Harrison Ford Heads To Congress To Talk About Planes, Yet Again


Harrison Ford is all that is man.

He has played two of the most iconic roles in cinematic history. His global box office grosses amount to a sum equal to the GDP of three Sierra Leones. And in his spare time the 70-year-old Harrison Ford goes before Congress to talk about airplanes:

The “Indiana Jones” star – who is also a pilot –  will join members of the House General Aviation Caucus [on Tuesday] to discuss “issues of importance to the general aviation community,” Missouri Rep. Sam Graves’s office announced in a press release on Monday.

“I’m pleased to welcome Harrison Ford to tomorrow’s discussion, and look forward to hearing his thoughts on the timely issues of importance to America’s pilots,” Graves, a co-chair of the caucus, said in the release.

This is hardly the first time Harrison Ford has gone to Congress to talk about planes: In October 2011, Ford stopped by the Senate General Aviation Caucus during discussions about jet fuel and tax burden on pilots. Ford’s background in aviation includes piloting a Bell 407 helicopter to rescue a dehydrated hiker in Idaho in 2000 on behalf of a sheriff’s department (“I can’t believe I barfed in Harrison Ford’s helicopter,” remarked the grateful 20-year-old hiker Sarah George). “Bikes and planes aren’t about going fast or having fun; they’re toys, but serious ones,” is probably Ford’s most Harrison Ford-y comment on planes. There’s also this ingeniously terse statement on planes, which doubles as an edict on muscular foreign policy:

Basically, Harrison Ford spends most of his time talking about planes and helicopters, rescuing strangers with helicopters, and going to Congress to talk about planes.

As for his other political activities, Ford is a staunch Democrat who’s been critical of hawkish neoconservatism and America’s lax gun laws.

Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

Owned by no one—except you.

We just keep seeing it happen: Newsrooms owned by billionaires and corporations are spinning their own narratives, overwriting the truth, following only stories that keep them in the pocket of those with even more power.

Not here. We’re not owned by anyone. We’re not part of any cult that demands our allegiance to a bottom line. We’ve spoken up and spoken out while other newsrooms changed their stories—or cut them altogether—to keep the C suite happy.

Our mission is to find the truth and amplify it. That’s why we’re independent, nonprofit, and, crucially, funded by readers. The investigations on our website will always be free to read, watch, and listen to, but our newsroom is powered by readers who pitch in what they can so we can keep asking the hard questions.

Can you chip in today?

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

INDEPENDENT. BECAUSE OF YOU.

Mother Jones has no billionaires calling the shots—just readers like you making fearless reporting possible

Donate