Debrief /

Who: James Lipton

Occupation: Television host, writer, and actor

Hours: 1,000-plus hours in 30 years of recreational flying

Ratings: Lipton always wears his AOPA lapel pin—he’s been a member for more than 30 years—and comedian Robin Williams famously made a joke of it on Lipton’s show.

Floating quietly amidst the dregs of TV’s Jerry Springer Show, Hell’s Kitchen, and the Real Housewives is a quietly brilliant little program called Inside the Actors Studio. Each week host James Lipton interviews actors—not about dalliances and plastic surgery and drug abuse—but about the craft of acting. You won’t find out much about Lipton himself unless a Harrison Ford or John Travolta is a guest; then it turns out that Lipton has logged more than 1,000 hours as pilot in command. Each interview he concludes with a few standard questions he’s written on blue index cards, such as What is your favorite word? and, If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive? For Lipton, we asked a few questions of our own.

Started flying… I volunteered for the armed services and I qualified as an aviator. Since it was peacetime and it cost a lot of money to train us, they came to us and said Look, you have to sign on for four years. Well, that was a long time. I thought I was going to be a lawyer and go to law school. So I got out of the service and I came to New York. I started acting as a means of paying for my education.

Into the cockpit…I got my ticket in 1980 at the Cessna training center in East Hampton Airport. I trained primarily in the Cessna 152 and 172.

Pilots on your show…When we get anyone on the show who’s a pilot we bore people with it—Angelina Jolie, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, John Travolta. Once I get them up on the stage we just forget about the audience and talk about airplanes. I don’t have to tell you it’s a passion.

First solo…My instructor and I had just practiced landing and he said, “Let’s make it a full stop.” He got out and said, “Are you OK?” I said, “I thought you would never go.” I was never so happy as when I departed that runway. I looked down and he was lying on his back in the grass. It was the first time I didn’t have anyone in the right seat. It’s a wonderful feeling.

Advice to students… Do the homework, do the paperwork, do the groundwork. I think for the written exam a 70 passes. I made myself a promise that if I got anything lower than 90 I would give it up. I got a 97, so I passed that exam with flying colors.