Actor and aviation aficionado John Travolta is denying published reports that he was forced to declare an emergency while flying his personal Boeing 707 from Germany to New York last Monday. Despite reports stating he successfully landed his ex-Qantas Boeing 707-138 at Shannon, Ireland, after what reportedly were engine-related “technical difficulties,” Travolta says he had landed there for a normal fuel stop but, on departure, the number-two engine starter failed. The actor/pilot reportedly chartered another airplane — type unknown — and continued his journey. “There was never an emergency. It was just a fuel stop and when we went to depart, the number two engine needed a new starter,” Travolta said in a statement.
In 1999, another jet Travolta was flying “lost an engine” — according to published reports — resulting in an emergency landing at Boston. And, in 1993, a Gulfstream GII owned and being flown by Travolta experienced an electrical failure and made a late-night emergency landing at what was then the Washington National Airport. According to the Ocala (Fla.) Star-Banner — near the actor’s fly-in home — “a spokesman for Shannon Airport had said Travolta was there due to ‘technical difficulties.'”
