I was just a kid at Oshkosh when I asked him who cleaned the grass stains off his plane. He just laughed and said, "Well if I put 'em there I guess I should clean 'em off." What an amazing person.
It's alarming to turn around and see a twin engine aircraft sailing by at high speed, the wheels retracted and the engines feathered. It's a sight and sound that you'll remember forever. This was smooth flying at it's best and a flawless performance. Bob's landing includes some wing waggling to the Christen Eagles team that was ready to take the active runway and he lands on one wheel and then the other just because he can. A genuine master happily at work and a one of a kind performance.
Started my career , the Aero Commander was one of the planes which I've flown for app 300 hrs. Always I was astonished , how this magnificent aviator was performing all these. He was a truly gifted pilot! R.I.P and God speed .
Thanks for the great video of the greatest of pilots. I first saw Bob perform at Paine Field in the 70's. He flew his whole performance in the Shrike, then a routine in a P-51 and then, for a finale at the end of the day, he flew a whole routine in Boeing's F-86 chase plane. Three flawless shows in three completely different airplanes on the same day! as a young pilot, I was absolutely impressed. I've been to a lot of airshows and seen some fantastic pilots since, but none tops Bob Hoover.
I was fortunate enough to see Bob pull off these maneuvers in Florida back in the early 80's. Even by that time, he had so many hours in the seat of that Shrike that it seemed to be more of a dance partner than an aircraft. This was mad-talent. R.I.P. Bob.
I was there! Very impressive as a kid. I still remember Hoover’s hat and yellow P-51 Mustang. I believe Bob Bishop in the Coors Light Silver Bullet BD5J Microjet also performed at this airshow. We hung around after the show and one of the F-14s used for filming Top Gun showed up. It flew down the runway on the deck, wings fully swept, then pulled into the vertical, looped over a little cumulous cloud, then landed. The pilots came and talked to us kids hanging around.
Definitely one of the best pilots of all time!!! When I was a kid, my family went to the local airport, in Torrance, CA. to see the air show there... Bob Hoover was always there in that Aero Commander and that AMAZING Yellow P-51!!! A great time was had by all !!! R.I.P.- Bob Hoover... You will never be forgotten!!!
I got to see him do his stuff all through the '80s at the Reno Air Races every Sept. Never have I seen such natural skill before or since. Blue skies forever, Bob.
According to him, he acquired that skill through lots and lots of work. When he was learning to fly, he got nauseous every time he went up. During the war, he kept trying to go fly fighters, but the highers-up got him ferrying aircraft and the like. He line-tested fighters in Africa. All the failures gave him that dead-stick skill. There's more to his story. Check it out on TH-cam some time!
HD you are right. There won't ever be anyone else as good as he was in his element. I was priveledged to see him at Oshkosh in the late 90's...just at the start of his trouble with his recert.
Saw Bob perform this routine at an Arlington Wa. Fly-in in the 1990's, and it was truly astounding! Energy management at it's finest, from a Legendary American Hero!
What's even more amazing it was a unmodified Aero Commander. That's what's impressive to me. That's just how good he truly was at flying. He knew the do's and don'ts so well. Great stunt pilot ever in my opinion.
straw148 please showe where this information is documented; a random user saying "the engines and propeller feathering system were modified" is no way indicative of the plane actually having modifications.
Saw this Aero Commander display in Fort Lauderdale, FL back in the 1960's. INCREDIBLE that a civillian passenger aircraft could do that kind of aerobatics ! Kind of makes the current generation of planes look "milk toast" !
+Mary A It was Bob Hoover that inspired my interest to fly one of these. A friend of mine,s father had the Aero Commander 500B, and we did a total of 14 hours over a three day period. I then learnt to fly that plane . After seeing Bob Hoover in South Africa in 1977 he was responsible for getting me involved with flying one. To day I now own a fully refurbished Shrike with the single windscreen and being in Australia ,the distances we fly are long , so I have added extra fuel tanks in the wings which can take me from the West Coast directly to the East Coast with an hour and 20 minutes reserve.
