(L/R) Barry Cooper, Bill Blake, and FAA Great Lakes Safety Team Manager, Bill Law.
GALENA, ILL. – The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has presented AOPA Great Lakes Regional Representative Bill Blake with the “Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award” for completing 50 consecutive years of safe, accident-free flying. FAA Great Lakes Regional Administrator Barry Cooper presented the award during the Illinois Public Airports Association Annual Conference, September 27, 2010, at the Eagle Ridge Resort in Galena, Illinois.
Blake and his wife, Nancy, who is a private/instrument-rated pilot, own a Cessna 172 Skyhawk.
As the Great Lakes Regional Representative for the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association since 1999, Blake represents AOPA in Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin.
Prior to his work for AOPA, Blake was director of the Illinois Department of Transportation, Division of Aeronautics from 1992 until 1999. During that time, he served on the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) Board of Directors, and was vice-chairman at the time of his retirement. Blake was in private law practice in Peoria, Illinois, prior to being named the state director of aeronautics.
Blake previously served as chairman of the Greater Peoria Airport Authority Board of Commissioners and as Executive Director of the Illinois Aviation Trades Association.
Blake holds a Commercial Pilot Certificate with instrument, multi-engine, and helicopter ratings. The 6,000-hour pilot is type-rated in Lear Jets and SK-58 helicopters. Blake was an Army aviator assigned to the East/West German border in the early 1960s. He retained flying status with the U.S. Army through 1974 and holds the Senior Army Aviator Badge.
While attending law school, Blake was a contracting officer for the Office of Naval Research in Washington, D.C. He also served as a reserve officer with the 5035th USARF School in the 1980s, and retired as a Colonel.
Blake is a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Commerce, the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
You can read Bill Blake’s “AOPA Great Lakes Regional Report” in each and every issue of Midwest Flyer Magazine, and online at www.midwestflyer.com.
