Hemisphere Dancer is singer/songwriter

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...

's personal

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

. A Grumman

HU-16 Albatross The Grumman HU-16 Albatross is a large, twin–radial engined amphibious seaplane that was used by the United States Air Force (USAF), the U.S. Navy (USN), and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), primarily as a search and rescue (SAR) aircraft. Origin ...

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

, former

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

Bureau Number (BuNo) 137928 and civil registration number N928J. The aircraft is central to the action in Buffett's best-selling memoirs, ''A Pirate Looks at 50''.

History

This aircraft began life on August 22, 1955, as a long range search and rescue platform for the U.S. Navy. The largest member of the

Grumman The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 ...

"waterfowl" series of amphibious airplanes, the Albatross remained in service with the U.S. Navy until the mid-1970s. After it remained inactive for a number of years, Buffett purchased the aircraft in the 1990s and restored it.

"Jamaica Mistaica"

This is the plane Buffett was flying during the incident recounted in the song "Jamaica Mistaica" on the album

Banana Wind ''Banana Wind'' is the twentieth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released on MCA and Margaritaville Records on June 4, 1996, debuting at number four on the ''Billboard'' 200. Songs "Jamaica Mistai ...

. While in Jamaica on January 16, 1996, Buffett's plane was shot at by Jamaican police. The "Hemisphere Dancer" was carrying Buffett, U2's lead singer

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended M ...

, his wife Ali, their children Jordan and Eve, and Island Records producer

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll ...

. Police suspected it was smuggling drugs. No one was hurt, although there were a few bullet holes in the plane.BuffettWorld/incidents/JamaicaMistaica
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''A Pirate Looks at 50''

After making a number of other trips around the Caribbean with it, Buffett set off on a tour of the Caribbean, Central, and South America, in celebration of his 50th birthday. Accompanying him were his wife, son, youngest daughter, and some hired pilots to lighten the workload. Despite numerous efforts at obtaining the requisite clearances and permissions, the Hemisphere Dancer was only allowed to make a water landing once during the month-long odyssey. This action is chronicled in Buffett's autobiographical travelogue ''A Pirate Looks at 50'', which was an immediate #1 best seller on the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

best seller list.

Current status

Since publication of ''A Pirate Looks at 50'', the Hemisphere Dancer has become an icon of Parrothead culture, being featured on clothing,

Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville is the name of a United States–based hospitality company that manages and franchises a casual dining American restaurant chain, a chain of stores selling Jimmy Buffett–themed merchandise, and casinos with lod ...

restaurant menus, and as the namesake of drinks and garnishes at Margaritaville and Cheeseburger in Paradise Restaurants. It has made numerous visits to general aviation fly-ins such as the

Experimental Aircraft Association The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 200,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapt ...

Lakeland Sun 'n Fun and AirVenture Oshkosh exhibitions. In 2003, Buffett retired the aircraft from active flying service. It is now featured as an outdoor bar and seating area at Buffett's Margaritaville at Universal Studios (Universal Citywalk) in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

References

{{Jimmy Buffett Individual aircraft Jimmy Buffett

History

"Jamaica Mistaica"

''A Pirate Looks at 50''

Current status

See also

References