Mike Drake has been a member of the firefighting and operations crew for eleven years. Before joining the airport crew, he worked in construction, providing him with valuable carpentry and painting skills. While he does not have a favorite job on site, Mike prefers shooing birds off the runway and anything that allows him to travel around. He enjoys having a variety of different jobs that change daily.

A Lansing native, Mike took his first plane ride last year on a trip with the operations crew to New York City. He likes traveling to Florida and Wisconsin, but Lansing will always be his favorite place with its changing seasons and proximity to the Finger Lakes. In his spare time, he goes deer hunting; he has hunted many different ways, but his favorite type of hunting is with the bow and arrow. He enjoys driving around in his pickup truck and watching the Washington Redskins.

As a sixth generation firefighter, Mike decided to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the volunteer fire department before joining the airport’s firefighting and operations crew. He is known as a prankster within the crew, and has a reputation for joking around with the rookies, including making them find “flight line” around the facility as a prank.

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