{"id":3255,"date":"2015-02-13T07:12:09","date_gmt":"2015-02-13T15:12:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.mechadigital.net\/?p=3255"},"modified":"2021-08-26T20:37:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T20:37:56","slug":"123-bob-hoover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/123-bob-hoover\/","title":{"rendered":"#123 “Who is Bob Hoover?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whenever someone undertakes the relatively difficult chore of learning to fly, he can count on his teachers to explain all about slow flight, stalls, different landing and takeoff techniques and the like.\u00a0 But I think there might be a little something missing.\u00a0 To point out this missing ingredient, let me tell you a little story that has had a big impact on my own teaching.\"Hoover,<\/a><\/h3>\n

Years ago, I had a sailplane ride business.\u00a0 I\u2019d discovered a very talented young man and had installed him as our principle tow pilot.\u00a0 This guy was great.\u00a0 Rarely have I had an opportunity to fly with someone as talented.\u00a0 One day I pointed out to him how well I thought he flew.\u00a0 I concluded with the statement, \u201cYer gonna be the next Bob Hoover!\u201d The young man gave me a blank look and asked, \u201cWho\u2019s Bob Hoover?\u201d<\/h3>\n

I was flabbergasted.\u00a0 I think I may have grabbed him by the scruff of the neck (figuratively, if not literally) and dragged him into the Sunriver Soaring office.\u00a0 I fired up the office computer, pulled up a browser and typed in \u201cBob Hoover Iced Tea\u201d.\u00a0 Then I sat the lad down in front of the screen and hit \u201cplay\u201d on the resultant YouTube video.\u00a0 The young pilot\u2019s eyes widened as he watched ol\u2019 Bob \"Bob-189x300\"<\/a>perform a slow roll in the Shrike Commander while pouring a glass of iced tea\u2026 backhanded.<\/h3>\n

That incident has remained in my little brain as symbolic of the lack of knowledge about aviation history which plagues our younger flyers.\u00a0 I think that the biggest gap is in the area of aviation literature.\u00a0 If you ask most of these young, talented fliers if they\u2019ve ever heard of Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry, Neville Shute, Earnest Gann or Richard Bach, they will probably give you a look similar\u00a0 to the blank look I received.<\/h3>\n

\"Hoover,<\/a>There is nothing which enriches our chosen activity like a good steepening in its rich history and literature.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason that I\u2019ve given away countless copies of Bach\u2019s \u201cGift of Wings\u201d.\u00a0 Someone entering the ranks of aviators needs to learn about flying\u2026 and they need the stimulation that only knowledge of aviators and aviation literature can supply.\u00a0 Similarly, they benefit from simply hanging out at the airport and listening to a few flying stories or meeting members of the Geezer Patrol.<\/h3>\n

There are so many ways in which someone can become steeped in Aviation Culture that they are almost too many to name.\u00a0 But I\u2019ll point out just a few.\u00a0 First of all, literature.\u00a0 No one reads anymore.\u00a0 They are missing an incredible experience.\u00a0 Every airman\u2019s library should contain several volumes of stimulating flying stories.\u00a0 What about movies?\u00a0 The number of movies that contain great examples of flying culture is incredible.\u00a0 They contain pictures like \u201cThe Memphis Belle\u201d (both the documentary and the feature), \u201cThe Great Waldo Pepper\u201d and\u00a0 \u201cThirty Seconds over Tokyo\u201d, \u201cA Guy Named Joe\u201d and its re-make, \u201cAlways\u201d, \u00a0just to name a tiny few.\u00a0 I guess I would be remiss not to mention \u201cDawn Flight\u201d, which is available on the Tailwheelers Journal website!<\/h3>\n

Aviation hasn\u2019t been around that long.\u00a0 Consider that the Wright Brothers first flew in 1903.\u00a0 There were people who were alive for both that historic flight AND Neil Armstrong\u2019s historic hop onto the surface of the moon!<\/h3>\n

It just seems to me that a rudimentary knowledge of the history and culture of aviation is something that no aviator should be lacking. That knowledge richens our flying in ways that we cannot begin to express.<\/h3>\n

<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

” The young pilot\u2019s eyes widened as he watched ol\u2019 Bob Bob perform a slow roll in the Shrike Commander while pouring a glass of iced tea\u2026 backhanded.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[32,35,67,178],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3255"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tailwheelersjournal.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}