(888-925-3947)

Proud Members of:

Iowa Bed & Breakfast Guild

Iowa City Chamber of Commerce

Iowa City Convention & Visitor's Bureau

Many folks have taken umbrage with attributing this accident to Hoot Gibson, the famous astronaut. 

Eric Whyte's explanation of why it COULDN'T be "the" Hoot piloting this aircraft is the best one we've received:

"A friend forwarded me the link to your website featuring the “Story” of the Goose that had some difficulty landing. I hate to tell you that the information in the story is not entirely correct.

In the article it mentions that the pilot was Hoot Gibson,“ a well-known stunt and airshow aviator who enjoyed many years of flying after the incident.” While the pilot may very well have been a guy “named” Hoot Gibson it was not the “well known stunt and air-show aviator.” I will explain.

The story mentions that the accident was filmed during the filming of the movie Endless Summer II which was released in 1994. So I would assume the filming occurred somewhere between 1990 and 1994. The well know air-show and stunt pilot referred to in the story is Robert L. “Hoot” Gibson, known for flying the Hawker Sea Fury #99 “Riff-Raff” in airshows and races.  During college I wrote a biography of that Hoot and since then I have had the pleasure of getting to know him through various air racing activities we have both been involved with. I am the contest chairman of a race called the AirVenture Cup and Hoot and “Riff-Raff” where the first Unlimited Champions in 1998. (You can visit our website for more info about the event if you are curious – www.airventurecup.com

A little bit about Hoot: Born in NY, Robert L. “Hoot” Gibson earned his pilots license at age 17 and entered the US Navy and was selected for pilot training in 1969. Between April 1972 and September 1975, Hoot served on the USS Coral Sea and the USS Enterprise flying combat missions over South East Asia.

He is a graduate of the US Naval Fighter Weapons School, better known to the public as “Top Gun”. Following service in South East Asia, Hoot returned stateside and was selected as an instructor in the then new F-14A. In June 1977 Hoot Graduated from the US Navy Test pilot School, and was selected by NASA to be an astronaut in January, 1978. While at NASA Hoot flew the Space Shuttle 5 times.

Some of the highlights of his NASA career, include, flying as Pilot of Challenger on STS-41B in February 1984, which is best known for the first test flight of the Manned Maneuvering Unit, the self contained backpack that allowed astronauts to fly outside the shuttle untethered.

His second flight and first as Space Shuttle Commander, was STS-61C in January of 1986, the last successful flight before the Challenger was lost in an accident. After the Challenger accident Hoot worked on the accident investigation team and worked on the redesign of the solid rocket boosters.

Following the shuttle’s return to flight Hoot was selected to command STS-27 the second Shuttle Flight after Challenger, which he did in December 1988. Most details of this mission which was flown in Space Shuttle Atlantis were classified by the department of defense. The mission was so secret at the time that after the flight the crew received special medals from the CIA but were not allowed to take them home from Langley for years afterwards!

In September 1992, Hoot flew the Challenger replacement Endeavor on mission STS-47, which carried the Spacelab laboratory. Hoot’s 5th and final NASA space flight came in June and July 1995 when he commanded, Atlantis on the first mission to dock with the Space Station MIR. During his five space flights he accumulated 36.5 days in space. In addition to flying the Space Shuttle five times, he also served as Chief of the Astronaut office, prior to leaving NASA in November 1996.

After leaving NASA, Hoot signed on as a pilot for Southwest airlines, where he continues to work today. In addition to his airline flying he began flying “Riff-Raff” in air races and also his own Formula One Racer in which he set a World Altitude Record and received the Louis Bleriot Medal. So when the accident occurred in Costa Rica sometime in the early 1990s the Hoot Gibson referenced in the article was busy flying the Space Shuttle for NASA, living in the Houston, Texas area.

Also by that time he held a US ATP license which is higher than a commercial, so it would only take days, not years to process the paper work for a foreign license. While the pilot may very well have been a gringo named “Hoot” Gibson, it most certainly wasn’t the well know former astronaut.

I think the confusion might come from the fact that there was an actor/cowboy Ed Gibson 1892-1962 that went by “Hoot” Gibson. He was fairly well known and appeared in numerous films, including the first incarnation of “Oceans Eleven” in 1960 where he played the role as a roadblock deputy. Ed Gibson the actor was best known for his role as a cowboy in westerns in the 1950s. At age 20 he earned the title “World all Around Champion Cowboy.” He earned the nickname “Hoot” while working as a messenger for the Owl Drug Company. Due to the relative fame of Ed “Hoot” Gibson the actor/cowboy many other Gibson’s were given the nickname as well.

One interesting note, Ed “Hoot” Gibson the cowboy/actor was also a pilot and even entered the 1933 National Air Races. Unfortunately he crashed his airplane and he was seriously injured which prevented him from acting for several months.

One other note, I was looking for the video on your site, but I couldn’t find it, however if it is the video I am thinking of, the Goose is at nearly full power coming around the corner prior to the loss of directional control, which would lead me to believe the accident on film was a takeoff attempt gone bad, not a landing. It looks like the outboard float collapsed, causing the aircraft to yaw loosing directional control. Had it happened on a landing, the Goose dissipates energy in the water fairly quickly, that it would have slowed down and not made it nearly as far into the sand bar.

A similar accident happened to well known singer Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy was flying his Grumman, when the wing tip float hit the wake of a passing boat causing the airplane to flip over on it’s back. The singer credits training he received from the US Navy prior to getting a ride in a Navy fighter with saving his life. He talks about the accident in his book “A Pirate looks at Fifty.”

I hope this information is interesting to you, thanks for keeping the video collection on-line!"

Eric Whyte