This website, and this description “about me” centers on flying, and aircraft, and people who I’ve known through aviation. But, when I think of “me”, the most important thing in the world has nothing to do with aircraft. It has to do with my wife who I’ve loved since we were high school sweethearts, and the three wonderful children who we share, and the special people those children have brought into my life. These are the most important people in my life and my experiences with them the most precious… but they are for my memory, for me to hold and cherish, but they are not for a website and so the following description shifts to aviation but with a strong recognition of what is truly important.
As long as I can remember, I have always loved airplanes. I assume this came from growing up in a home with a father and older brother who were associated with flying. My father, William Edison Stoney, was a Communications Officer in the US Navy in WWII, serving in the South Pacific and his oldest son John—my older brother by 11 years—was a US Air Force Pilot flying KC-135 Tankers in the Vietnam War era.
My father, who later became an executive at North American Aviation (NAA), enabled me to have experiences like seat time in the NAA Corporate Airplanes, including the Sabreliner and the Aero Commander, as he took me on company trips as a young teenager. My father also gave me the chance, on several occasions, to meet and talk to Bob Hoover. The Bob Hoover. He was such a gentleman and, man!–could he fly. I wanted to be him, sure that sharing a name was a good first step. Later in life, as a Test Pilot, I again was able to talk with Mr. Hoover, this time as a test pilot, though certainly not an equal.
My brother John flew radio-controlled models with me when I was young and later took me on some of my first light airplane rides. Inspired by his infectious and enthusiastic love for everything that flew, I don’t ever remember wanting to do anything but follow in his footsteps. In the end, I sort of blended my father’s engineering chops (he was a skilled Electrical Engineer) with my English-major brother’s love for and skill at piloting aircraft.
My own aviation career began at age 16 with flight lessons with the NAA flying club at the Santa Ana airport, paying for my flight lessons by washing airplanes. As we all understand, life is a series of “learning moments” and I certainly have been blessed to be taught about aviation—in one way or another—by probably hundreds of aviators. Several of these instructors I remember as “key”. My first “key” instructor was a WWII Dauntless pilot named James S. Dearth. I’m convinced that Mr. Dearth’s experience and willingness to teach me the “right way” set me on the right track and enabled the rest of my career. He was firm but fair, and taught me to really “fly the airplane” in a skilled manner. I don’t remember him saying it, but he set the goal of perfection…trying for that perfect flight. First soloing in 1974, I’m still working to fly that perfect flight. Maybe someday.
In my junior year of high school, we moved away from Santa Ana to Washington, DC and my flying went on hold for several years…but the dream of becoming a pilot never left me. After receiving an Aero Engineering degree from Iowa State University, through the Navy ROTC program, I narrowly avoided the “Nuclear Draft” (assignment to a Submarine…what?!) and began flight training.
It was in my first training assignment that I met the second and third key instructors that I believe were key to any success I’ve had. The second instructor was a plane…the T-28 Trojan. At that time, the early 1980’s, the T-28 had almost completed its service as a primary trainer and at Whiting Field—30 minutes outside Pensacola, Florida–there was only a half squadron of them left. The other two and a half Whiting Field primary training squadrons were operating the “new” T-34C Turbomentor. During “Aviation Indoctrination” class (a 6 week, non-flying, introduction) one day, the instructor said “OK, folks, we need some volunteers to fly the T-28. Let me tell you a little about the airplane…”. He proceeded to tell us that the T-28 was somewhat old, was pretty difficult to fly and some other advice from his perspective. The whole time I was thinking “what?! A chance to fly what is basically the son of the famous WWII fighters I’ve read about my whole life! I better get my hand up as soon as he calls for volunteers.” When he was done, he said “ok, do we have any volunteers?” and I shot my hand up in the air. Looking around slowly—in a classroom of maybe 30 aspiring aviators—I was simultaneously happy and surprised that there were just TWO of us with our hands up….myself and a guy who later became my best flight school buddy, Jerry Buck. Getting to fly with my second “key instructor”, the venerable T-28, was perhaps the experience which most shaped any skill I may have as a pilot. That airplane—and the third key instructor who I will get to in a moment—taught me how to fly…or, maybe, it’s more accurate to say they picked up where James S. Dearth left off. I’m convinced that the “T-28 guys” in Training Squadron 6 (VT-6) were, simply, just better than their T-34C counterparts. Some of it was “sink or swim” but the Trojan challenged me in ways the Turbomentor just couldn’t have and, in the process, I became a better pilot. Later, as an instructor pilot in the P-3, I swore I could instantly tell if a given student had come thru T-28’s or T-34’s.
