I fly remote control airplanes. Having heard that Hoot lived in the area and occasionaly flew rc planes at our field, I recognized him when he showed up one day. I introduced myself and we shared conversation about common interests. One topic was photograghy. I told Hoot one of my favorite photos I had on my wall at home was of a space walk with the earth in view. It is a very famous photo. Hoot told me he took that photo. I asked if he would be there long enough for me to go home and get the photo for him to sign. I raced home and back and Hoot signed the photo for me. That was a couple of years ago and I got to know Hoot better since then. I consider Hoot a friend who has the right stuff and is an officer and a gentleman.
Did hoot tell you how he and the ama screwed all the members over? He made millions on drones. And let you rc people now have huge restrictions along with remote id. Hoot aint that fast, either. Tiger whipped his ass.
@@n9amiwavelengthradio Are you confusing Marke F. “Hoot” Gibson, the former top adviser to the Federal Aviation Administration on drones with Robert "Hoot" Gibson? - two different people
@@n9amiwavelengthradio Some of "Us RC People" understand that that it's way more than one person who fucked us over and it includes the FAA , AMA , and the crooked ass Politicians we have, and those retards who like to fly Drones into Airport Airspace, over folks Homes to take pictures of private property and the real weirdos who used them to peak into windows. I am going to continue to do what I always have, fly RC Airplanes on MY LAND, ANY DAMNED TIME I PLEASE! With my Daughter, Girlfriend, and Friends including 3 LEO's who feel the same way I do about the FAA, and also feel the same way about the 2nd Amendment but that's not being discussed hear. You, me or anyone else can't blame ONE person or ONE organization, it's a bunch of assholes who want to control the People, they can FUCK off.
@lw216316 , Hoot in this interview, seems like a good guy... Down to Earth yet quite able to break the bonds of our Earth, at any time that becomes available....
Awesome story! Thanks for sharing. I lived in Florida until I was about 5 years old, so I got to see a few Shuttle Launches live but I was really young. I still have all of my Space Shuttle models and toys I grew up with.
Had the pleasure of meeting Hoot & his Wife on a Cunard cruise I was working on a few years ago. He heard I was into flying model jets and invited me for tea one afternoon. I didn't know who he was at the time, and he graciously never said. We just spent an hour or so talking about models we had made. I said he reminded me of the instructor Viper out of the film Top Gun. His wife smiled, and he said to me, "actually, I was an instructor at Top Gun..." It was only the following morning when he sent me his business card did I realise who I'd been talking to! What a gent. Good memories. 👍🇬🇧
Hoot is a class act and great pilot. I had the pleasure of working with Hoot at Southwest Airlines. He was a Captain I was a flight attendant great guy to do a work trip with! Hawk
I'd rather work with true professionals that don't believe in "calculated risks" and are assholes to "work with" than "great guys" that refuse to "volunteer" just how big of a role they took in killing those people on the ground while playing "aeronautical engineer" and pretending there is any way whatsoever to "calculate" anything about an "unlimited air racer" that is a "rebuilt" wreck even before "extensive modifications" for "more speed with less horsepower" turn it into a deathtrap if anything happens to be "missed" by "accomplished mechanics" that would have no reason to believe any "aeronautical engineer" would be stupid enough to use the cheapest GRADE ZERO "locking nuts" along with a "five pound block of steel" to "extensively modify" a "trim tab" that was never remotely intended to "trim" an aircraft in a "constant bank" AND "trim" it AND "EXTENSIVELY MODIFY" THAT "CONTROL SURFACE" SPECIFICALLY TO MAKE THAT "CONSTANT BANK" POSSIBLE AND CONSTANTLY "TRIM" THAT PIECE OF SHIT "NOSE DOWN" TO COUNTER ITS "TENDENCY" TO GO "VERTICAL" AT "OVER 500 MPH" AND "TEND" TO DO SO MORE AND MORE THE FASTER AND FARTHER IT FLEW AS THE "BOIL OFF COOLING SYSTEM" CONSTANTLY LOST "COOLANT" WEIGHING 7 LBS PER GALLON AND THAT "EVAPORATED OFF" FASTER THAN IT WOULD "BOIL OFF" AT AN INCALCUBLE RATE LEADING TO A CONSTANTLY "SHIFTING" NON-EXISTENT CENTER OF GRAVITY AND "TENDENCY" TO GO "VERTICAL" NOSE UP BECAUSE THE "EXTENSIVE MODIFICATIONS" REMOVED A WHOLE BUNCH OF WEIGHT IN THE "NOSE" ALONG WITH "TREMENDOUS DRAG" PRIMARILY REMOVED BECAUSE THE "FACTORY" COOLING SYSTEMS ARE CRAZY EXPENSIVE TO "SERVICE" AND "RESTORE" TO "AIRWORTHY" CONDITION IN BOTH MONEY AND TIME THEY "CALCULATED" THE COULDN'T AFFORD.TO "LOSE" IF THEY MANAGED TO FIND AN "ACCOMPLISHED MECHANIC" WILLING TO TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY AND LIABILITY WHEN - NOT IF - THE "RESTORED" COMPONENTS FAILED AT "500+ MPH" IN AN "UNLIMITED AIR RACER" THAT WOULD "RISK" CATASTROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE AND ENGINE "SEIZURE" SUFFICIENTLY "RAPID" ENOUGH AND WITH SUFFICIENT FORCE TO RIP THE "NOSE" RIGHT OFF THE "EXTENSIVELY MODIFIED" AIRFRAME "POTENTIALLY" SENDING ALL THE "PARTS" RIGHT INTO THE "GROUND" AND WITH NO "TIME TO REACT" WHATSOEVER.
I was at the races on Sunday and my heart sank when Six-Cat was shown. This is an excellent interview and I could listen to Hoot all day - he's a national treasure.
