Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by buildsjets 849 days ago
That was the late, and definitely great, R.A. "Bob" Hoover, I am proud to have shared a beer with him at Oshkosh. His Shrike Commander was miss-fueled with jet fuel instead of avgas because it was mistaken for the the larger turboprop model. Rather than blaming the individual refueler, he recognized that there was a systemic problem and developed an engineering solution. He proposed and the industry adopted a mutually incompatible standard of fuel nozzles/receptacles for jet fuel and avgas as a result. You can find some great YouTube material on him, or the film "Flying the Feathered Edge"

https://sierrahotel.net/blogs/news/a-life-lesson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Hoover#Hoover_nozzle_and_H...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2334694/

1 comments

Here's an old timey video of Bob in his prime. At 8:55 he flys a barrel roll with one hand while pouring himself a glass of iced tea with the other. Hardest part was pouring the tea backhanded so the camera had a good view. Then he finishes with his trademark no-engine loop, roll, and landing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT1kVmqmvHU&t=510s