As a child nearly 80 years ago, Michael Hynes experienced his first aircraft ride. That sparked a passion for aviation and a 65-year career that has included amassing some 16,500 hours in 314 aircraft types, administering 800 pilot exams, running multiple aviation businesses including Hynes Aviation Industries, and, now, being honored with the Helicopter Association International (HAI) Lifetime Achievement Award.
Part of HAI’s Salute to Excellence Award program, the Bell-sponsored Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes excellence in management and leadership and is granted to an individual for long and significant service in the international helicopter community.
One of the few individuals to receive both the FAA’s Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award and the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award in recognition of 50 years of service, Hynes joined the U.S. Air Force at the age of 17 to become an aircraft mechanic. Stationed in Palm Beach, Florida, he became part of the base Aero Club and earned an airplane commercial certificate with a flight instructor rating.
After his service, he helped establish a flight school, as well as an FBO, aircraft maintenance shop, and charter service that was one of the first Learjet operators. He became enamored with helicopters when, in the 1960s, he learned of a Bell helicopter that had achieved a top speed of more than 150 knots, HAI said. Seeing that potential, Hynes decided to add helicopters to his flight school and acquired a Brantly B-2 helicopter in 1967 that he taught himself to fly.
He formed one of Florida’s first GI Bill helicopter flight schools and launched Brantly Operators, a maintenance and parts resource for the 350 Brantlys in operation. He used his Learjet to transport parts from Wichita, Kansas, where the Learjet-owned Brantley Helicopter Corp. had relocated.
Eventually, Hynes was to own two Brantly type certificates, a vast parts inventory, and production tooling after Learjet filed for bankruptcy. He moved the operation to Frederick, Oklahoma, and named it Hynes Aviation Industries. That business continued to grow when he secured an FAA production certificate for the Brantly-Hynes B-2. And, in 1984 Hynes won a multimillion-dollar U.S. Army remotely piloted vehicle contract for his work in testing fly-by-wire artificial intelligence systems that involved changes to the Brantly Model 305.
He also continued operating a flight school, assisting former Vietnamese military pilots in transitioning to U.S. pilot careers. That drive for education turned out to be an important thread as his career progressed.
After he backed a production loan for the Army contract, the payments from the service fell behind, forcing him into bankruptcy. He sold the assets of Hynes Aviation Industries. However, he then decided to go to school, earning bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, HAI said. This led him into a new career teaching high school, adult career, and technical education courses. He further taught at Western Oklahoma State College and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Altus Air Force Base campus. In 2003, he was named director of aviation education programs at the College of the Ozarks.
To this day, he is focused on the next generation, overseeing a $450,000 trust fund that provides annual scholarships for students interested in aviation.
HAI traditionally honors its Salute to Excellence Awards recipients during its annual Heli-Expo convention. However, with this year’s gathering canceled, HAI is planning to honor the recipients through a series of virtual events.