Hoot was always a CLASS ACT at Reno for the many years i was involved, that crash was what made me decide to retire a couple of years later. Thanks Hoot for your presence at the races all those years! OUTSTANDING INTERVIEW thanks so much for that👍👍🙂
Listened to the whole video and I have SOOOOOO MUCH RESPECT for the clarity in the way you state EVERYTHING as well as your even retired? professionalism. IT IS A TRUE SHAME THERE ARE NOT MORE LIKE YOU ON THIS PLANET!!! The Earth could do with a LOT more people like yourself. R.E.S.P.E.C.T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This man is meant to be listened at forever. I met him in 1998 and 99 when RIFF RAFF spat a valve thru the exhaust and right into his left tailplane's leading edge!
O MY GOD. What an absolute angel with wings Mr Hoot you have got to be the most interesting guys iv ever seen and heard. God bless you sir. Bloody lovely fella.
Hoot used to race my uncle’s plane Riff Raff before it was sold to a new owner. Stellar human being. A man who lives life on the edge but you wouldn’t know it in casual conversation with him. While I didn’t know Jimmy, I had the pleasure to meet his lovely family. Great people.
We all reuse those nylocks but this is a really good case of a fifty cent part wiping out an entire vehicle. Assuming I read/heart it right. Very sad. Thanks for sharing.
Idk. I wasn’t listening to reduce it down to some kind of over simplistic morality tale, so it’s hard to say if you oversimplified it in the right direction.
I had the privileged to get a ride in the P 51 Cotton mouth from Santa Monica CA with Bruce Lockwood a Reno winner. It took a week to get the smile off my face it inspired me to get my pilots licence, a little later I was on a commercial flight and the captain announced a VIP in the plane an astronaut flying with us in the back. We all cheered him and he got up and said over the PA system that"s nothing folks you've got my shuttle commander Hoot Gibson flying you today as captain of this SWA flight.
You won’t ever get a race series like this ever again. It’s sad that it’s over, but, understandable. All I can say is that Galloping Ghost lived up to its name. Haunting pilots with its earlier presence in racing. Fly high my friend.
I had the pleasure of knowing one of the two original owners of the Galloping Ghost. Steve Beville. If I remember the story correctly, after the war, Steve and his partner Bruce Ramond went looking for a P51 to race at the Cleveland Air Races. They found one at a war surplus storage facility in Walnut Ridge. They put a water injection system they had purchased from Bendix in South Bend and other modifications and went racing at Cleveland. The plane always finished in the money. I have an autographed photo of Steve climbing out of the Galloping Ghost after the he witnessed Bill Odem crash in 1949. And somewhere I have an interview of Steve talking about that race and what happened. They don't make pilots like Steve any longer or planes like the P51. Thanks for posting this video!
Super interview! It has been my honor to have known Hoot since Pax River days when he was FQ&P and I was in CVS thru to Reno Air Races. The STS-27 story was especially interesting and so glad it ended well.
What an absolute privilege to hear this man; he is priceless, a national treasure to us, but obviously expendable to DOD I saw the ghost pitch up (oh he just got into wake turbulence and is climbing above dead line to re enter the race), (hmmm why is he inverted.....he’s headed down .....watch the spinner...spinner moving to my left)....(hit the ground and hope to survive the fireball.). Huh, incredible sound of impact, BUT no fire...slowly stand up..., west of impact and scatter zone......grateful I was in box 25!!....call and let my family know I was lucky and not injured What a classy, articulate review of the accident that became the beginning of the end. Hoot, please record more of your experiences, found myself wishing the interview was several hours longer
This is the first mention I’ve heard of the Galloping Ghost’s single-sided trim tab. Now the accident is easy to understand. Thank you! Same with STS story. Thank you, Hoot!
I bet your "Minutes watched" numbers are outstanding. As a Commercial Pilot myself since 1991, I simply CANNOT skip around or to the end in these videos. (Oh, I would like to know just how they keep from going absolutely DEAF in those Unlimited-Class racers. Esp the Griffon/Merlin engines. ANR helmets or not, has to be insane noise levels!
Hard to believe that has been almost 12 years. I clearly remember this accident because we lost a co-worker that had one of those reserved special seats for the show . I don’t want to mention his name because we were not friends but I knew him and was a dear co-worker. He was a Dispatcher for Continental Airlines and I was a Load Planner . We all worked at the 13th floor building in Houston, TX downtown. At that time I was also working at my Commercial pilot certificate and didn’t realize that quite a few Dispatchers were also general aviation pilots ! This specific Dispatcher was a Reno Air Race regular attendee, every year, passionate about aviation and it was such a tragedy that happened. Anyway… 12 years… God bless🙏🏻
i racer for years in offshore powerboats and have the same thoughts about the classes. The spec classes are exciting but usually stay fairly close and bunched up and truth be told to close for me. I was in a faster catamaran class that tended to space out a bit after a lap or so and you could ease into a rhythm and deal with just keeping speed up and consistent in the varying conditions. I actually started in a Reindl One Design spec that went about 75 mph, as did every boat in the class. I finished my time in the sport in a Supercat running class 1 that did about 120. The One Design racing was a lot crazier and close then the SC by far. What a fantastic interview thank you both.
Wow that was fascinating. As engineer Ive always wondered if the shuttle could have repaired some damage if they could detect it, and plan for it. He's an amazing pilot. Thank God for guys like him. I love the "i should have pushed back" to mission control. I doubt they could have done anything different. Truely edge of the seat, "right stuff".
I grew up in Tahoe with a uncle named Skip Holm. My birthday is the weekend of the air races so it’s how I celebrated every year. I was there in 11 and I’ll never forget it. September fury was one of my favorites!!!
