Erstwhile AOPA regional representative, Michael D. Ferguson, mourned

Ferguson served in the U.S. Air Force from 1951 to 1955, then owned an airplane maintenance business in Billings, Montana, for 14 years. He went on to become the administrator of the Aeronautics Division within the Montana Department of Transportation and retired after 27 years in 2001.

An active pilot with commercial, instrument, and multiengine ratings, he and his wife Jeanie flew to most of the 50 states, as well as to Central and South America. The couple built their hangar home at Townsend Airport, where they kept a succession of Beechcraft Bonanzas, Ferguson’s favorite aircraft. In 1985 Ferguson won an award for his record-setting, nonstop solo flight in a single engine aircraft (a Bonanza) from Hawaii to Salt Lake City and on to Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He received the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award and the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award. Ferguson was a strong advocate of general aviation and flew over 1,100 youth in the Experimental Aircraft Association’s Young Eagles program.

With such a storied history he was a good fit as AOPA’s regional representative. During his tenure, he fought a Washington State Senate bill that would penalize pilots for flying too close to the state Capitol building, was active in maintaining the Northwest region’s backcountry strips, testified in support of a bill to protect the state's public-use airports from incompatible development, testified against proposed legislation in Montana that could limit the amount of automotive fuel available for use in GA aircraft, and supported a measure that would provide liability relief for aerial rescue workers in Washington state, just to mention a few of the topics he was working on.

Les Smith, former senior director of pilot community development at AOPA, remembers how he met Ferguson at an airport in Montana and immediately received a dinner invitation to his house in Townsend. When Smith ran into engine trouble with his Cessna 177 Cardinal before departure the following morning, Ferguson was right there to help him.

“He was just an all-around nice guy,” Tom Haines, retired editor in chief of AOPA Pilot, said of Ferguson.

While he was employed at the Montana Aeronautics Division, Ferguson collaborated with other state aviation organizations to found the Montana Aviation Conference, which will hold its thirty-ninth gathering this coming year. The board of directors of the Montana Pilots Association has voted to rename one of its flight training scholarships for Ferguson.