Of course, it wasn’t just me and my trusty T-28! Enter into the scene the third key instructor, Captain Leonard Blanton, US Marine Corps. “Lenny” (though I’m certain I never called him that) reminded me a lot of Mr. Dearth…firm, exacting and demanding. He didn’t accept anything short of perfection…or at least TRYING for it. But it wasn’t just enough to expect or demand something….Captain Blanton TAUGHT ME HOW. I will admit to struggling for several flights, to control that beast (realizing pretty soon why Jerry and I were the only ones to volunteer) but—with Lenny’s help—I slowly learned. With time and patience, I mastered that beast and it remains one of my “top 5” favorite aircraft.
Following T-28 training, I went to Corpus Christi, Texas to train in the T-44 “King Air”, where I received my Wings of Gold in August of 1980.
This was followed by training in the P-3 Orion and assignment to my first fleet squadron, VP-9. I have so many experiences in VP-9 that I’d need to write a book. But I learned a ton more about flying there—mostly through my experiences as an instructor and check pilot–and even more about leadership. Stories for another day. My plan at this point was to finish up my time in the Navy and become an airline pilot, preferably with FEDEX.
However, my plan for an airline career was soon pitted against a different opportunity…to attend the United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS). The idea of going to TPS had NOT been my lifelong dream. In fact, I’m pretty sure I didn’t know anything about TPS until one of the more senior pilots in VP-9, Wayne Roberts, went there a couple of years ahead of me and suggested I consider it. I made a visit to NAS Patuxent River, the home of USNTPS, to check out the place and, on a quiet Saturday morning, walked into a TPS hangar stuffed with a myriad of aircraft such as I’d never seen. “I get to fly all of these?” I asked? That was it. And so began a career change from operational pilot to test pilot that had not been planned but for which I am eternally grateful. I applied to TPS while I was in VP-9 and didn’t make the cut. After a brief stint as an instructor at the P-3 Replacement Air Group, I applied again to TPS and this time was selected to attend the USNTPS. (On the day I was selected, I also received a verbal assurance that I had a job waiting for me at FEDEX…talk about a “fork in the road”!) At TPS I was a member of the Class 90 “Top Geeks” (the year-long USNTPS course coincided with the release of “Top Gun”….except TPS is more about your mind than the flash of being a movie star so we were “the geeks” and our class patch contained a book centered in a gunsight, in place of the MIG that adorned the “Top Gun” patch). We lost Mike and Scott that year and that awful experience—so tragic and gut-wrenching—never left me, informing my future behavior as a pilot and leader.
Following graduation from TPS (I was #2 in the class. Of course, EVRERYBODY was #2…except for Adrian Ong, Singapore Air Force, who was #1) I flew test missions at the P-3 Test Squadron with my classmate and best friend JB Hollyer. JB, as is well known in the P-3 community, is the best P-3 pilot ever. Soon, however, I was back to the school as an instructor and—essentially—I spent the rest of my Navy career teaching at the world’s Finest Test Pilot School. I may have had another job here or there…I don’t remember…all I know is that the Navy kept letting me go back to teach and I just loved it. Along the way, serving as the Safety Officer and later as the Chief Flight Instructor, I was glad that the “about one accident a year” average that was standard BEFORE my class went to “none”. My last tour at TPS was as the Commanding Officer of the place. The planes were so cool. Most of the military ones in this website came from that time. But the people….the people were a million times cooler. Lee, and Debbie, and Jerry, and Dusty, and Les, and Vic, and all the maintenance professionals who are literally the world’s best…and all the others. All fueled every six months by a new class of 36 aspiring testers…the job is ridiculously easy when you realize you’re working with the world’s smartest and most capable people, all focused on a mission. The people make that place and they are simply the best.
Almost exactly 14 years after I lost my two “top geek” classmates, we faced the tragedy of losing Gareth and Ray and I was reminded (smacked-in-the-face) of how precious, and tenuous life is and how we must love one another above all else.
I left the Navy having flown 99 airplanes..just one short of a hundred! Luckily, my next job, as an FAA test pilot–first in Wichita and later in Seattle—would provide just as much variety in flying as I had experienced in the Navy. I soon discovered that the military doesn’t have a corner on good people, working with leaders and testers every bit—if not more—skilled and determined and hard-working as those I had known in the Navy. My first two bosses, Gerry and Tom, were the equal of any leader I’d know in the military and I quickly settled into the job of testing aircraft to ensure their safety for the flying public. And I was lucky to meet more “key instructors”, including Kevin Campbell who—by his example and by a giving spirit that few could match—taught me the ropes of civilian flight testing. 18 years after starting with the FAA and here I am. Along the way, I’ve been fortunate enough to flight test aircraft ranging from small single-engine piston airplanes, to helicopters, to the mighty Boeing 747-8. In that time, I’ve flown another 85+ airplanes, gotten type ratings in 10 transport-category airplanes and even fulfilled a long-held desire to qualify as a Helicopter pilot. I hope you will enjoy reading about the airplanes I’ve flown as much as I have enjoyed writing about them.
Bob Stoney
Mercer Island, Washington
May 2020