2007 Robert G. Hoey

NOMINATION FOR THE "KELLY" JOHNSON AWARD
Robert G. "Bob" Hoey

Robert G. “Bob” Hoey is nominated for the SFTE “Kelly” Johnson Award for his 50 plus years of consistent outstanding leadership and technical contributions for the practical application of simulators in the support of flight testing and safety, and for his engineering judgment in the conduct of high risk aircraft flight testing during his service at the Air Force Flight Test Center and as Flight Test Consultant. His work included:

• stability and control testing of the Century Series fighters (F-100 to F-105);
• mission planning/data analysis for AF/NASA/USN X-15 flights to Mach 6 and 354,000 feet altitude
• landing technique development for low L/D hypersonic glide vehicles such as the Space Shuttle Orbiter
• mission planning/data analysis for AF/NASA flights of the M2-F2/F3, HL-10, X-24A and X-24B Lifting Body vehicles
• testing of the F-4 Survivable Flight Control System, the A-7 Digitac, and the YF-16 prototype Light Weight Fighter, and
• active participation in the envelope expansion flights of the rocket-powered SpaceShipOne.

In his flight planning for the X-15 in 1958, Mr. Hoey was exposed to the concept of real-time flight simulation using high speed computers. He quickly recognized the tremendous potential of flight simulators in support of flight testing for engineering analysis, pilot training, mission planning, and a generally improved understanding of the flight environment. Bob became extremely adept at assembling the computer models for these simulations including the identification of wind tunnel test data and prediction methods for defining these models. Bob’s pioneering work and exceptional leadership in the use of simulators led to their wide-spread use throughout the aviation community for research vehicles, new/modified aircraft intended for service use, and in support of Rutan’s SpaceshipOne.

Bob has continuously provided outstanding leadership in the development, test, and evaluation of numerous air vehicles that required the acceptance of some fairly high level of risk and a practical assessment of valid risk mitigation schemes in order to safely proceed. As the lead Air Force flight test engineer for joint AF/NASA/USN test programs at Edwards, he actively participated in the envelope expansion phase of several rocket-powered vehicles including the X-15, Lifting Bodies and Space Shuttle Orbiter. He supervised and/or led for the AF, tests of the F-4 Survivable Flight Control System (first AF fly-by-wire flight test), the A-7 Digitac (first AF digital fly-by-wire flight test), and the YF-16 prototype Light Weight Fighter Program (first operational fly-by-wire aircraft). In spite of the inherent risk in these new-technology test programs, they were all successfully and safely conducted in a timely fashion and yielded critical information that had a major impact on the design and development of future combat systems.

As a result of Bob’s extensive experience in the use of flight simulators to support flight testing, he was often asked to serve as a technical advisor to accident investigation teams. He served in this capacity for accidents involving the X-15, NF-104A, SR-71, T-38, A-7D and M2-F2. When the SR-71 was scheduled to arrive at Edwards for initial AF evaluation Mr. Hoey was selected to lay out the initial test planning for the stability and control testing. Working mostly at night to accommodate the high classification requirements, he provided guidance to less-experienced AF engineers during the initial phase of testing.

As a result of his contributions to the flight testing of the X-15, Lifting Bodies, Space Shuttle and SpaceShipOne, he was awarded the 2006 Space Flight Award by the American Astronautical Society.

Another example of Bob’s versatility and innovativeness is his independent study of the stability and control characteristics of soaring birds through the use of radio controlled models. He reported initial results at the 1992 annual AIAA Flight Test Conference, and a follow up report at the Annual SFTE Symposium in 2001. He is a recognized expert in this field and has contributed greatly to the scientific understanding of soaring bird stability and control.

In summary, Mr. Hoey is deserving of this award because of his flight test engineering contributions to the safe, effective, and timely evaluations of aerospace vehicles. By his technical mentoring of team members under his supervision he left a legacy of testers that continues to contribute to flight test one-of-a kind aircraft.