+Steinwaygrande FANTASTIC ! Refurbished Aero Commanders are now selling for 1/2 million $ in the USA. Still beats paying over $1 million for a new competitor !
That's what he's done every time I've seen him too. Once, he landed on one wheel and held it there while he rolled up to his spot and then stopped and dropped down on the other wheel. It was the most amazing demonstration of total control ever.
9 ปีที่แล้ว +4
I remember when I was a kid in the 60s and often flew in a Commander. It was owned by the New Mexico State Highway Dept. My Dad was the state geologist and was always flying around in it for foundation investigations (bridges etc) and water well location. God that was fun...we landed on dirt roads quite often. A guy in a pickup would check the road out and flash his lights several times if it was ok to land. Had a post in the bed with a windsock rigged to it.
Back in the 1970s Bob Hoover did a tour of South Africa and put on a display the likes of which I never seen in a passenger aircraft. Happy to say that I met him and attended one of his seminars.Think he was born with Avgas in his veins instead of blood.
Brathless, I've flown this Shrike as P2 on a recce flight to gather samples of air from specific areas in SA and I recall pulling some positive G's, but this is out of my league!!
I saw Bob Hoover at an airshow in Topeka, Kansas in the late 80's but because of some HORRIBLE miscommunication with those running the airshow, a helicopter started up DURING the engine out part of Bob's show. I was floored - the whole point was that he was doing this with engines off, but the dang helicopter engine obliterated the silence.
I can relate to that. I was fortunate to see Mr. Hoover perform many times and the highlight of his show was the final engine-off "energy management" routine. I lived just south of you in Oklahoma. A hush would fall over the crowd, all you'd hear was the ever-present breeze in the wheat stubble, and the incredible sound of his Shrike slicing through the air. I'm sorry you were cheated out of that, sometimes life just isn't fair. But at least you got to see Bob fly, and that's a gift in itself.
I never got to see him. The greatest airshow performance I've ever seen was done by Sean D. Tucker. In an interview, Sean Tucker said he wouldn't be alive if Bob Hoover hadn't taken him under his wing and shown him energy management.
ldmax I got the same story, never met Hoover but he was an amazing man with amazing capabilities. I’ve seen Tucker a couple of times, sometimes I think he’s the next Bob Hoover but never will we have another like him.
I got to see Bob at the Reno Air Races in 1988 (I think). Marvelous. I don't remember him stopping and restarting the engines, though, as this video implies. Once he shut down the engines, he did about five or six of his maneuvers and then landed and rolled up to exactly his spot on the tarmac He called those his "energy management demonstration.".
Maybe someone else has a better memory than me, but I recall that Bob Hoover had a disability in his arm or arms. I seem to remember that his arms had difficulty moving right and left. Anyone else remember what the disability was? It all made his accomplishments even greater.
Over the years I have watched Bob Hoover perform on numerous occasions. I've seen him do his set routine in both the P51 and the Shrike Commander. I was living in Denver at this time and attended this airshow. I think it was the last time I saw him. Front Range airport his where the "new) Denver airport is today.
Saw Bob Hoover in person at the NAS Point Mugu Air Show 20 + years ago. He also did that one wearing his traditional Herringbone sport coat, white dress shirt & neatly tied necktie. Unbelievable stick & rudder skills.
Its the 500S The "S" being for Shrike , which had the longer nose then the 500B models. Beautiful aircraft to fly and a great plane to learn how to fly in IFR conditions. A rugged and well built aircraft, which was once certified to fly the then President of the USA.
Steinwaygrande Ok thanks for that. So the 'Shrike' in the title actually refers to the name of the plane! I initially thought that may have been some kind of call sign for Hoover. I've seen these Aero Commanders on the market and both the single and twins really hold their value. Rockwell obviously built them to last.
