Travel: London to New York

David Bowie and Iggy Pop flew from London to New York on 10 March 1977.

The flight was to continue Pop’s The Idiot Tour, for which David Bowie played keyboards. Following the opening six dates in England, the tour resumed in Montreal on 13 March.

This was Bowie’s first flight in five years. A particularly turbulent journey from Cypress to London on 30 July 1972 had put him off, forcing him to travel mainly by road, rail, and sea in the intervening years.

On the flight back from Cyprus to England, about halfway through the trip, lightning hit the tips of the wings of the plane, bouncing from one to the other, and Bowie was terrified. In fact, the plane was shaking so badly, we all thought it might be all over. It was a real kiss-your-arse-goodbye moment.

I looked at him and I could see all the blood vessels in his face, because he had gone so pale. He wasn’t a fit, healthy person back then, because he hardly ever ate, and he almost passed out on that plane. That was too close for comfort for him, and he didn’t fly again until the late seventies because it was too traumatic.

Following this date, Bowie began flying again, which significantly shortened his travel times while on tour.