Bruce Dickinson leaks unreleased 2003 Dance of Death album on air traffic control

We all know mistakes happen. But when mistakes involve one of the world's bigger metal bands, their singer and their yet-to-be released album getting released on air traffic control, this mistake just gets bigger.

Bruce Dickinson thinks back on a time when, in 2003, he found trouble with the air traffic control as he unintentionally played a yet-to-be released Iron Maiden album while flying. Around the time that Iron Maiden had completed their 2003 Dance of Death album, Bruce was working as a commercial airline pilot. When he was doing a spoken-word show in Austin, he recalled this mistake. He explained no passengers were on board, the crew was relaxing as he flew to their next European location. "We were coming back empty from somewhere down in Egypt or somewhere, and we're flying over Italy...autopilot's on, thumb in bum, mind in neutral, you know. And my first officer was a big rock fan, a big AC/DC and Airbourne fan, right?...He'd brought his boombox with him, and he said 'Hey boss, listen. Do you mind...if I listen to music?' I went 'Of course, it's not strictly company procedure. F--- it, yeah. Come on!'"

They listened to some AC/DC and Airbourne, and then Dickinson told his colleague that he had the upcoming Iron Maiden album with him, "which nobody in the world has heard apart from the band and management." Asking if the co-pilot wanted to hear it, the response was not surprising. "Yeah, yeah, cool!" "[We] put it in the CD player, as it was then, and put the boombox on the pedestal and we start playing it, I shout back to the boys and girls 'Anyone wanna hear the new Maiden album?'" They all agreed, so Dickinson took his hand microphone and placed it near the boombox. "Probably "Rainmaker" or something is blasting out all through the cabin. And it's been about four minutes or so, and I'm thinking 'I haven't said much on the radio recently'"

That's when he realized a mistake had been made. He realized that his broadcasting of the music went beyond the plane and its occupants. "I finally get on to Rome and all I can hear is this bloke going 'Who is transmitting? Who is transmitting the music? What airline are you? Who are you? Own up!'" Thinking about how he might have been identified, he responded "The great thing was, he wouldn't have a f---ing clue who it was because the album wasn't released yet!"