Cook Aviation celebrates 30 years
It was party time in Bloomington at Cook Aviation on Tuesday, June 19, when the company celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Anyone familiar with the history of Cook knows the crucial role that flight played in the company’s early years. Bill Cook was a licensed pilot who used his plane to quickly reach customers and expand Cook’s area of operations far beyond the capacity of its limited manpower.
“Flying was an integral part of this company. All during the 1960s I was flying by myself. One day I’d be one place and the next one someplace else. I’d go from Fargo to Minneapolis, maybe, then out to Oregon. To this day, there are customers that never knew we didn’t have eight or ten people running around. I was at a meeting down in Florida, and someone said, ‘How many salesmen do you have?’ I didn’t want to tell them, so I just said, ‘Well, we’re doing pretty well.’ But it was me.”
— Bill Cook, Ready, Fire, Aim
By the end of 1980, the company had purchased multiple planes and hired multiple pilots. They were using these planes to visit customers and to fly customers
in from remote locations for product training and facility tours. It was also around this time that Bill Cook told a few of his sales reps that he would provide airplanes for them if they would take flight lessons and get their licenses. Only when the cost of insurance became prohibitive did Cook discontinue this program.
With all the air traffic the company was creating, the decision was made to set up a company called Cook Aviation as a fixed-base operation (FBO) at the Monroe County Airport. The Cook Aviation FBO provides aircraft refueling, rental cars, line services for aircraft, and customer service not just for Cook pilots and planes, but for the general public as well.
The company’s jets and pilots are now separate from Cook Aviation, under the umbrella of Cook Aircraft Leasing.
The video below gives a little glimpse into the day-to-day operations of Cook Aviation and Cook Aircraft Leasing. It is pretty cool stuff.
We think you will enjoy it.
the music and video were fantastic!! I’m so impressed
Loved this, thank you for sharing. It is nice to learn things about Cook that I didn’t know before.
Very interesting to see! I love this video and because I met Bill Cook in 2003 I always lucky to know the history of Cook. Thank you very much for sharing! I’m looking for the next one.
Wonderfully done video and great accomplishment for all the Aviation staff (both at Aviation and Aircraft)! Congrats on 30 years.
Totally Awsome! Thanks for providing a glimpse into the life of Cook Aviation.
I didn’t know the history behind Cook Aviation. Thanks! Awesome video too!
Cool!! Thank you for the video and congratulations on 30 years of journey!!
Such an interesting and important part of our history. Thanks for sharing!
Great story, I love aircraft, the passionate people around them and the engineering that goes into them
Very nice to see other aspects of Cook!! Rex – those cookies look really good!
I knew cook aviation just by name .Now I have a better idea !
good video Thank you for sharing
Marc from France
What an amazing history and what an incredible tool from the very beginning to help leverage our talent more broadly. Thanks to all the flight crew, maintenance and ground crews that make this happen 365 days a year!
Congratulations to all who were and are a part of this accomplishment! The video was very informative; I didn’t realize all the services that are provided.
Nice video – hot music … CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations. Hope to see another 30 years.
Thankful for these talented pilots, especially Andy. Cool as a cucumber; he made me feel at ease as possible for my first flight ever! Although I thought I might have a panic attack, overall it was a great experience. Taking off and landing are the hardest parts, however, it is amazing while in the air it hardly feels like you’re moving at all. Congrats on 30 years, Cook Aviation!
Wonderful video! Congratulations to Rex and the team!
Congratulations!
Nathan and Rex, it was lovely to be there to celebrate with you and your teams. Love the video and thanks for all you do to support us getting safely from A to B!
Congratulations on the milestone. It will be interesting to see what happens the next 30 years.
Congratulations to Rex and all of the wonderful team!!
You are right, pretty cook stuff! Thank you so much for sharing 🙂
This is so cool! Thank you very much for sharing.