DUKEPILOT

born to fly...
Captain/Instructor Robert Hoffman is a second generation aviator and flight instructor, following the footsteps of his father and uncles. Bob learned to fly while in high school in his home town of Danville, Illinois, and completed advanced flight training at the family flight school in Broomfield, Colorado. While completing initial flight training he worked in several aviation related venues, including servicing B17’s and B24’s at a US Forest Service fire bomber base; working as an aircraft mechanic; operating an aircraft parts department, and finally, flying for an Aerial AG operator. By the age of 20, Bob had earned a commercial airman certificate, a multi-engine rating, flight instructor certificate, and had accumulated more than 500 hours of flight time.

Following initial flight training, he joined a large Midwestern flight school while attending college, and advanced to chief flight instructor before accepting a position flying a Beechcraft Duke for a Chicago based corporation. In the mid 1970’s, he formed his own aviation company and operated several corporate aircraft, including a Beech King Air C90 and E90 in addition to a Mitsubishi MU-2.

His airline career began in 1979 as a line pilot and instructor for a large regional airline where he soon advanced to flying turbojet aircraft before joining the major airlines in 1985. Bob is currently a senior captain for a major international airline and a member of the Airline Pilots Association. In the public venue, he serves on several public committees associated with the planning, construction, and operation of a major international airport.

Of his more than 40,000 flight hours, more than 6,000 are as a flight instructor. Eleven hundred flight hours are as pilot in command in the Beechcraft model 60 Duke. He was selected by the FAA and his peers as the “Flight Instructor of the Year” in 1973, and authored the first high altitude flight training programs for the regional airline industry in 1981. His company, L. L. Hoffman Aviation Services, Inc., are specialists in Beechcraft Duke initial and recurrent training, and produce technical training manuals and specialized training products for the flight training industry.

Bob is a USMS open sea masters swimmer, having successfully “escaped” from Alcatraz island six times without a wet suit, and has similarly crossed the straits of the Golden Gate without a shark bite. Bob is married and lives in Bluegrass Region of north central Kentucky with his wife, Diane, and two of their five sons, Nick and Gus. When he is not flying the line, doing committee work, conducting Beechcraft Duke flight training, or attempting another aquatic challenge, Bob can be found on his Gallatin County, Kentucky, farm “bushhoggin” on his Ford tractor.