Hi ianrkav. Indeed the Aero Commander was built to last , and to the best of my knowledge is the only twin engined aircraft certified to fly the President of the USA. There is a fair bit of information on them if you do a GOOGLE search. I flew the 500B for many years and then when the S model arrived, there were significant changes - especially in addition to better sound proofing and slightly modified propellor blades, The S model has the single windscreen while the 500B had the split screen. The longer and more streemlind nose of the S made for better performance and improved performance. I could go on and on about the different Aero Commander`s I have flown. If you look at Bob Hoovers Shrike you can see the difference between the S model and the B . Both Commanders used the flat six cylinder 295 HP Lycomings, bit I have seen where many have changed the Lycomings to the Continental`s which deliver 340 HP and paddle prop blades, which makes for shorter take offs and a higher cruise speed and much better fuel consumption. Hope that this helps understand the difference between the B and the S Any questions, feel free to drop me a line and I`ll do my best to answer them
+ianrkav they were built but no one really they would have been flying as long as they have, one thing that was not thought of was on the 500, B , S , 681,685,690A,690B the stainless steel strap on the lower spar cap that ran a little outboard of both nacelles across the bottom of the wing. over time this set up dissimilar metal corrosion which went to intergranular corrosion and wings failed with loss of life . all the affected models had ultrasounds to find out if you had a 12 month or 24 month spar cap , once out of limits you were done until we engineered a spar cap replacement it and that was very pricey for the customer
+Steinwaygrande you could also get a long nose kit for the b which was a fiberglass affair and was attached and fared into the skin a little forward of the cockpit with filler or bondo
Funny. The announcer kept saying how quiet it was with the engines out... yeah, except the announcer wouldn't stop blabbing how quiet it was! Do those guys get paid by the word? Nice remembrance, though of seeing Bob in person, doing this, plus his P-51 show.
Some great flying, of course. But it's frustrating to watch this video because of the way it's chopped up so badly; just as you're about to hear the announcer finish explaining something interesting, CHOP, a different clip starts.
I was just a kid at Oshkosh when I asked him who cleaned the grass stains off his plane. He just laughed and said, "Well if I put 'em there I guess I should clean 'em off." What an amazing person.
It's alarming to turn around and see a twin engine aircraft sailing by at high speed, the wheels retracted and the engines feathered. It's a sight and sound that you'll remember forever. This was smooth flying at it's best and a flawless performance. Bob's landing includes some wing waggling to the Christen Eagles team that was ready to take the active runway and he lands on one wheel and then the other just because he can. A genuine master happily at work and a one of a kind performance.
Excellent everytime all the time, ow boy how beautifully executed by the one and only BOB HOOVER !!
Started my career , the Aero Commander was one of the planes which I've flown for app 300 hrs. Always I was astonished , how this magnificent aviator was performing all these. He was a truly gifted pilot! R.I.P and God speed .
Thanks for the great video of the greatest of pilots. I first saw Bob perform at Paine Field in the 70's. He flew his whole performance in the Shrike, then a routine in a P-51 and then, for a finale at the end of the day, he flew a whole routine in Boeing's F-86 chase plane. Three flawless shows in three completely different airplanes on the same day! as a young pilot, I was absolutely impressed. I've been to a lot of airshows and seen some fantastic pilots since, but none tops Bob Hoover.
Thank you for posting this video.... Bob Hoover the legend. Cut short be FAA regulation. One of the best pilots on aviation of all times...
Bob Hoover is the Leonardo da Vinci of Flying. A one of a kind master of his craft. There will never be anyone like him.
I was fortunate enough to see Bob pull off these maneuvers in Florida back in the early 80's. Even by that time, he had so many hours in the seat of that Shrike that it seemed to be more of a dance partner than an aircraft.
This was mad-talent.
R.I.P. Bob.
