Today, in our continued celebration of National Aviation Day, we are highlighting our very own Airport Director, Mike Hall! Mike has a very rich history with aviation, including an amazing career flying for the United States Air Force.

As a child in the 50s, Mike became fascinated with the bloom in aviation that began during WWII. The X Planes in particular fascinated him; going progressively faster than the speed of sound, meanwhile the space program was gaining momentum. It was a great time to build aircraft models and dream, which Mike did.

“In 7th grade, Miss Powers assigned us to create a career plan. Mine was to fly fighter jets,” said Mike. He was one of those lucky few that knew exactly what they wanted to do at a very young age, and he did it.

He went on to become the youngest pilot to fly the F-106 and the youngest to pilot a plane to Mach II. These are some of his most proudest aviation moments. When asked what his dream plane to fly would be, he said: “I flew them; the F-106 and the F-16 were bookends on an amazing flying career in the United States Air Force.” He and his son currently own and fly their Mooney N353BW, which serves their personal and business travel needs.

Mike currently serves as Director of the Ithaca Tompkins International Airport, where he says “a great team from the Airport, our Airline Partners (American, Delta, and United), our base operations (Taughannock Aviation) and our communications experts (Communiqué Design & Marketing) have fashioned a terrific capability to serve the aviation requirements of our community.”

The future of aviation is exciting for Mike. He believes we’re in a time of technological transition, where hydrocarbon engines will be replaced by electric power plants, significantly reducing environmental impacts and greatly improving the efficiency of powered flight.

Mike sees Ithaca as a very global community, connected by aviation.

“Aviation is the technology that unites the world and makes this mantra possible: We speak your language, we cook your food, we celebrate your music and you are welcome here! We are One World.”

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