Here’s to Hoot!

Robert Gibson, often known better as Hoot Gibson, is a fairly well known name in aviation circles. Hoot flew on five Space Shuttle missions and was commander on four of them. Hoot is even married to shuttle astronaut Rhea Seddon and was inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame back in 2003. After orbiting the earth dozens of times Hoot has recently been serving as a pilot for Southwest Airlines. Today was Hoot’s 60th birthday… a bittersweet day if you are a commercial pilot.

Regulations enacted in 1959 call for mandatory retirement for pilots at age 60, so today Hoot flew his last flight as a commercial pilot. Currently there are efforts underway to change that regulation and make the retirement age 65, but groups like the Air Line Pilots Association are fighting against the change. Currently the USA has allies in France, Pakistan, and Columbia who also object to the change.

Regardless of what happens in the USA, the International Civil Aviation Organization appears to be making a change on their own to raise the age limit to 65. Ironically, this could lead to a situation where foreign pilots over 60 could legally fly in the USA while pilots from the USA would not be able to fly in the same airspace.

Hoot says he still runs about four miles several times per week. Here’s to you Hoot, and may you have several more successful flights! Keep the blue sky up!