Iron Maiden will be landing it’s 747 jumbo jet at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport today, Friday, February 18th. The jet, Ed Force One, will be piloted from the band's home city of London by vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who is a fully licensed commercial airline pilot. Touchdown is expected at 3:15 PM.

The new video below offers a walkaround tour of Ed Force One:

In another video, Bruce Dickinson sees the tour plane for the first time:

The video below shows Ed Force One landing at Cardiff Airport (CWL) on February 17th. Following is a message from the band:

"Ed Force One, our new 747 jumbo, is all branded-up, ready to go and Bruce has his shiny new 747 type rating so he can fly the plane.

"As we initially announced, we'll be using Ed Force One right around the world as usual but also including the first few shows in Europe this time, making this the first time EF1 has visited Europe on tour. However, after the Swedish show at Gothenburg Ullvei Stadium on June 17th, we'll be reverting to our traditional truck and bus touring methods as logistically this makes much more sense considering the lesser distances involved and airport parameters."

Check out the photo gallery of the landing here.

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, who will fly Ed Force One for the tour, recently shelled out a small fortune to fly an endangered turtle to Spain, reports Olive Press.

The heavy metal singer’s personal plane flew Terri the turtle to the Canary Islands after she was washed up on a Jersey beach with a damaged shell and a nasty infection. His generous offer came after a crowdfunding campaign raised €8,000 to rescue the reptile and fly her to Spain, where a sanctuary had offered to care for her.

She has now been flown to Gran Canaria from the New Era Veterinary Hospital, via Guernsey company Aeris Aviation, using Dickinson’s plane.

Read the full story at Olive Press.

Iron Maiden’s The Book Of Souls World Tour will open in the US in late February with Ed Force One flying in for three shows before, in early March, heading into Central America visiting Mexico, followed by a much anticipated first ever concert in El Salvador and a return to Costa Rica. Ed Force One then proceeds into South America for concerts in Argentina, Chile and a number of shows in Brazil before flying back to the USA at the end of March for ten more cities covering the USA and, of course, Canada in the first two weeks of April.

A long awaited return to Japan follows later in April, and then the band are delighted to be playing their first ever shows in China before heading to New Zealand and Australia for a comprehensive tour during the first half of May. Shows in South Africa, Maiden’s first visit there with Bruce, will be the last port of call before Ed Force One heads to Europe for a very extensive tour starting in late May and finishing in early August. This will the first time Ed Force One has ever been used on any European Tour dates (other than Bruce’s Fan Club trips to shows) and will provide transport there for at least for the first few weeks.

Dates announced so far can be found here (with ticket links).