John Travolta has had an amazing career and played some great roles – Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever and Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction come to mind. His latest role was a little less impressive. The role of Shameless Pilot #1 in Port-au-Prince Le Aftermath.
John Travolta’s Private 707 – N707JT. Photograph by Dylan Ashe
On Tuesday January 26th, 2010 Travolta flew into PAP with his private 707 (N707JT) to save the day in Haiti with 6 tonnes of supplies and a gang of religious volunteers. I appreciate the gesture, but exploiting unfortunate people for the sake of spreading your ideology and getting a photo op is downright wrong and frankly disgusting. Those same supplies could EASILY have made it to Haiti without the help of Travolta, his wife and his ego. This is especially true if you consider that the three of them hightailed it right out of there once the cameras were put away.
Due to a very complicated situation on the ground the airport is restricted to 130 flights a day. A U.N. spokeswoman – Elisabeth Byrs – said that there are at least 800 planes jam packed with relief items on a waiting list for the airport. Logic would dictate then that those slots be used as effectively as possible. Various countries and organizations are sending large aircraft with much greater capacity to PAP to get as much aid in as possible. Some of these planes are so large they could carry the fuselage of Travolta’s 707 and his ego with ease. Yet Travolta has used his fame to get a slot and secure a photo op.
Consider just two other aircraft types seen on the ground in recent days:
| Aircraft | Cargo |
|---|---|
| C-17 | 77.519 tonnes |
| C-5B | 122.47 tonnes |
John Travolta brought 6 (six) tonnes.
Incidentally his attention mongering has worked “john travolta haiti” yields more Google search results (almost 4x) than “jean bertrand aristide haiti” which is ridiculous. For my part in boosting his numbers I apologize and before you ask I do see the irony. Seriously though, couldn’t he have just gone into rehab like any other celebrity in need of attention?
If you wish to make a donation to help the rebuilding effort in Haiti may I suggest either UNICEF or the Red Cross.
