Encounters With Arrogant Celebrity Pilots

[BigPhil]

Bob Hoover and Burt Rutan

Like a million other guys I met Bob Hoover in his booth at Oshkosh. One year I was hitting on...er, uh....talking to a lady working in the booth next to Hoovers. She was "non-aviation"; but very attractive and VERY well endowed in a low cut blouse. I explained to her who Hoover was and that he was a living legend in the airplane world. She walked over to shake his hand and old Bob just looked down (not at her eyes) and exclaimed "honey, God was sure good to you!" Priceless!...............I was on the ramp at OSH inspecting Dick Rutan's Longeze when a car pulled up and out stepped Burt Rutan; I guess if you're Burt Rutan you can drive anywhere you want to. I introduced myself and mentioned that I was from Arkansas. He had just read a conspiracy book about all the alleged guns and drug running at the Mena, Ar. airport and asked what I knew about it (which was only what was in the papers). There wasn't really anyone around and we sat and talked for close to an hour and never once talked about aviation. Burt has a deep and broad interest in many things and as you can imagine is very intelligent. Even though I had owned and flown two of his designs, I never brought it up because I figured that's all anyone ever wanted to talk to him about. I think that's why he talked to me as long as he did. When I went back the next year he even remembered me. If you ever fly a Longeze you'll be a Burt Rutan fan........





























oO

 

[coptercop]

Craig T. Nelson

I flew Craig T. Nelson ("Call to Glory" and "Coach") into the Atlanta Motor Speedway where he was honorary grand marshall for the race. He's a very nice guy, very tall too. He still sends Christmas cards.

 

[FlyingFisherman]

Mickey Gilley (Gilly?) stopped by in a Baron when I was a line guy. I had no idea who he was and talked auto insurance of all dumb things. He'd overheard me talking to another line guy (my 'real' job was working for an Insurance Company in Claims and doing a little Fraud work) and we talked cars, weather and airplanes for a while.

Only later did I find out that his joint was the one they filmed "Urban Cowboy" in and he was quite well off. That explained his nice watch...

Thumbs up for Mickey Gilly(Gilley?)

 

[BigPhil]

Barry Goldwater

I just remembered a story my brother told me from his Airforce days. He flew C-141's and Lear 35's (whatever the military calls a Lear 35). A Lear crew picked up Sen. Barry Goldwater at some military base once. The crew was ready to go and they noticed the senator doing a " walkaround" on the plane. They remembered he had been a ww2 pilot and thought maybe he was just sort of "preflighting " the airplane. When he got out to the wingtip he started taking a leak on the ramp in broad daylight in front of God and everybody.When he was climbing in the plane the crew rather sheepishly reminded the senator that the Lear was equipped with a head. Goldwater replied," Son, I don't get on my knees and piss in front of anyone!!"

 

[Swamp Fox]

Gene Hackman - used to have a C-340, as I recall, at Santa Paula

Roy Clark - used to fly his own MU-2

Clint Eastwood (?) - heard recently that he flew helicopters - not sure that is correct.

 

[Alchemy]

Conversely, I flew Lance Armstrong on a charter a few years ago . . . I thought he was an arrogant jerk completely lacking in people skills. When I told him that the itinerary he was proposing would have to modified to conform to Part 135 crew rest requirements he acted very put out that the regs would apply to HIM, too. I was very happy when that trip was over

I've gotta stand up for lance here....he used to be a semi-regular at an FBO I worked at so I procured a 4 foot poster of him in the yellow jersey and stashed it at work in case he showed up. Next time he flew in I took it (along with a sharpee) out to his challenger while I was refueling it and asked him to sign it. He said "sure, anytime" and signed it cheerfully. Maybe I caught him at a good time, but Lance is a-okay in my book, and a good tipper.

Don't get me started on Tommy Lee Jones. Completely rude, asks the world of the line service people and doesn't tip a nickle. I'll take Lance or Miss Bullock any day of the week. Sandra is extremely nice and down to earth for a celeb.

 

[JimG]

I share a hangar with Treet Williams.

Very nice guy who loves airplanes and will talk with anyone about them. He keeps a Waco, and a Seneca in with mine, but is selling them to buy a Navajo.

 

[avbug]

He had just read a conspiracy book about all the alleged guns and drug running at the Mena, Ar.

Alleged? Nothing alleged about it. Marana, too.

 

[lawfly]

Re: Harrison Ford. Never met him, but I believe he got his multi rating about a year ago--around Dec, 2004. Was the Flagstaff story before that? Could the lineman have been mistaken or whatever? Not that I am saying the posted account is inaccurate, but I do know he was doing multi training about a year ago, for his initial multi rating, as far as I know (at a well known flight school). I was unable to meet with one of the instructors there at the time--their most senior MEI--because he was "up flying with Harrison Ford for his multi rating."
Any aviation-related encounters with Angelina Jolie? I was in a restaurant about a year and a half ago when she walked in. She actually waited at the hostess stand to be seated, like anyone else. Not a lot of makeup (looked fine) and with her son at her side. And I encountered a certain Academy Award winning actress in the supermarket a couple of times, about six years ago, before she won the statue. She smiled and said "Hi". But I digress from the aviation context...those two encounters still affect me! Interesting stories in this thread.

 

[BigPhil]

Arthur Godfrey and Bob Cummings

You'll have to be a geezer to remember, but there wasn't a bigger tv star in the 40s and 50s than Arthur Godfrey. He was type rated in almost anything that flew. He was given a tricked out DC-3 by Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker and once got his ticket yanked with it by buzzing the Teterboro tower. Another big star from that era was Bob Cummings. He was taught to fly by his godfather, Orville Wright. He flew in WW2 and throughout his life . I can't confirm it but I recall hearing that Bob owned one of the few flying cars ever built. (Info from the internet movie data base,imdb).........Paul Harvey flew a Lear for many years and is a good friend of the EAA having spoken many times at Oshkosh.........James Arness owned a twin of some sort and commuted weekly to the "Gunsmoke" set in it..........Of course Jimmy Stewart was a WW2 bomber pilot, but I never heard of him flying privately.........Ed McMahon was a marine fighter pilot in WW2.......Sam Walton bought an old Ercoupe in the early 60s for under $2,000 and learned to fly. His brother Bud was a WW2 fighter pilot and for years wouldn't ride with Sam in an airplane or even a car. Sam was always preoccupied with the next business deal to pay close attention to flying. Sam later owned a Tripacer and for years flew a Navaho.