Flying to work: an alternative commute

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Veronica McMahon
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  While most pilots spend only a small portion of their day in the air and the rest on the ground, the same can't be said for one Tyndall F-15 Eagle pilot who has the opportunity to spend a greater portion of his day soaring the skies over North Florida.

Major Benjamin Cook, 95th Fighter Squadron, assistant director of operations and instructor pilot, spends his work days flying F-15s, but the major commutes to work in a Glasair experimental aircraft.

"I fly to work every day," said Major Cook. "The ride gives me time to relax going to and from work."

The pilot, who lives in Pensacola, said it was either live apart from his wife or fly to work.

"The decision was easy," Major Cook said. "I had already been stationed away from my wife for a year. I just fly down the beach every day. It takes about 40 minutes as opposed to three hours if I drove."

Major Cook and his wife, Jen, live just five minutes from the hangar where his plane is housed. He checks the weather daily to keep an eye out for the next day's conditions. He said that his personal plane can be flown in lower weather then a fighter jet can. Unless there is severe lighting or thunderstorms, the major always flies to work.

"This is the first aircraft I've owned and I have been flying it to work since last October," said Major Cook. "For gas alone, it's actually cheaper."

"I'm pretty jealous, I wish I were flying to work," said Capt. David Anderson, 95th FS, chief of standardization and evaluation and instructor pilot. "My drive to work is as long as his flight to work."

Captain Anderson has been a close friend of Major Cook's since 2004 and said the major has become much more of an airplane enthusiast since he bought the Glasair.

"I take my wife, family and friends up in the aircraft as often as I can," Major Cook said. "If my wife and I go on vacation within 1,000 miles of our home, we fly there in my plane. It gives us the opportunity to go on trips a lot."

Major Cook will soon depart Tyndall for a 180-day deployment to the Middle East. Upon his return, he plans to move with his wife to Louisiana, where he intends to join the Air National Guard.