Once again, a local pilot was awarded a legendary aviation award during special ceremony at the Plant City Airport.
Mike Windom has been fascinated with airplanes for as long as he can remember. He grew up just outside the Atlanta Airport and said he remembers spending nearly every moment of his free time sitting on his stoop and watching planes fly in and out, or running along the fence of the airport captivated by the takeoffs of the massive aircrafts.
He was obsessed and on Oct. 1963 he and his brother took a plane ride from Atlanta to Chattanooga. It was Windom’s first flight and he remembers the details like it was yesterday. It sparked a flame in him that refused to die, despite his father’s insistence that he would never sit in a cockpit.
So Windom bided his time. His parents went on vacation to Panama City and Windom headed straight to the airport. He spent nearly every waking moment learning to fly, desperate to get his license before his parents returned.
“As much as my father hated it, I knew that when he came back if I could show him that I had put a lot of time and money into it that he would tell me I better just keep going then,” Windom said. “So I was really racing against the clock to get as much done as possible before they returned. At the time it cost $9 per hour to rent the airplane and $4 per hour for the instructor. Those rates are a little higher now than when I started.”
Windom joined the Air Force and after his service was completed, he worked for his father and uncle in their homebuilding business while still continuing to get his higher pilot ratings via the GI Bill. In October 1969 he received his commercial license and in December of that year he became a flight instructor. He became a full-time flight instructor in March 1970.
It was there that fate intervened. One of his students was the general manager of the Southeastern Elevator Company. After a few trips with Windom, he hired him to work for the company as a corporate pilot and to work in sales when not flying. He trained in a Beech E55 Baron and ended up flying the company’s 1966 C55 Baron, N771E. Eventually the plane was sold and Windom flew a variety of other aircraft for the company. From there spanned a long career in the elevator business.
In 1983 Windom met Deb, who won his heart the second she said she was learning to skydive and fly. The two have been inseparable ever since and frequently take turns flying on trips together in their current airplane, a 1982 PA38 Piper Tomahawk they lovingly call “Pixie.”
The duo joined the Sunshine Flying Club, where Windom taught ground school part-time and participated in Wings seminars in Tampa and St. Petersburg. He and Deb bought their first plane, a 1967 Cherokee 140, N9732W, which they called “Baby.”
Windom ended up working at KPCM with Plant City Airport Services teaching ground school, flight training and as a Chief Flight Instructor. They fell in love with the community at the Plant City Airport and helped establish the Plant City Munchers — a social club of pilots who would get together on a weekend and fly to another city for lunch and fellowship — as well as the EAA Chapter 1178 at KPCM.
When Windom neared his 50th birthday in 1995, he wanted to earn his ATP-MEL rating and began training again. He and Deb then sold Baby and got a new plane, a 1975 PA28R-2— Arrow, N33418, which they named “Trixie.” They thought Trixie would be their forever plane and began a massive restoration. However, in 2011 Deb fell ill and their priority changed. They sold Trixie but never stepped away from their passion for flying.
They remained active at the Plant City Airport. Windom received his CFI certificate, volunteered at Sun-n-Fun, attended AirVenture in Oshkosh and flew with friends from KPCM. In 2013 he began training for his Commercial SES rating and, after 10 total SES hours, became a Commercial SES-rated pilot and an SES-rated CFI.
Despite his countless certificates and ratings, his passion for aviation and safety education was far from drained. He began volunteering as a FAASTeam Representative for the Tampa FSDo in June 2018 and has presented safety seminars at KPCM ever since. Sometimes more than 35 pilots and guests will fly in for the weekend seminars.
“There’s a great community here,” Windom said. “It used to be very strong and the airport was just a nice place to spend a Saturday afternoon. The airport is coming back to that now, I think, and that’s part of why I wanted to get involved with FAAST. I wanted to help promote the airport because there is really something special here. We will have six or seven planes fly in sometimes for a seminar that I hold on different safety topics.”
Windom’s face is one most pilots recognize. He’s attended AirVenture every year since 1993 and has been at Sun-n-Fun every year since 1986. He’s always a major part of the annual Planes, Trains and Automobiles event, which used to be called the Plant City Airfest. The EAA Chapter 1178 spends countless hours with its Young Eagles program where they take local youth on free flights. Windom said it’s a passion for all EAA members and that they want to spark a passion for flying in younger generations so that there will always be pilots seeking freedom in the skies.
Over the course of his career he’s flown more than 40 different makes and models of aircraft, including MEL, SEL, SES, Turboprop, Glider, LSA and a B25. He has the ATP-MEL, Commercial-SEL, SES, CFI-Airplane, SE, ME, Instrument and Advanced Ground Instructor certificates and ratings.
It’s hard to imagine a candidate more worthy of the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, which was presented to him on Oct. 10 by Tampa FAAST Manager Inspector Andrew Crossman. During the ceremony, Windom recounted his memories as a pilot and shared his passion for safety training.
“I just enjoy this,” Windom said. “Whether I’m acting as a flight instructor or leading a safety seminar, I really just enjoy teaching others about aviation. I put a lot of time into those seminars and I think that’s part of why so many people seem to like them. I have a diverse list of topics and I put a lot of hours into getting those lectures prepared. I enjoy it and if I can keep one person from doing something stupid, all of that time will have been worth it.”
Windom has been a champion of applying for the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, which is the “most prestigious award the FAA issues to pilots certified under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) part 61.” He has helped several other local pilots receive the honor, and during the ceremony many joked they were all waiting for the day he threw his own hat into the ring.
The award is named after the Wright Brothers, the first American pilots, and it is given to pilots who have exhibited professionalism, skill and aviation expertise for a minimum of 50 years while “piloting aircraft as Master Pilots.” There’s a large list of requirements to receive the honor, but Windom more than exceeded the prerequisites. In fact, he received 12 different reference letters from those who vowed he was the perfect fit for the award.
“For as long as I can remember I’ve always wanted to fly,” Windom said. “And to receive this award, well, it means a lot. I hope others are inspired to follow their passions and learn to fly. It’s truly something that will change your life.”
*Correction: An earlier version of this article said Windom flew a B52. He flew a B25 and the text has been updated.