Backstreet Boys Plane 'Nosedived for a Minute' After AJ McLean 'Grabbed the Steering Wheel': 'Terrified'

Mar. 15, 2025

Backstreet Boys started their aound-the-world trip on November 15, 2000. From left: Nick Carter, AJ McLean, Kevin Richardson, Howie Dorough and Brian Littrell.Photo:Dave Hogan/Getty

Dave Hogan/Getty

AJ McLeanis looking back at one of theBackstreet Boys' most chaotic promotional stunts.

In 2000, the boy band traveled “Around the World in 100 Hours” as they celebrated the release of their fourth studio albumBlack & Blue. The feat saw them jet-setting through six stops, as McLean explains in the CW documentaryThe ’90s Boy Band Boom.

“We were on top of the world. We decided this crazy idea that no one would have ever done and to this day no one has done, to go around the world in 100 hours to promote theBlack & Bluealbum,” he explains.

“We went from Stockholm to Tokyo, Tokyo to Sydney, Sydney to Perth to refuel. Perth to Cape Town, Cape Town to Rio, in 100 hours.”

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The Backstreet Boys circa 1995.Tim Roney/Getty Images

Tim Roney/Getty Images

One of the highlights of the trip for McLean was being given the opportunity to briefly fly their luxe chartered plane.

“I did fly the plane for like a hot second. Terrified the rest of the boys," McLean recalls. “I sat up front, I grabbed the steering wheel and I pushed it forward.”

He continues, “The whole plane kind of just nosedived for a minute and came back up. And I was like, ‘Whoopsies, sorry about that.’ ”

Backstreet Boys at the 1999 Billboard Music Awards.Scott Harrison/Hulton Archive/Getty

Scott Harrison/Hulton Archive/Getty

The massive crowd made an impression on the guys, who decided to hold an impromptu concert to show their gratitude.

“It was mind boggling. Every place we went, the response was just pandemonium. It was the coolest thing ever,” McLean says.

“This whirlwind that was happening, we didn’t really have time to digest a lot of stuff. The minute you start to digest, you’re off to the next thing.”

Elsewhere in the documentary, McLean recalls the things he and his groupmates left behind in exchange for those once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

“We were growing up on the road, essentially—going through high school on the road. Getting to experience things that a lot of normal kids won’t. Like I’m learning about the fall of the Berlin Wall, and I’m in Berlin and I’m standing where the wall used to be,” he says.

“It was great, but it also had its drawbacks because you don’t get to… Like, I never had a prom. I never had a homecoming. I’m going home to graduate with my high school class, and they’re like, ‘Who the hell is this kid? I’ve never seen you for four years.’ ”

The ’90s Boy Band Boomis now streaming on theCW website.

source: people.com