Yes, it is sad the Reno event is going to end soon... The insurance people say it's too risky, but while they are speaking of that terrible risk, thousands of others are being killed on the public roads and highways and also at the abortion centers... So what is the REAL reason that this racing series is being canceled? My guess (and this is just my guess), are land and real-estate developers are interested in over-taking that 450 + acres it is on... The rich want to become Richer... Again, it is my guess, but that is the REAL reason WHY so many racetracks and airports lost their leases... To make the rich, much richer...
One of the best documentary narratives on aviation and so many other topics including space flight and accident investigation. Superb. We need more of these Hoot!!!!!!!!
Bob Hannah had the same type of failure happen to him while piloting Voodoo back in the 90's. His retelling of the incident is spine chilling. To listen find his interview on the Whiskey Throttle podcast. It's a 4 hour pod (mostly about his escapades in the world of motocross in the 70's) but at about the 3 hour 12 minute mark he starts talking about his air racing experiences. Definitely worth the listen. Hannah is a successful aircraft broker out of Idaho now.
I've always been in love with the P-51 Mustang and seen them for years at airshows. Then I went to the Reno Air Races and I'd never heard 'that' sound--engines being pushed that hard! That show Hoot was flying a Mig-21. The final year for Reno this year and I'm going to miss it :-/
I boarded a flight on Southwest Airlines once. I wasn't an average passenger but was an Air Traffic Controller, on a FAM flight where the purpose was for me and the flight crew to improve the working the everyday relationship and to learn what each party was experiencing on a daily basis. I saw the name Gibson on the name tag and asked the right seater whether he was the shuttle astronaut. He was and we talked for a bit about the other aircraft he'd flown and about Reno. I look forward to Reno 2023, and the possible chance to see Hoot in the unlimited class again!
It’s amazing how much more you can learn from one guy who is not self-righteous and hateful than from all the self-righteous and hateful guys combined. ❤
A very interesting interview... I did not realize he was also involved with the space programs as one of the crew, until after this interview... It was sad to hear that the cause of the crash of the galloping ghost (Sept. 2011) was caused by a worn elastic stop nut, coming off during the race... It makes me wonder why they did not use a castellated nut & drilled bolt with a cotter key like most planes use on pivot points... Another sad thing was the way mission control seemed to down-play the reports of the crew of STS-27 (Feb. 1988) that the wing heat insulating tiles were damaged by the separation of the ablative coating on the main external cryogenic fuel tank while in flight... The people at NASA felt the crew was very lucky to make it home alive.... Finally, it actually happened to the STS - 107 mission on Feb. 1 2003... Maybe Mission Control did not want them to worry too much, possibly making other mistakes because of the distraction.... I remember learning of mission control doing the same thing to John Glenn (Feb. 1962) when he asked about the possibility of a loose heat shield , and they originally didn't want to tell J.G. about it, until the cap-com (Alan Shepherd) mentioned something about it... And then they (Mission Control) decided to keep the rocket pack strapped onto the capsule, lower bulkhead, which ensured the heat shield would stay in place, Going through re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere... It makes me wonder if M.C. was able to keep the crew of STS #107 (Feb. 2003) in the dark as to what they might have known about, before it happened...Just a guess on my part, but I still wonder about that..
After all these yrs. I STILL tear-up We'd just went back to our Camp on speed ally to watch from atop the many motorhomes Jimmy was my oldest G.S favorite as was his 51 Joe had a Huge telescope he'd been watching thru, It took some counseling but we've never missed 1 yet So sad after raising All my kids & now 8 grandkids so Sad, RAR's last days upon us God Bless all those that were affected & thank you Hoot & @Dronescapes for this "Best of the Best Presentations " See you all in a few months❤
I am an aerospace engineer, but know little/nothing about race plane setup. But it seems to me you would want the trim tab to be doing almost nothing at high speeds. I.e. if for high speed you require a lot of trim-tab input to keep the nose down, mabye add nose-up horizontal tail incidence/angle of attack until trim tab is close neutral at speed. Again, I'm not an expert in race plane setup, just a thought.
I'm no engineer and only have stick time on a T182T, which is NOT a race plane, but with the little stick time I have, I think redundancy is vital when you're flying. No aircraft is perfect in all phases of flight in all conditions. That's why there's trim tabs. Would it have mattered in the Galloping Ghost crash? I don't know how much the different g-load would have been... I'm not even sure how to calculate it. Note to everyone: Remember, I'm NOT, repeat, NOT an engineer. 😰 Be nice
My brother, "Big Wes" (Hoot knew him) would not permit the reuse of nylon locking washers. He said that they lost some of their retention strength after the first use. It's very difficult to impossible to detect this loss with a visual inspection. It's surprising that people involved with high performance aircraft would reuse them to the point that they were no longer self locking. It takes some effort to install a new self locking nut and even one that's been removed and reinstalled 2-3 times is still very tight. The mechanic KNOWS that they're worn out when they're installed because they thread onto the screw far too easily. The cost of a new set of nuts would be less than 2 gallons of fuel.
Watching this today after the Terrible accident yesterday at the Reno Air Races is heartbreaking. My husband was there. Looked like Nick Macy's plane was shown here. Maybe Chris Rushings as well. And go fig-they raced the one plane you wouldn't fly. T6 RIP men❤
I have a great photo of Hoot with my two kids from 2012 Reno with the kids in the wing of the 232 Sea Fury-I asked him for a quick photo with the kids and he put them both up on the wing. Nicest guy
I had friends (from here in the UK) who were there when this occurred, they were also at the Flying Legends airshow a few weeks earlier where a Mustang and a Skyraider collided in midair.
He's top notch soul who came here ready. It's not for everyone . Racing in general is crazy. Air racing is more dangerous than words. The skill set is proven. Good for him.
Agree The Captain should have insisted that non encrypted photos be sent down. Also best practices would suggest that a space-walk should have been taken with a camera to investigate all surfaces.
