”
This catchy classic-rock staple tells the story of jet-setting not for fun but for a living, going from town to town to make money even when your heart is at home. It’s something to which many (sorry, Jerry Garcia) deadhead commercial pilots can relate: “You know you’ve got to get through hell before you can get to heaven.” Whether it’s the Boeing 707 sung about here, or it’s another plane, in the end, the big ‘ole jet airliner carries us to our home after carrying us too far away.
6. “Red Hot Chili Peppers – Aeroplane”
In this song, the aviation reference is figurative, as Anthony Kiedis sings that he likes his pleasure spiked with pain and music is his aeroplane. Still, the song’s fun, upbeat tempo can be enjoyed by pilots looking for their own rush as they go wheels up to (sorry, Jimi Hendrix) kiss the sky.
5. “John Denver – Leaving on a Jet Plane”
One of the older songs on the list, written by John Denver and popularized by Peter, Paul & Mary, this classic came out in the golden age of aviation. Similar to the Steve Miller Band, this effort also takes on a vagabond’s voyage, choosing the unknowns of a new adventure over the confines of an old love. The singer doesn’t know when he will return, but when he does, it will be with a diamond ring.
4. “Far East Movement – Like a G6”
The lone hip-hop entry on the list cannot be ignored as it centers on one of our favorites here at GlobalAir.com, the luxurious Gulfstream G650 private jet. All of the glory and glamor of fame and fortune packed into a metal tube and sent into the sky summed up in one consonant and one numeral: G6. Why even bother to say more than that?
(tie) 2. “Lenny Kravitz – Fly Away”
Although his opening lyrics are strikingly similar to the Reading Rainbow theme song, Lenny Kravitz penned an instant classic with “Fly Away.” And this might be the best opening guitar riff on this list. Many become pilots for the freedom it provides. As Steve Miller and John Denver showed us, who wants to stay in the same town when there is a whole world, or universe, out there? In Kravitz’s case, he wants to go interstellar, as the Milky Way “or even Mars … could be ours” if we get away, fly away.
(tie) 2. “Tom Petty – Learning to Fly”
Another song that uses aviation as a metaphor, easily the most humble offering on the list, the hard knocks implied here are well known to any seasoned CFI when it comes to helping people learn to fly. This Petty staple teaches us that when flying without wings “coming down is the hardest thing.” Featured on the album “Into the Great Wide Open,” aviation puns abound. We just hope that, if you are learning to fly without wings, that you’re working on your rotorcraft certificate. Otherwise, you might end up Free Fallin’ (sorry, Tom Petty) and need to borrow Trevor Jacob’s parachute.
1. “Kenny Loggins – Danger Zone”
Yeahhhh…. We knew when we made this poll that it was a race for second. The “Top Gun” theme song is responsible for why probably 85% of pilots ever jumped into a cockpit and for why maybe 60% of their first children were born. Even though Loggins sings about a highway rather than a runway, who needs silly facts to get in the way of all that raw adrenaline?
This was the runaway winner with around one-third of the vote. Still, one out of seven poll voters said they would choose a different song as their favorite for flying. Maybe they prefer learning to fly but would rather hear the versions performed by Foo Fighters or Pink Floyd. Maybe it’s Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly with Me,” or maybe still a Beatles fan who likes “Back in the U.S.S.R” or, if they pilot an SR-71, “Blackbird.” We surmise that there’s probably a Nike-loving presidential pilot out there scoffing because we left off Nelly’s “Air Force Ones.”
One thing’s for certain: No song is a bad song as long as you’re up in the air. Let us know in the comments at the top of the page which of your favorite songs for flying we missed. And (sorry, Willie Nelson) may there be “nothing but blue skies now on” for each of you.
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