I was there! Very impressive as a kid. I still remember Hoover’s hat and yellow P-51 Mustang. I believe Bob Bishop in the Coors Light Silver Bullet BD5J Microjet also performed at this airshow. We hung around after the show and one of the F-14s used for filming Top Gun showed up. It flew down the runway on the deck, wings fully swept, then pulled into the vertical, looped over a little cumulous cloud, then landed. The pilots came and talked to us kids hanging around.
I am glad I got to see him perform in person back in the 1990s. I also got to meet him in person after one airshow.
I think I practically grew up listening to Jimmy Driscoll"s voice announcing the Hoover airshows. It is really wonderful to hear him again. Thanks.
Definitely one of the best pilots of all time!!! When I was a kid, my family went to the local airport, in Torrance, CA. to see the air show there... Bob Hoover was always there in that Aero Commander and that AMAZING Yellow P-51!!! A great time was had by all !!! R.I.P.- Bob Hoover... You will never be forgotten!!!
I got to see him do his stuff all through the '80s at the Reno Air Races every Sept. Never have I seen such natural skill before or since. Blue skies forever, Bob.
According to him, he acquired that skill through lots and lots of work.
When he was learning to fly, he got nauseous every time he went up. During the war, he kept trying to go fly fighters, but the highers-up got him ferrying aircraft and the like. He line-tested fighters in Africa. All the failures gave him that dead-stick skill.
There's more to his story. Check it out on TH-cam some time!
Rest in Peace and God Speed Bob.....
I saw this show during the 80's.
It's kind of like the Grand Canyon, a video is nice, but in person it's absolutely awesome.
RIP Mr. Hoover.
Truly the Babe Ruth of aviation. No one will ever top Mr. Hoover. May he forever rest in piece.
HD you are right. There won't ever be anyone else as good as he was in his element. I was priveledged to see him at Oshkosh in the late 90's...just at the start of his trouble with his recert.
So glad I saw him in the '80s and '90s. One of kind.
hats off for the master please!!
I was at this airshow. I was glad I got to see Bob Hoover perform before he passed away.
When you say Bob Hoover, you’ve said it all. THE BEST EVER!!!
Saw Bob perform this routine at an Arlington Wa. Fly-in in the 1990's, and it was truly astounding! Energy management at it's finest, from a Legendary American Hero!
Classic!..... Old Bob knew what the hell he was doing!
Just jaw dropping performance...and feel good about doing my multi ride in a 500 shrike...wish I could fly it as well as he did
..
Saw Bob in the 80s with the Blue Angels. Bob stole the show!
What's even more amazing it was a unmodified Aero Commander. That's what's impressive to me. That's just how good he truly was at flying. He knew the do's and don'ts so well. Great stunt pilot ever in my opinion.
+Adis Alijanovic The engines and propeller feathering system were modified
that IS the cool thing - this was a stock business airplane! unreal
straw148 please showe where this information is documented; a random user saying "the engines and propeller feathering system were modified" is no way indicative of the plane actually having modifications.
The master at work. Beautiful thing. I saw him perform his routine live at Reno and it was magnificent.
Mike Kobb .... I saw him as a little boy and didn't know what the hell I was observing.....
I am ashamed....
Saw this Aero Commander display in Fort Lauderdale, FL back in the 1960's. INCREDIBLE that a civillian passenger aircraft could do that kind of aerobatics ! Kind of makes the current generation of planes look "milk toast" !
+Mary A It was Bob Hoover that inspired my interest to fly one of these. A friend of mine,s father had the Aero Commander 500B, and we did a total of 14 hours over a three day period. I then learnt to fly that plane . After seeing Bob Hoover in South Africa in 1977 he was responsible for getting me involved with flying one. To day I now own a fully refurbished Shrike with the single windscreen and being in Australia ,the distances we fly are long , so I have added extra fuel tanks in the wings which can take me from the West Coast directly to the East Coast with an hour and 20 minutes reserve.
+Steinwaygrande FANTASTIC ! Refurbished Aero Commanders are now selling for 1/2 million $ in the USA. Still beats paying over $1 million for a new competitor !
That's what he's done every time I've seen him too. Once, he landed on one wheel and held it there while he rolled up to his spot and then stopped and dropped down on the other wheel. It was the most amazing demonstration of total control ever.
I remember when I was a kid in the 60s and often flew in a Commander. It was owned by the New Mexico State Highway Dept. My Dad was the state geologist and was always flying around in it for foundation investigations (bridges etc) and water well location. God that was fun...we landed on dirt roads quite often. A guy in a pickup would check the road out and flash his lights several times if it was ok to land. Had a post in the bed with a windsock rigged to it.
This is far more impressive then, say a Pitts or Extra 300 since this is an unmodified cabin class twin. Just incredible.
What an amazing pilot and airplane to be able to sail like that and not drop like a brick without engine power.
No.air show was complete without Robert...!!!! ..r.i.p.....
What a pilot! Love the fact that he did that whole display in a suit.
and a straw hat
too wanderfull. increible lo que se puede hacer en este tipo de aeronaves y que super pilot.congratulations captain.
I saw him at the Reno Air Races about the same year. A true gentleman.
Back in the 1970s Bob Hoover did a tour of South Africa and put on a display the likes of which I never seen in a passenger aircraft. Happy to say that I met him and attended one of his seminars.Think he was born with Avgas in his veins instead of blood.
He had to switch to Avgas from Jet-A since he got older ;)
A true magician...
lost to many people like him this year. shrinking breed
Brathless, I've flown this Shrike as P2 on a recce flight to gather samples of air from specific areas in SA and I recall pulling some positive G's, but this is out of my league!!
I saw Bob Hoover at an airshow in Topeka, Kansas in the late 80's but because of some HORRIBLE miscommunication with those running the airshow, a helicopter started up DURING the engine out part of Bob's show. I was floored - the whole point was that he was doing this with engines off, but the dang helicopter engine obliterated the silence.
I can relate to that. I was fortunate to see Mr. Hoover perform many times and the highlight of his show was the final engine-off "energy management" routine. I lived just south of you in Oklahoma. A hush would fall over the crowd, all you'd hear was the ever-present breeze in the wheat stubble, and the incredible sound of his Shrike slicing through the air. I'm sorry you were cheated out of that, sometimes life just isn't fair. But at least you got to see Bob fly, and that's a gift in itself.
The master at work- brilliant!
7 people from the FAA disliked this video.
3 more just disliked it. FAA stragglers.
LOL! 'We are the FAA. We are not happy until You are not happy' ;)
I never got to see him. The greatest airshow performance I've ever seen was done by Sean D. Tucker. In an interview, Sean Tucker said he wouldn't be alive if Bob Hoover hadn't taken him under his wing and shown him energy management.
ldmax I got the same story, never met Hoover but he was an amazing man with amazing capabilities. I’ve seen Tucker a couple of times, sometimes I think he’s the next Bob Hoover but never will we have another like him.
The STICK and RUDDER, and ENERGY MANAGEMENT king.
OMG! Incredible.
What a mad lad bob hoover was.
I got to see Bob at the Reno Air Races in 1988 (I think). Marvelous. I don't remember him stopping and restarting the engines, though, as this video implies. Once he shut down the engines, he did about five or six of his maneuvers and then landed and rolled up to exactly his spot on the tarmac He called those his "energy management demonstration.".
I saw Mr Hoover fly in Billings Mt. I was the lucky one .
Maybe someone else has a better memory than me, but I recall that Bob Hoover had a disability in his arm or arms. I seem to remember that his arms had difficulty moving right and left. Anyone else remember what the disability was? It all made his accomplishments even greater.
wonderfulll.....great BOB HOOVER..
RIP Bob
Sensacional amazing!!!
You are my hero!
Hoover was a Stud! Flew that thing like it was a toy! See ya in heaven Bob. (Provided I make it)
The greatest ever. Nobody like him.
He was a North American, NAA, Rockwell guy, the best!