I worked at NASA Space Shuttle program for 20 years and I said to myself, man this guy looks familiar. I think he was one of our astronauts. Now I remember him. What a great guy and hero to me.
I used to fly out of Leeward Air Ranch in Ocala Florida. My instructor, lived there. Pretty sure Jimmy and my instructor did not get along. Probably because my instructor had an F-86 lol. The F-86 btw ended up being sold and flown by Dale Snodgrass
I can't think of anyone better to give insight on this crash. I had always wondered what happened and Hoot explains it well. I agree with other who say he's a class act. I was around him for a week at Huntsville once. A man with this background has earned the right to be a class-A self-centered jerk. Hoot is as far from that as a person can be. On STS27, Hoot has always said he was going to tall CAPCOM what he thought of their assessment. I asked him in person what he would have said in the moments before the orbiter would have come apart had he known it was going happen. Hoot just smiled and changed the subject
Its not hard to believe at all. At 300mph that forward stick pressure required is like bench pressing a hundred pounds. The trim tab takes it all with a finger flick. If you lose the tab at near 500mph your going to see an instantaneous +17g even with a small pitch angle. You can see the airplane pitch up hard enough to almost stall the wing. Thats a CL of around 1.3 or 1.4, flaps up. And probably a lot higher (see NASA report "airfoils oscillating near stall"). So you get the enormous dynamic pressure of 500mph flight at a low density altitude of ~8,000' multiplied by a lift coefficient of 1.3 to 2.0, multiplied by wing area... Since q is 511.3, area is 200ft cut down wing, Your looking at around 133,000lbs up to 204,520lbf of force instantaneously acting to drive your wing upward. For a 7,800lb airplane, thats 17g. (133k / 7.8k).
Yep, I teach Strategic Thinking for my organization to both leadership and the general staff who might be on the leadership path. Lack of communicating the vision or situation is the number 1 barrier. Its so clear from past failures of companies, organizations, countries, etc. I just don't understand why it continues to crop up; what the he11 is wrong with people.
As a long time race car fabricator (and former USAF aircraft mechanic) I was asked to help a friend of mine that had got into the jet racing at Reno. When I did I was actually appalled at not only the the work but the quality of the fabrication that was being done not just on the aircraft that I was asked to work on but many of the other ones as well. I actually asked about this “Technical Inspection” and it is nothing like Nascar or any other inspections that I’ve ever seen. It was as minimal as it gets! You would think that a aircraft flying at those speeds would be inspected very methodically however the entire culture there of old rich guys and there personal toys that they were not going to let anyone tell them they could not play with there toy after spending the money that they did! I told my friend at the time that his jet should not be flying do to the shoddy workmanship that had been done to his plane but he refused to listen to me and was convinced to race the plane! Well because of a incident involving his aircraft the mechanic (who also happened to be the head inspector) were banned from the flight line and many of the jets that he worked on were not allowed to race that year! This unfortunately is just one example of the type of things that happen at Reno. There is a reason that they are no longer doing those races! It all has to do with the lack of oversite of safety with those aircraft!
If the Mustang was designed with two trim tabs, they should be kept. The stress on that one trim tab is double what it would be with two. As an A&P, I've seen nylon lock nuts lose their ability to keep tight. You can remove them with your fingers. In my opinion, metal lock nuts are the way to go.
"Tech ' inspectors are there primarily to make sure that the aircraft as a whole is built within the guidelines and rules that apply to the race. They are not there for thorough airworthiness inspections. Those are up to the pilot / owner to make sure his aircraft is safe to fly.
I was in the crowd. We got covered with oil, we were that close. At one point it was even pointed directly at us, (Row A Box Seats) but the P-factor pulled it away from us.
Click the link to watch more aircraft, heroes, and their stories, and missions: www.youtube.com/@Dronescapes
Well done 👍👍👍👍
I fly remote control airplanes. Having heard that Hoot lived in the area and occasionaly flew rc planes at our field, I recognized him when he showed up one day. I introduced myself and we shared conversation about common interests. One topic was photograghy. I told Hoot one of my favorite photos I had on my wall at home was of a space walk with the earth in view. It is a very famous photo. Hoot told me he took that photo. I asked if he would be there long enough for me to go home and get the photo for him to sign. I raced home and back and Hoot signed the photo for me. That was a couple of years ago and I got to know Hoot better since then. I consider Hoot a friend who has the right stuff and is an officer and a gentleman.
Did hoot tell you how he and the ama screwed all the members over? He made millions on drones. And let you rc people now have huge restrictions along with remote id. Hoot aint that fast, either. Tiger whipped his ass.
@@n9amiwavelengthradio Are you confusing Marke F. “Hoot” Gibson, the former top adviser to the Federal Aviation Administration on drones with Robert "Hoot" Gibson? - two different people
@@n9amiwavelengthradio Some of "Us RC People" understand that that it's way more than one person who fucked us over and it includes the FAA , AMA , and the crooked ass Politicians we have, and those retards who like to fly Drones into Airport Airspace, over folks Homes to take pictures of private property and the real weirdos who used them to peak into windows.
I am going to continue to do what I always have, fly RC Airplanes on MY LAND, ANY DAMNED TIME I PLEASE! With my Daughter, Girlfriend, and Friends including 3 LEO's who feel the same way I do about the FAA, and also feel the same way about the 2nd Amendment but that's not being discussed hear.
You, me or anyone else can't blame ONE person or ONE organization, it's a bunch of assholes who want to control the People, they can FUCK off.
@lw216316 , Hoot in this interview, seems like a good guy... Down to Earth yet quite able to break the bonds of our Earth, at any time that becomes available....
Awesome story! Thanks for sharing.
I lived in Florida until I was about 5 years old, so I got to see a few Shuttle Launches live but I was really young. I still have all of my Space Shuttle models and toys I grew up with.
