I recently had the great opportunity to meet a true aviation legend --- Bob Hoover, “the pilot’s pilot”.  I first saw Bob’s aerial antics at Oshkosh in the summer of 1974. He was sponsored by Rockwell Aviation, and performed some dazzling aerial acrobatics in a twin-engine Aero Commander Shrike.

One of his trademarks is the exciting conclusion to his airshow --- in which he cuts the power to both engines, continuing to perform a couple loops and slow rolls. Eventually, he concludes the routine by landing (generally on one wheel, but still without any power), and then ‘coasting’ off the runway, and rolling right up to the crowd. He then exits the plane, in his trademark straw hat, which he removes and tips to the crowd as he takes a well-deserved bow.

I’ve seen Bob perform numerous times since then, and it is truly awe-inspiring to see someone with such complete control over his aircraft. He is literally ‘one with the plane’. The only other times I can recall seeing such a display of exacting control would perhaps be during the Red Bull Air Races in San Diego, with pilots like Mike Mangold and Kirby Chambliss performing knife-edge turns, less than 50’ above the deck.

Interestingly, this is what Bob says about the “Dead Engine Energy Management Maneuver”, as he calls it: 

“The Aero Commander and the P-38 are the only planes I have used for this maneuver. This routine leaves no margin for error. It is a matter of converting altitude into airspeed and airspeed into the maneuvers, dissipating the airspeed with each maneuver yet maintaining enough to get to the runway.  It is a constant assessment of positioning and timing because the wind and temperature have a tremendous effect on the profile. Even though I have repeated this maneuver thousands of times, I remind myself before each flight that the slightest error in judgment cannot be tolerated.”

In other words; don’t try this at home.

Beyond his sheer poetry in the sky, Bob Hoover is also an aviation legend. During World War II, on his 59th mission, his

malfunctioning Spitfire was shot down and he was taken prisoner.  He spent 16 months at a German POW camp until he escaped, stole an Fw 190, and flew to safety in the Netherlands.

After the war, he was assigned to flight-test duty at Wright Field. There he impressed and befriended Chuck Yeager.

Later when Yeager was asked who he wanted for flight crew for the

supersonic Bell X-1 flight, he named Bob Hoover. Hoover was Yeager's backup pilot in the Bell X-1 program and flew chase for Yeager in a Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star during the Mach 1 flight.

Bob’s been close friends with Chuck Yeager for over 6-decades. He’s known Orville Wright, Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh and Neil Armstrong. Brigadier General Jimmy Doolittle described Bob as, "... the greatest stick-and-rudder man who ever lived."

I met someone who knew Orville Wright;

how cool is that? When I met Bob, (me, gushing like a giddy school-girl), I told him how much I enjoyed watching his antics over the years. He said, “thanks… what are you flyin’ these days?”  (As if he had met me before; ha!). Nice guy; very humble. I even got an autograph from him.  Yeah, that was pretty neat.

Be sure to check out Bob’s autobiography, “Forever Flying”, available at Amazon.

Here’s a short YouTube video of Bob in prime form: