Perhaps one could consider it as an unofficial salute to Bob Hoover who I greatly admired. He was a World War II fighter ace, a war hero who escaped a prison camp, stole a German airplane and flew to safety. He went on for years after the war to thrill airshow crowds everywhere. His trademarks were a twin-engine Aero Commander and a Panama hat. Perhaps his most famous in flight maneuver was to pour a pitcher of water into a glass with one hand while executing a slow role in the twin engine airplane with the other hand. He normally ended his airshow with a double engine, dead stick landing that concluded with the quiet airplane rolling up to stop exactly in front of the crowd.

His dead-stick landings influenced so many of us that this maneuver successfully concluded my type ride in a Gulfstream II. (Both engines were pulled to “flight-idle” overhead the airport while I wore the instrument flying, training hood. The hood was then removed and I landed the airplane without power and passed the check ride.)

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Yours,

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Captain W. Patrick Gordon