Had the pleasure of meeting Hoot & his Wife on a Cunard cruise I was working on a few years ago. He heard I was into flying model jets and invited me for tea one afternoon. I didn't know who he was at the time, and he graciously never said. We just spent an hour or so talking about models we had made.
I said he reminded me of the instructor Viper out of the film Top Gun. His wife smiled, and he said to me, "actually, I was an instructor at Top Gun..."
It was only the following morning when he sent me his business card did I realise who I'd been talking to!
What a gent. Good memories. 👍🇬🇧
Man, I only came to listen to about 5 minutes of this, but it was one of the best interviews ever. Hoot is an amazing guy. Thanks ❤
Glad you enjoyed it!
I could listen to Hoot talk for hours. The value of his wisdom and expertise will benefit many people
👍 Could not agree more
Hoot is a class act and great pilot. I had the pleasure of working with Hoot at Southwest Airlines. He was a Captain I was a flight attendant great guy to do a work trip with! Hawk
I'd rather work with true professionals that don't believe in "calculated risks" and are assholes to "work with" than "great guys" that refuse to "volunteer" just how big of a role they took in killing those people on the ground while playing "aeronautical engineer" and pretending there is any way whatsoever to "calculate" anything about an "unlimited air racer" that is a "rebuilt" wreck even before "extensive modifications" for "more speed with less horsepower" turn it into a deathtrap if anything happens to be "missed" by "accomplished mechanics" that would have no reason to believe any "aeronautical engineer" would be stupid enough to use the cheapest GRADE ZERO "locking nuts" along with a "five pound block of steel" to "extensively modify" a "trim tab" that was never remotely intended to "trim" an aircraft in a "constant bank" AND "trim" it AND "EXTENSIVELY MODIFY" THAT "CONTROL SURFACE" SPECIFICALLY TO MAKE THAT "CONSTANT BANK" POSSIBLE AND CONSTANTLY "TRIM" THAT PIECE OF SHIT "NOSE DOWN" TO COUNTER ITS "TENDENCY" TO GO "VERTICAL" AT "OVER 500 MPH" AND "TEND" TO DO SO MORE AND MORE THE FASTER AND FARTHER IT FLEW AS THE "BOIL OFF COOLING SYSTEM" CONSTANTLY LOST "COOLANT" WEIGHING 7 LBS PER GALLON AND THAT "EVAPORATED OFF" FASTER THAN IT WOULD "BOIL OFF" AT AN INCALCUBLE RATE LEADING TO A CONSTANTLY "SHIFTING" NON-EXISTENT CENTER OF GRAVITY AND "TENDENCY" TO GO "VERTICAL" NOSE UP BECAUSE THE "EXTENSIVE MODIFICATIONS" REMOVED A WHOLE BUNCH OF WEIGHT IN THE "NOSE" ALONG WITH "TREMENDOUS DRAG" PRIMARILY REMOVED BECAUSE THE "FACTORY" COOLING SYSTEMS ARE CRAZY EXPENSIVE TO "SERVICE" AND "RESTORE" TO "AIRWORTHY" CONDITION IN BOTH MONEY AND TIME THEY "CALCULATED" THE COULDN'T AFFORD.TO "LOSE" IF THEY MANAGED TO FIND AN "ACCOMPLISHED MECHANIC" WILLING TO TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY AND LIABILITY WHEN - NOT IF - THE "RESTORED" COMPONENTS FAILED AT "500+ MPH" IN AN "UNLIMITED AIR RACER" THAT WOULD "RISK" CATASTROPHIC ENGINE FAILURE AND ENGINE "SEIZURE" SUFFICIENTLY "RAPID" ENOUGH AND WITH SUFFICIENT FORCE TO RIP THE "NOSE" RIGHT OFF THE "EXTENSIVELY MODIFIED" AIRFRAME "POTENTIALLY" SENDING ALL THE "PARTS" RIGHT INTO THE "GROUND" AND WITH NO "TIME TO REACT" WHATSOEVER.
I was at the races on Sunday and my heart sank when Six-Cat was shown. This is an excellent interview and I could listen to Hoot all day - he's a national treasure.
Hoot was always a CLASS ACT at Reno for the many years i was involved, that crash was what made me decide to retire a couple of years later. Thanks Hoot for your presence at the races all those years! OUTSTANDING INTERVIEW thanks so much for that👍👍🙂
👍👍
Listened to the whole video and I have SOOOOOO MUCH RESPECT for the clarity in the way you state EVERYTHING as well as your even retired? professionalism. IT IS A TRUE SHAME THERE ARE NOT MORE LIKE YOU ON THIS PLANET!!! The Earth could do with a LOT more people like yourself. R.E.S.P.E.C.T!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks to Hoot for taking the time to sit down and share his experiences with us and for posterity.
This man is meant to be listened at forever. I met him in 1998 and 99 when RIFF RAFF spat a valve thru the exhaust and right into his left tailplane's leading edge!
Fascinating explanations - always listen to the old experienced guys !!!
I could sit and listen to Hoot the rest of my life.
I was fortunate enough to meet Hoot at Oshkosh in 1998, and spent a half hour or so talking to him. One of the nicest guys ever.
Hoot Gibson is on the top of my list as one of the best in aviation!
O MY GOD. What an absolute angel with wings Mr Hoot you have got to be the most interesting guys iv ever seen and heard. God bless you sir. Bloody lovely fella.
Hoot used to race my uncle’s plane Riff Raff before it was sold to a new owner. Stellar human being. A man who lives life on the edge but you wouldn’t know it in casual conversation with him. While I didn’t know Jimmy, I had the pleasure to meet his lovely family. Great people.
The thrill of the speed overcomes the fear of disaster, and that keeps my heart beating.
You got that right!
A great analysis of what happened to the Galloping Ghost, its pilot, and the space shuttle program. Much respect to all of these men.
