Celebrate as Burt Rutan accepts Hoover award

The Hoover Trophy honors “aviators whose airmanship, leadership, mentorship, and passion for aviation inspires a love of flight in countless others.” Hoover won the first trophy himself in 2016. AOPA carries on his memory through this prestigious annual award.

The trophy will be presented to Rutan for his contributions to aviation as an inspired aerodynamicist who never let the laws of convention stop him from innovating.

Rutan championed the canard configuration, and spawned generations of homebuilders with his VariEze and Long-EZ designs. He designed Voyager, the first airplane to complete a nonstop circumnavigation without refueling in 1986 (flown by his brother, Dick, and Jeana Yeager). Rutan’s Scaled Composites company designed SpaceShipOne. Rutan’s previous honors include induction into the International Air and Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air and Space Museum in 1988; he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio, in 1995. The National Academy of Sciences bestowed upon him its J.C. Hunsaker Award for Aeronautical Engineering in 2005. He is also a two-time recipient of the National Aeronautic Association’s Collier Trophy for Voyager and SpaceShipOne.

Sean D. Tucker, Harrison Ford, and Clay Lacy are previous recipients of the Hoover Trophy.

In addition to presenting the Hoover Trophy during the event, AOPA will bestow the Joseph B. “Doc” Hartranft Award, the Laurence P. Sharples Award, the General Aviation Safety Award, and the inaugural Brigadier General Charles E. McGee Aviation Inspiration Award. Retired Tuskegee Airman Brig. Gen. Charles McGee will attend to present the award named in his honor. McGee just celebrated his 100th birthday by flying a Cirrus SF50 Vision Jet and a Cessna Citation M2 in December.

The Gatsby Gang Jazz Band will perform during the reception. The cocktail event runs from 7 to 10 p.m. and costs $125 per person. Advance registration is required. Purchase tickets and register now.