There Isn’t a Man Alive Who Hasn’t Made a Mistake
In 1989 at an air show at Brown Field, San Diego; Bob Hoover took a couple of passengers up in his Shrike Commander.
Just after the aircraft left the runway, at approximately 300 feet, both engines simultaneously failed. Hoover managed to land the aircraft uphill onto the side of a ravine. The aircraft was severely damaged, but he and his two passengers walked away from the crash site.
While waiting on the hillside for the rescue vehicles, Hoover walked back to the aircraft and smelled the fuel... Kerosene! A member of the ground crew had mistaken the piston-engined plane for a turboprop and mis-fuelled it, directly causing the double engine failure, and the subsequent forced landing.
When Bob returned to the airfield, he walked directly over to the man who had nearly caused his death and, according to the California Fullerton News-Tribune, said:
“There isn’t a man alive who hasn’t made a mistake. But I’m positive you’ll never make this mistake again. That’s why I want to make sure that you’re the only one to refuel my plane tomorrow. I won’t let anyone else on the field touch it.”
Robert Anderson "Bob" Hoover (January 24, 1922 – October 25, 2016) was a USAF Fighter Pilot during both WW2 and the Korean war. During WW2, Hoover was shot down in his Mark V Spitfire, ending up spending 16 months at Stalag Luft 1 as a Prisoner Of War. He managed to steal a German Luftwaffe Focke Wulf FW 190 fighter from a nearby airfield, and flew it to safety in the Netherlands. Hoover was a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, Medal Of Valour, Purple Heart, Air Medal With Clusters, and the Criox De Guerre.
After the war, Hoover was assigned to Wilber Wright Field, where he befriended Chuck Yeager, became backup test pilot for the Bell X-1 program, and flew as wingman during Chuck Yeager's famed 1st supersonic flight. Fighter Pilot, Civilian Test Pilot, Flight Instructor, and world-renowned Air Show pilot, Hoover was considered to be the father of modern aerobatics, the "pilot's pilot", and often referred to in most aviation circles as one of the greatest pilots ever to have lived.
"I don't think I possess any skill that anyone else doesn't have. I've just had perhaps more of an opportunity, more of an exposure, and been fortunate to survive a lot of situations that many other weren't so lucky to make it. It's not how close can you get to the ground, but how precise can you fly the airplane. If you feel so careless with your life that you want to be the world's lowest flying aviator you might do it for a while. But there are a great many former friends of mine who are no longer with us simply because they cut their margins to close."
Bob Hoover
Bob Hoover worked for North American Aviation, Inc. in El Segundo, California adjacent to what is now LAX. He oversaw customer service activities for North American, later Rockwell International. My father-in-law, Scotty Miller oversaw Garrett Airesearch Aviation Services customer services next door to where Bob Hoover operated the Rockwell business. Hoover was an amazing pilot. He could do a sixteen point roll with a P-51 Mustang and do a loop with a Rockwell Aero Commander. Never do these at home!! I never had the privilege of meeting Bob Hoover, but I did get the opportunity meet Al White, North American Aviation’s XB70 test pilot. North American Aviation’s Air Industry Explorer Scouts program was made available for senior boys at nearby Lennox High School in 1964. This program allowed those of us who were willing to dress in coat and tie on Wednesday nights to visit the El Segundo Facilities various departments over several months. On the Saturday after we seniors graduated from Lennox in June of 1965, Al White along with several of the Air Industry Explorer Scout sponsors flew with 23 of us grads to the Palmdale, Plant 42, Site 3 location to kick the tires on the XB-70. We were shown films in the Affiliated Conference Room and provided a lunch at a local restaurant on Sierra Highway just north of Avenue M. It had such a tremendous impact on me that I decided to visit the personnel office and was hired on the spot. 35 years later I retired having spent my career as a computer operator, scheduler, change control analyst, on the B-1A and B-1B programs, a system software engineer in test on the Space Shuttle program, an engineer on the Space Shuttle Main Engine program, computer operations manager supporting the B-1B and Space Shuttle programs and Manager of Computer Operations supporting the Space Shuttle Main Engines, Space Station Solar Panels and various rocket systems. My father, Marv, was a cutter grinder machinist for 28 years at the El Segundo plant between 1946 and 1974.
First, I would never presume to EVER be 1/10th the aviator Bob Hoover was, but it seems to meany preflight he “may” have done didn’t include verification that the fuel had color (100LL blue, 100 green, or 80 red). ANYTHING but clear (Jet fuel).
I’ve not seen him and i don’t know anything about him not until i read this article. He, being the wing man of chuck yeager, i can feel through my nerve how fantastically great an airman is mr. hoover.
I only had the privilege of seeing Bob Hoover once, when I was a kid of about 8 or 9. I remember him flying his Shrike around, landing and taking off on one engine. He made quite an impression on me. I don’t remember much of anything the Thunderbirds did that day, but I remember Bob going back and forth along the flight line correcting for yaw that losing one engine creates. Most pilots avoid this at all cost. Hoover did it on purpose.
Had the privilege to see Mr Hoover’s show many times at the Reno Air races when we lived in Reno from 1975-1989. He and Art Scholl were the best…outside of Tex Rankin who’s show I saw as a youngster in Billings in 1939 when my Dad was an CPTP instructor for Tarrent Fying Service.
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