Such an insanely talented and accomplished pilot, with more knowledge about everything in aviation than the internet.
We all reuse those nylocks but this is a really good case of a fifty cent part wiping out an entire vehicle. Assuming I read/heart it right. Very sad. Thanks for sharing.
Idk. I wasn’t listening to reduce it down to some kind of over simplistic morality tale, so it’s hard to say if you oversimplified it in the right direction.
I had the privileged to get a ride in the P 51 Cotton mouth from Santa Monica CA with Bruce Lockwood a Reno winner. It took a week to get the smile off my face it inspired me to get my pilots licence, a little later I was on a commercial flight and the captain announced a VIP in the plane an astronaut flying with us in the back. We all cheered him and he got up and said over the PA system that"s nothing folks you've got my shuttle commander Hoot Gibson flying you today as captain of this SWA flight.
You won’t ever get a race series like this ever again. It’s sad that it’s over, but, understandable. All I can say is that Galloping Ghost lived up to its name. Haunting pilots with its earlier presence in racing. Fly high my friend.
I had the pleasure of knowing one of the two original owners of the Galloping Ghost. Steve Beville.
If I remember the story correctly, after the war, Steve and his partner Bruce Ramond went looking for a P51 to race at the Cleveland Air Races. They found one at a war surplus storage facility in Walnut Ridge. They put a water injection system they had purchased from Bendix in South Bend and other modifications and went racing at Cleveland. The plane always finished in the money.
I have an autographed photo of Steve climbing out of the Galloping Ghost after the he witnessed Bill Odem crash in 1949. And somewhere I have an interview of Steve talking about that race and what happened.
They don't make pilots like Steve any longer or planes like the P51.
Thanks for posting this video!
Thank for sharing
Super interview! It has been my honor to have known Hoot since Pax River days when he was FQ&P and I was in CVS thru to Reno Air Races. The STS-27 story was especially interesting and so glad it ended well.
THX
What an absolute privilege to hear this man; he is priceless, a national treasure to us, but obviously expendable to DOD
I saw the ghost pitch up (oh he just got into wake turbulence and is climbing above dead line to re enter the race), (hmmm why is he inverted.....he’s headed down .....watch the spinner...spinner moving to my left)....(hit the ground and hope to survive the fireball.). Huh, incredible sound of impact, BUT no fire...slowly stand up..., west of impact and scatter zone......grateful I was in box 25!!....call and let my family know I was lucky and not injured
What a classy, articulate review of the accident that became the beginning of the end.
Hoot, please record more of your experiences, found myself wishing the interview was several hours longer
thank you, great video, Hoot Gibson is DA MAN!!!
This is the first mention I’ve heard of the Galloping Ghost’s single-sided trim tab. Now the accident is easy to understand. Thank you!
Same with STS story.
Thank you, Hoot!
I bet your "Minutes watched" numbers are outstanding. As a Commercial Pilot myself since 1991, I simply CANNOT skip around or to the end in these videos.
(Oh, I would like to know just how they keep from going absolutely DEAF in those Unlimited-Class racers. Esp the Griffon/Merlin engines. ANR helmets or not, has to be insane noise levels!
Hard to believe that has been almost 12 years. I clearly remember this accident because we lost a co-worker that had one of those reserved special seats for the show . I don’t want to mention his name because we were not friends but I knew him and was a dear co-worker. He was a Dispatcher for Continental Airlines and I was a Load Planner . We all worked at the 13th floor building in Houston, TX downtown. At that time I was also working at my Commercial pilot certificate and didn’t realize that quite a few Dispatchers were also general aviation pilots !
This specific Dispatcher was a Reno Air Race regular attendee, every year, passionate about aviation and it was such a tragedy that happened. Anyway… 12 years… God bless🙏🏻
i racer for years in offshore powerboats and have the same thoughts about the classes. The spec classes are exciting but usually stay fairly close and bunched up and truth be told to close for me. I was in a faster catamaran class that tended to space out a bit after a lap or so and you could ease into a rhythm and deal with just keeping speed up and consistent in the varying conditions. I actually started in a Reindl One Design spec that went about 75 mph, as did every boat in the class. I finished my time in the sport in a Supercat running class 1 that did about 120. The One Design racing was a lot crazier and close then the SC by far. What a fantastic interview thank you both.
Hoot Gibson's win in Strega was a VERY popular win. It was great to witness.
Really impressed with Hoot’s unfeigned humility.
My dad was the FAA investigator in charge of the Reno Air Races that year.
Wow that was fascinating. As engineer Ive always wondered if the shuttle could have repaired some damage if they could detect it, and plan for it. He's an amazing pilot. Thank God for guys like him. I love the "i should have pushed back" to mission control. I doubt they could have done anything different. Truely edge of the seat, "right stuff".
I grew up in Tahoe with a uncle named Skip Holm. My birthday is the weekend of the air races so it’s how I celebrated every year. I was there in 11 and I’ll never forget it. September fury was one of my favorites!!!
Sad this series is going to end. Hoot sir is a legend! Rhea madam is legend!
Hope you create more such series with more astronauts.
Yes, it is sad the Reno event is going to end soon... The insurance people say it's too risky, but while they are speaking of that terrible risk, thousands of others are being killed on the public roads and highways and also at the abortion centers...
So what is the REAL reason that this racing series is being canceled? My guess (and this is just my guess), are land and real-estate developers are interested in over-taking that 450 + acres it is on... The rich want to become Richer... Again, it is my guess, but that is the REAL reason WHY so many racetracks and airports lost their leases... To make the rich, much richer...
One of the best documentary narratives on aviation and so many other topics including space flight and accident investigation. Superb. We need more of these Hoot!!!!!!!!
As a former space shuttle tile technician, stepping & gap was a significant process before installing each tile.
Wow, that's probably one of the best videos I've ever seen, thanks so much Hoot for sharing that!