GREAT VID
outstaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanding 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Over the years I have watched Bob Hoover perform on numerous occasions. I've seen him do his set routine in both the P51 and the Shrike Commander. I was living in Denver at this time and attended this airshow. I think it was the last time I saw him. Front Range airport his where the "new) Denver airport is today.
Saw Bob Hoover in person at the NAS Point Mugu Air Show 20 + years ago. He also did that one wearing his traditional Herringbone sport coat, white dress shirt & neatly tied necktie. Unbelievable stick & rudder skills.
Bob was THE best
Bad ass pilot! 👍
mr. hoover the best, show brasil ok.
The aero commander 500 has engines like no other plane
I know it's very aerobatic but i always thought it an unusual choice of plane. Like demonstrating drifting in a camper van. Ahh I get it.
Smart, no doubt!
And he kept it all under 4 g’s!!!
I got to see Bob's performance live. This video, however, is chopped up way too much to truly enjoy
QUE
LOCO
He was 64 when he flew this demonstration! Anyone know which model 500 this is?
Its the 500S The "S" being for Shrike , which had the longer nose then the 500B models. Beautiful aircraft to fly and a great plane to learn how to fly in IFR conditions. A rugged and well built aircraft, which was once certified to fly the then President of the USA.
Steinwaygrande Ok thanks for that. So the 'Shrike' in the title actually refers to the name of the plane! I initially thought that may have been some kind of call sign for Hoover. I've seen these Aero Commanders on the market and both the single and twins really hold their value. Rockwell obviously built them to last.
Hi ianrkav. Indeed the Aero Commander was built to last , and to the best of my knowledge is the only twin engined aircraft certified to fly the President of the USA. There is a fair bit of information on them if you do a GOOGLE search. I flew the 500B for many years and then when the S model arrived, there were significant changes - especially in addition to better sound proofing and slightly modified propellor blades, The S model has the single windscreen while the 500B had the split screen. The longer and more streemlind nose of the S made for better performance and improved performance. I could go on and on about the different Aero Commander`s I have flown. If you look at Bob Hoovers Shrike you can see the difference between the S model and the B . Both Commanders used the flat six cylinder 295 HP Lycomings, bit I have seen where many have changed the Lycomings to the Continental`s which deliver 340 HP and paddle prop blades, which makes for shorter take offs and a higher cruise speed and much better fuel consumption. Hope that this helps understand the difference between the B and the S
Any questions, feel free to drop me a line and I`ll do my best to answer them
+ianrkav they were built but no one really they would have been flying as long as they have, one thing that was not thought of was on the 500, B , S , 681,685,690A,690B the stainless steel strap on the lower spar cap that ran a little outboard of both nacelles across the bottom of the wing. over time this set up dissimilar metal corrosion which went to intergranular corrosion and wings failed with loss of life .
all the affected models had ultrasounds to find out if you had a 12 month or 24 month spar cap , once out of limits you were done until we engineered a spar cap replacement it and that was very pricey for the customer
+Steinwaygrande you could also get a long nose kit for the b which was a fiberglass affair and was attached and fared into the skin a little forward of the cockpit with filler or bondo
Bob Hoover simplesmente o melhor .
Funny. The announcer kept saying how quiet it was with the engines out... yeah, except the announcer wouldn't stop blabbing how quiet it was!
Do those guys get paid by the word?
Nice remembrance, though of seeing Bob in person, doing this, plus his P-51 show.
Some great flying, of course. But it's frustrating to watch this video because of the way it's chopped up so badly; just as you're about to hear the announcer finish explaining something interesting, CHOP, a different clip starts.
Not sure I'd want him as my only test pilot. The fact that he can fly an aircraft in no way implies that anyone else alive could also fly it. lol
One look no
Yeah, I can do that.
wich plane?
Mats Steenhuis aero commander 500
IDK i was cringing the whole time waiting for the wings to snap off
If you think you are a good PILOT you must be better of him , but I don't think so ..
WTF
lost talent ?
This video is a chopped up mess.