London - Iron Maiden singer Bruce Dickinson traded his heavy metal garb for a pilot's uniform over the weekend to fly home holidaymakers stranded by the collapse of a British tour operator.

The singer, who has a captain's licence after training to fly commercial jets, took the controls of a Boeing 757 to fly back tourists from Egypt and Cyprus, British media reported Sunday.

"I was just doing my job," he told the Telegraph newspaper. "I was called out like a lot of other pilots to help and I was obviously happy to do that."

Dickinson, 50, who has worked for the airline Astraeus for nine years, took up flying during a low point in his solo career after he quit the band in 1993.

Although he rejoined Iron Maiden in 1999, Dickinson still works as a full-time pilot, taking leave of absence when the group goes on tour.

"I get 80 per cent of my income through performing with Iron Maiden but only spend 20 per cent of my time with the group," he said.

Around 85,000 tourists were stranded in the US, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe after Britain's third-largest tour operator XL went into administration on Friday with reported debts of 253 million dollars.