Wow, thanks!
Bob Hannah had the same type of failure happen to him while piloting Voodoo back in the 90's. His retelling of the incident is spine chilling. To listen find his interview on the Whiskey Throttle podcast. It's a 4 hour pod (mostly about his escapades in the world of motocross in the 70's) but at about the 3 hour 12 minute mark he starts talking about his air racing experiences. Definitely worth the listen. Hannah is a successful aircraft broker out of Idaho now.
There are only a couple of hand fulls of men with this kind of experience and knowledge
I've always been in love with the P-51 Mustang and seen them for years at airshows. Then I went to the Reno Air Races and I'd never heard 'that' sound--engines being pushed that hard! That show Hoot was flying a Mig-21. The final year for Reno this year and I'm going to miss it :-/
What we have here is a failure to communicate ( Cool Hand Like). What a great video !.
I boarded a flight on Southwest Airlines once. I wasn't an average passenger but was an Air Traffic Controller, on a FAM flight where the purpose was for me and the flight crew to improve the working the everyday relationship and to learn what each party was experiencing on a daily basis. I saw the name Gibson on the name tag and asked the right seater whether he was the shuttle astronaut. He was and we talked for a bit about the other aircraft he'd flown and about Reno. I look forward to Reno 2023, and the possible chance to see Hoot in the unlimited class again!
It’s amazing how much more you can learn from one guy who is not self-righteous and hateful than from all the self-righteous and hateful guys combined. ❤
A very interesting interview... I did not realize he was also involved with the space programs as one of the crew, until after this interview... It was sad to hear that the cause of the crash of the galloping ghost (Sept. 2011) was caused by a worn elastic stop nut, coming off during the race... It makes me wonder why they did not use a castellated nut & drilled bolt with a cotter key like most planes use on pivot points...
Another sad thing was the way mission control seemed to down-play the reports of the crew of STS-27 (Feb. 1988) that the wing heat insulating tiles were damaged by the separation of the ablative coating on the main external cryogenic fuel tank while in flight... The people at NASA felt the crew was very lucky to make it home alive.... Finally, it actually happened to the STS - 107 mission on Feb. 1 2003... Maybe Mission Control did not want them to worry too much, possibly making other mistakes because of the distraction....
I remember learning of mission control doing the same thing to John Glenn (Feb. 1962) when he asked about the possibility of a loose heat shield , and they originally didn't want to tell J.G. about it, until the cap-com (Alan Shepherd) mentioned something about it... And then they (Mission Control) decided to keep the rocket pack strapped onto the capsule, lower bulkhead, which ensured the heat shield would stay in place, Going through re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere...
It makes me wonder if M.C. was able to keep the crew of STS #107 (Feb. 2003) in the dark as to what they might have known about, before it happened...Just a guess on my part, but I still wonder about that..
What a fantastic video! Thank you for sharing with all of us!
Our pleasure!
Pilots are such cool characters
After all these yrs. I STILL tear-up We'd just went back to our Camp on speed ally to watch from atop the many motorhomes Jimmy was my oldest G.S favorite as was his 51 Joe had a Huge telescope he'd been watching thru, It took some counseling but we've never missed 1 yet So sad after raising All my kids & now 8 grandkids so Sad, RAR's last days upon us God Bless all those that were affected & thank you Hoot & @Dronescapes for this "Best of the Best Presentations " See you all in a few months❤
I hope see Hoot at this year's Reno Air Races. He is the "most interesting man alive" & the luckiest !!!!
Wow! What an extraordinary guy, Best 55 mins I ever had on line.
I am an aerospace engineer, but know little/nothing about race plane setup. But it seems to me you would want the trim tab to be doing almost nothing at high speeds. I.e. if for high speed you require a lot of trim-tab input to keep the nose down, mabye add nose-up horizontal tail incidence/angle of attack until trim tab is close neutral at speed. Again, I'm not an expert in race plane setup, just a thought.
I'm no engineer and only have stick time on a T182T, which is NOT a race plane, but with the little stick time I have, I think redundancy is vital when you're flying. No aircraft is perfect in all phases of flight in all conditions. That's why there's trim tabs. Would it have mattered in the Galloping Ghost crash? I don't know how much the different g-load would have been... I'm not even sure how to calculate it.
Note to everyone: Remember, I'm NOT, repeat, NOT an engineer. 😰 Be nice
My brother, "Big Wes" (Hoot knew him) would not permit the reuse of nylon locking washers. He said that they lost some of their retention strength after the first use. It's very difficult to impossible to detect this loss with a visual inspection. It's surprising that people involved with high performance aircraft would reuse them to the point that they were no longer self locking. It takes some effort to install a new self locking nut and even one that's been removed and reinstalled 2-3 times is still very tight. The mechanic KNOWS that they're worn out when they're installed because they thread onto the screw far too easily. The cost of a new set of nuts would be less than 2 gallons of fuel.
Watching this today after the Terrible accident yesterday at the Reno Air Races is heartbreaking. My husband was there. Looked like Nick Macy's plane was shown here. Maybe Chris Rushings as well. And go fig-they raced the one plane you wouldn't fly. T6 RIP men❤
Great video! Awesome to hear Mr. Gibson tell those stories.
Hoot is amazing I worked with him at SWA. GREAT MAN
I have a great photo of Hoot with my two kids from 2012 Reno with the kids in the wing of the 232 Sea Fury-I asked him for a quick photo with the kids and he put them both up on the wing. Nicest guy
I had friends (from here in the UK) who were there when this occurred, they were also at the Flying Legends airshow a few weeks earlier where a Mustang and a Skyraider collided in midair.
He's top notch soul who came here ready. It's not for everyone . Racing in general is crazy. Air racing is more dangerous than words. The skill set is proven. Good for him.
Thanks for the great content. Hoot is so fun to listen to.
Our pleasure!
