Image Courtesy Nino Munoz/Capitol NashvilleDierks Bentley played a pilot in the CMA Award-winning video for “Drunk on a Plane,” and he’s no stranger to an airplane cockpit in real life either. Dierks actually flies himself to most of his shows in a small plane in order to spend more time with his family. That way he can leave Nashville the morning of a show instead of heading out on the bus the night before.
“You get an extra 12 hours, basically, which is a long time when you’ve got three kids,” Dierks explains. “That’s a whole other night to put ’em to bed. A whole other morning to make breakfast and do school and then you come into the gig fresh.”
Dierks actually started flight training back in 1994 and got his pilot’s license in 1997. After that, he had no reason or money to pursue flying anymore until his family started expanding.
Says Dierks, “I realized I can’t really afford to sit in the back of a private jet, but I could afford to learn how to fly and sit in the front left seat of a little prop plane and buzz around that way. So, it works out pretty good.”
Dierks now calls his plane “The Time Machine” because it buys him more time with his family. You can see where Dierks is flying next by checking out his tour schedule at Dierks.com.
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