Our party of 7 meets at Gatwick Airport and checks onto Astraeus flight 666 just like we would on any other European flight. In the lounge of the departure gate we do a rough head count and there are about 150 metalheads - mostly wearing Iron Maiden T-shirts of one type or another - waiting to board the flight. Many are staring attentively in the direction of Captain Dickinson who is deep in conversation on the phone at the front desk. After a short while we are ushered onto the plane and find our seats while "Can I Play With Madness" is playing over the public address system.

There is a roar of applause as Captain Dickinson is among the last to board the plane and he begins to explain the set-up for the day. We had already been notified that, following an incident in Africa where many passengers - and indeed passengers of neighbouring planes - had refused to board as the menacing artwork of mascot Eddie would obviously encourage evil spirits and general bad ju-ju, the plane had had to be stripped of its Iron Maiden livery and reverted to the standard Astraeus colours. However, because they hadn't had time to wash the plane, the outline of the livery is still visible and serves as our confirmation that we are indeed aboard "Ed Force One".

It seems that Bruce's day as a "Bus driver" is going to be rather heavy (no pun intended... well, ok maybe a little!) as the plane is scheduled to fly from Gatwick to Ghana later in the day, so he tells us about his plan to take the plane directly back to Gatwick after dropping us off in Lisbon, then either (a) catch another plane from Gatwick, or if he misses that then (b) there's another plane to catch from Heathrow, or failing that (c) hire a private aircraft at very great expense. Obviously, with 10,000 or so people expecting to see him at the other end, nothing is left to chance.

Unfortunately, he tells us, the plane is not available for the return flight, so instead he's chartered another aircraft for us, which he won't be able to fly, so that means that on the return flight he'll have plenty of time to chat to us. Another roar of applause - what a nice chap!

But what really interests me, is not so much what Bruce has to say, but I'm sure the passengers have some more unique stories to tell. I explain to many of them that my first ever show was Iron Maiden on Somewhere in Time, and now that they're playing songs exclusively from that era some 22 years later, I felt I wanted to see them as many times as possible playing that set of classics... and what better way to top it off than to be flown to a show by Bruce.

Not surprisingly many of the stories I heard were not very different from my own. One guy from Middlesbrough had seen Maiden in 1980 for Adrian Smith's second show. The twins from Spain have already seen Maiden 145 times. Visitors from Poland, Scotland, Germany, Holland, and even Japan have all made the trip to pay homage to the band they love. All much as I expected. Even the East German guy who, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, had tried to travel to Hungary but was caught crossing the border without the right papers; he spent the night in jail so had to wait another 2 years till Maiden came around again.

But then in quick succession came 2 stories that made my heart miss a beat. A 16 year-old boy from Finland and his mother were travelling to the show following the death of his older brother who died in a car crash. Iron Maiden were his favourite band, and making the journey together was the best way they could think of to pay tribute to him.

An older woman from Sweden then told me her story. Her son discovered Iron Maiden three weeks before he died of muscular dystrophy. He had heard Maiden on the radio and they went to great lengths to find out who the band was. Around the same time, her mother died, and she sank into a long depression, but the one thing that helped her through such a hard time was listening to the band that had brought so much joy to her son as his life was fading away.

Hearing these stories triggered some old thoughts in my head that until now I had never really vocalised. Heavy Metal is no longer simply music, but for many people, it has become a form of religion. Here we are on a plane of 150 devoted followers on a pilgrimage at great expense to pay homage to one of the things that bring brightness to our lives in an otherwise dreary and depressing world. Is that really any different from the Christian who travels to Lourdes, or the Muslim who travels to Mecca?

I change my tack, and start asking more complex questions. Says one fan:

"When I was a kid, my mum brought me up as a Catholic. I don't consider myself a Christian any more, but I would say it taught me to be a good person. I was about 13 when I got into Maiden, and around the same time I lost interest in the Church, but I always considered Maiden and other Metal bands to be my education in the old-school ethics like respect, honour, loyalty, unity, brotherhood, that kinda thing. Nowadays I listen to a lot of what these newer bands have to say, but I'm not sure they're teaching kids the same thing Maiden taught me. They seem to be singing about more selfish and emotional teenage-angst kinda stuff, so when I see those bands play I realise I don't have as much in common with these kids, which is a shame. Kids need decent role models."

But let's not be too pessimistic. If we look around a little, maybe there's only a small proportion of bands that fit that description. One day Iron Maiden will have to hang up their boots and pass on the torch to the next generation. But as long as there are bands around to champion the old-school morals, there will always be a viable alternative to bringing up our children and our children's children to be decent people. In a world where social decline has been somewhat noticeable for years, that at least gives me some hope for our future.