Fabulous interviews, thanks from downunder! 🇦🇺
If Hoot is in the video I'm watching! I've always liked Hoot!!
I was in section D of the stands that year… I’ll never forget the site and sounds of it all
17gs im surprised the plane didn't come apart. Great interview.
I’m so sorry to hear about this
Great pilot lost, amazing plane
🫡
Went to the Reno Air Races twice. I found Hoot Gibson’s explanation impressive.
Thank you so much from Amsterdam.
Outstanding video. I enjoyed the video and recommend it highly.
Agree The Captain should have insisted that non encrypted photos be sent down. Also best practices would suggest that a space-walk should have been taken with a camera to investigate all surfaces.
Really enjoyed this series of discussions thank you
This man is Amazing!! I wish I could shake his hand!
Our check lists would have weighed too much.. that was hilarious
Fantastic Job, thank you for this video, it was so informative.
I worked at NASA Space Shuttle program for 20 years and I said to myself, man this guy looks familiar. I think he was one of our astronauts. Now I remember him. What a great guy and hero to me.
Hoot.....What an amazing career. Great guy!
What an amazing interview I thank you Hoot for your service sir🙏
Thanks for listening
Fantastic conversation, thank you!!
Glad you enjoyed it!
I served with the Columbia’s pilot’s dad when I was in the Navy.
I used to fly out of Leeward Air Ranch in Ocala Florida.
My instructor, lived there. Pretty sure Jimmy and my instructor did not get along. Probably because my instructor had an F-86 lol.
The F-86 btw ended up being sold and flown by Dale Snodgrass
We were both there. Hoot, it was a bad day as we know.. ironically this exact incident happened 2 times prior yet they did not hit the ground…. Cheers
Lucky to still be alive! 😮
I was there, I still have nightmares and don't do air shows anymore. What a tragedy.
What a awesomely informative video. Great knowledge and hard work.
Handed me a rag and said "start cleaning". I'm so going to miss Reno.
I can't think of anyone better to give insight on this crash. I had always wondered what happened and Hoot explains it well. I agree with other who say he's a class act. I was around him for a week at Huntsville once. A man with this background has earned the right to be a class-A self-centered jerk. Hoot is as far from that as a person can be. On STS27, Hoot has always said he was going to tall CAPCOM what he thought of their assessment. I asked him in person what he would have said in the moments before the orbiter would have come apart had he known it was going happen. Hoot just smiled and changed the subject
Absolutely outstanding!
It's hard to believe losing such a small tab would make an A/C so completely uncontrollable.
Its not hard to believe at all. At 300mph that forward stick pressure required is like bench pressing a hundred pounds. The trim tab takes it all with a finger flick. If you lose the tab at near 500mph your going to see an instantaneous +17g even with a small pitch angle.
You can see the airplane pitch up hard enough to almost stall the wing. Thats a CL of around 1.3 or 1.4, flaps up. And probably a lot higher (see NASA report "airfoils oscillating near stall").
So you get the enormous dynamic pressure of 500mph flight at a low density altitude of ~8,000' multiplied by a lift coefficient of 1.3 to 2.0, multiplied by wing area...
Since q is 511.3, area is 200ft cut down wing, Your looking at around 133,000lbs up to 204,520lbf of force instantaneously acting to drive your wing upward. For a 7,800lb airplane, thats 17g. (133k / 7.8k).
Yep, I teach Strategic Thinking for my organization to both leadership and the general staff who might be on the leadership path. Lack of communicating the vision or situation is the number 1 barrier. Its so clear from past failures of companies, organizations, countries, etc. I just don't understand why it continues to crop up; what the he11 is wrong with people.
GREAT conversation 👍🇺🇸
Brilliant mind, humble spirit.
As a long time race car fabricator (and former USAF aircraft mechanic) I was asked to help a friend of mine that had got into the jet racing at Reno. When I did I was actually appalled at not only the the work but the quality of the fabrication that was being done not just on the aircraft that I was asked to work on but many of the other ones as well. I actually asked about this “Technical Inspection” and it is nothing like Nascar or any other inspections that I’ve ever seen. It was as minimal as it gets! You would think that a aircraft flying at those speeds would be inspected very methodically however the entire culture there of old rich guys and there personal toys that they were not going to let anyone tell them they could not play with there toy after spending the money that they did! I told my friend at the time that his jet should not be flying do to the shoddy workmanship that had been done to his plane but he refused to listen to me and was convinced to race the plane! Well because of a incident involving his aircraft the mechanic (who also happened to be the head inspector) were banned from the flight line and many of the jets that he worked on were not allowed to race that year! This unfortunately is just one example of the type of things that happen at Reno. There is a reason that they are no longer doing those races! It all has to do with the lack of oversite of safety with those aircraft!
Poor quality workmanship and negligence caused the Galloping Ghost crash.
At such high Gs the wings managed to stay on.
Love listening to this fine gentleman!!
👍👍
If the Mustang was designed with two trim tabs, they should be kept. The stress on that one trim tab is double what it would be with two. As an A&P, I've seen nylon lock nuts lose their ability to keep tight. You can remove them with your fingers. In my opinion, metal lock nuts are the way to go.
"Tech ' inspectors are there primarily to make sure that the aircraft as a whole is built within the guidelines and rules that apply to the race.
They are not there for thorough airworthiness inspections. Those are up to the pilot / owner to make sure his aircraft is safe to fly.
Hoot, fascinating stories, thanks!
Glad you like them!
Doesnt the NTSB take over these investigatiitions?
I was in the crowd. We got covered with oil, we were that close. At one point it was even pointed directly at us, (Row A Box Seats) but the P-factor pulled it away from us.
RIP, Jimmy Leeward, and Galloping Ghost
I was a regular attendee since 1981, but so glad I had to skip that year. RIP all.
Great interview with a pilots pilot