Tintin Forums

I didn't know Tintin was a fighter pilot until I read it on Wikipedia a few weeks ago.
Then I flipped through my copy of King Ottakar's Sceptre and saw him flying one!
Does anyone know any other books that he pilots a plane?

The Shooting Star, The Crab with the Golden Claws and Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (in which he also appears to be more than able mechanic) spring to mind instantly.

Don't think he actually pilots that plane himself in The Shooting Star, (though he does ride in it and makes a parachute jump from it).

He pinches and flies a plane in The Cigars of the Pharaohs, though (a De Haviland Puss Moth, I believe).

Oh, and he steals a helicopter in The Calculus Affair. (Not strictly a plane, but an aircraft anyway.)

Thinking about it, if the answer to Cherreh's question: How many times does Tintin pilot his own plane, the answer is probably none! If you think about it, most of the planes and vehicles Tintin pilots and drives are ones he's pinched, and not always pinched from baddies either - Some of them are pinched from quite innocent parties (such as the motorbike in King Ottokar's Sceptre or that Puss Moth plane in Cigars), and then usually trashed or crashed by him without any attempt to reccompense the original owner!

Can Tintin be held responsible for the rise in juvenile car-theft and joy-riding offences in the UK since the books were published here?

Outside of the "ouevre", Tintin also pilots (and crashes) someone else's plane in Lake of Sharks.

Balthazar: usually trashed or crashed by him

Reading this thread has made me realise the quite astonishing number of times Tintin is aboard a plane that crashes, whether he's piloting it or not.

I've counted six in the canon. Soviets, Cigars, Ottokar and Crab where he crashes the plane he's piloting and The Black Island and The Red Sea Sharks (nearly a crash!) where he's a passenger. And there's also Lake of Sharks making seven in all the books.

But in the four instances where he steals/borrows a plane he also ends up crashing it. A pretty poor statistic for a "pilot"!

Lol. Thanks so much. I shall keep those in mind the next time i buy a tintin book (every two weeks). I love seeing him as a pilot.

Balthazar: Haha you're right, Tintin is such a cheater.