Mike Murdock, EAA 692846, became an EAA member in 2002 and has never looked back. He is passionate about EAA and attends AirVenture every year with his flight instructor and now best friend, Mike Martin.
In 2013, after the sale of his company, he created the Tinker Murdock Family Fund to support two yearly flight training scholarships. Mike was impressed by EAA’s awareness of the pilot shortage. His intention of the scholarship was to, “Help others get bit by the same bug I did … and to learn how to fly,” Mike said. “EAA stays close to grassroots aviation — I wanted to further its mission.”
Today, the stories he hears from scholarship recipients are what fuel his passion for continuing to provide scholarships. “I love to help kids coming from all walks of life and seeking support to get initial training or that next rating,” Mike said.
At EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2019, the EAA Aviation Foundation team arranged a meeting between Mike and Jackson Bellard, the most recent recipient of his scholarship. “Jackson was so enthusiastic and inspiring,” Mike said. “It is refreshing to meet a young man so motivated to fly, and his can-do attitude was impressive.”
Jackson began his flying journey with funds from the Tinker Murdock Family Scholarship. He completed his first solo on January 3 of this year and hopes to complete his checkride later this spring. Jackson had nothing but great things to say about his meeting with Mike.
“The two things that I admired most about Mike were the friendship that he has with his flight instructor and his entrepreneurial spirit,” Jackson said. Similar to Mike, Jackson has also bonded with his flight instructor, Levi Mellows. “I respect and admire him so much for his knowledge.”
Due to the success of the flight scholarships, Mike has recently started a nonprofit in Huntsville, Alabama, called Huntsville STEAM Works. It is an educational nonprofit focused on science, technology, engineering, art, and math topics. One of the first pathways that they created will offer private pilot ground school for high school students.
“I just want to continue to do whatever I can to further aviation,” Mike said.
If you would like to learn more about EAA Aviation Foundation scholarship programs or would like to establish a named scholarship within the foundation, please contact Robin Kasel at 920-426-6507 or rkasel@eaa.org.