Hinson oversaw the government's response to the ValuJet Flight 592 crash on May 11, 1996, in the Florida Everglades, for which he received heavy criticism.

He then joined West Coast Airline (later renamed Hughes Airwest) for ten years (1963–73) as captain and as Director of Flight Standards and Engineering.

[8] In 1973, Hinson moved on to other ventures, notably Hinson-Minella, Inc., a limited partnership whose investments included Flightcraft, Inc., a distributorship for Beech Aircraft in the Pacific Northwest.

He served on boards at the National Air and Space Museum and the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

He continued to fly his own plane, a Beechcraft Duke, and logged more than 8,000 hours in over 70 aircraft types.