Plane donor pays tribute to 'wonderful friend'

Dave Hoover with his Coors Light plane.

Andy Ross has hundreds of Dave Hoover stories. Like the one about Dave's habit of positioning his plane so it would cast a shadow over cars traveling below, especially convertibles, and how he'd even swing the craft out to "pass" vehicles before lining back up with the road and flying on. Or the one about a prematurely bald Dave Hoover convincing a license bureau clerk to list his hair color as "clear." Or the one about the three-legged dog he rescued and named Tripod.

The stories, and Andy's contagious laughter as he tells them, are helping to keep Dave's memory alive. So, too, will his donation of a new Cessna 172 four-seater to Ohio University's Department of Aviation.

Andy and Dave grew up blocks from one another in Bexley, Ohio. They shared a love for planes, cars, motorcycles, "mad scientist" experiments and general mischief. The two kept in touch during Hoover's time at Ohio University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1964, and through the years leading up to Dave's death in a plane crash at a California aviation show in 1992. A member of the Coors Light Silver Bullet Jet Team at the time, Dave was for years an American Airlines 747 captain and logged 17,000 hours in more than 100 kinds of aircraft.

"Everybody who knew Dave for any length of time has a bunch of Dave Hoover stories," Andy says. "Dave thought of all kinds of things to have fun in life."

The Cessna, says Aviation Department Chair Elaine McCoy, will be used mainly by the university's nationally recognized flight team for competitions. More than 100 Athens campus students are pursuing bachelor's degrees in aviation, some thanks to the David Hoover Scholarship awarded annually to a student who shows a passion for flying.

"This is a wonderful gift in loving memory of Dave Hoover, and it has been a timely one," McCoy says of the plane. "Our enrollment is growing, and the aircraft will be used to teach many young people who share the love Dave had for freedom in the sky."

The plane, presented on Aviation Day in early May, has been detailed in green and displays the Attack Cat logo like the university's other aircraft. Its tail number is a spinoff of Dave's own, 45DH. But because "pilots are a pretty superstitious bunch," Andy chose an apt alternative: 445DH.

"He was a wonderful friend," Andy says, "and my memories of him will bring happiness to my heart for the rest of my life."