Pilots

Forty years is a long time to stay in one place. But southwest Florida, and in particular Fort Myers, hardly seems the same place it was in the early 1950s, when Ed Wilson and Fort Myers Airways were getting their start together.

Wilson founded and still owns and operates the business, which may be the oldest family owned FBO in Florida.

Though he speaks with the soft-edged drawl of a native Floridian, Wilson is from Atlanta. His father owned a filling station there. In 1942, the family moved to Fort Myers hoping to get in the dairy business, but wound up with another gas station.

Like many school kids growing up during World War II, Ed Wilson became fascinated with airplanes and aviation. Page Field, named for a World War I ace, functioned as a B-24 and, later, P-39 training base during the war. The sound of powerful airplanes overhead fed Wilson's imagination. So did one of his science classes, called Preflight. "I don't know why a course like that is not offered now to school kids," Wilson says. "Even though not as many people can afford to buy an airplane today, they still should be taught how an airplane flies." Not long after graduating from high school, he and a friend scraped together $375, bought a Piper Cub, and learned to fly.

Wilson moved on to other things — shrimping for a year, then a stint as an airplane mechanic in the military. After his discharge, Wilson returned to Fort Myers and Page Field, where he met entrepreneur and attorney George Allen. Allen wanted to learn to fly; Wilson obliged. The two struck up a partnership and, along with a third partner, in 1952 founded Fort Myers Airways, Incorporated. Five years later, Wilson married Allen's daughter, Jackie. The couple eventually bought full interest in the FBO. The business grew into a family affair, employing Wilson, his wife, two of their three children, children's spouses, and nephews and nieces.

In 1955, Fort Myers Airways began a 35-year stint as a Cessna dealer. The relationship died a natural death after Cessna ceased making light aircraft. Wilson still sells Cessna parts, and still speaks glowingly of the marque. "That was our kind of airplane. Still is," he says with an appreciative nod. "Best airplanes ever built."

Fort Myers Airways grew right along with Page Field. National Airlines was the principal carrier at the airport, and Fort Myers Airways serviced its Convairs, Lockheed Electras, and Boeing 727s over the years. As the region's resort, residential, and commercial growth accelerated, Eastern and other airlines added Page Field to their route structures. A new terminal was built to accommodate the burgeoning scheduled traffic, and Fort Myers Airways moved into the old terminal.

Wilson nurtured his company's growth on servicing the airlines, general aviation charters and rentals, and flight training. Training is his first love.

"The heyday around here was in the mid-70s," Wilson remembers. "People were learning to fly on the G.I. Bill, and we were selling airplanes."

One charter customer important to Fort Myers Airways' growth and that of southwest Florida was the developer of Cape Coral, a massive Florida dredge and fill development on the opposite side of the Caloosahatchee River from Fort Myers. When prospective buyers came to Florida to see Cape Coral lots, Ed Wilson was there to give them an aerial view. "We had about 10 172s we used for those tours," Wilson says. "We flew off a road in Cape Coral until the community grew up around it."

Southwest Florida still is growing exponentially, but at Fort Myers Airways, business has changed since those heady days of 15 to 25 years ago. Along with the dropoff in sales of new aircraft that affected all of general aviation beginning in 1980, Fort Myers Airways has had to cope with the completion of Interstate 75 from Tampa south to Naples and the phenomenon of rental car price wars in Florida.

"It used to take five hours to drive to Tampa on Route 41 (a serpentine, infamously slow four-lane that connects every Florida west- coast beach town). We would fly people there in one hour. Now you can drive it in two and a half hours on the interstate. We would fly to Miami to pick people up as they came off the airliners. Now they rent a car and drive."

But the biggest blow was the opening of Southwest Florida Regional Airport a little more than 10 years ago. By county law, all scheduled service at Page ceased with the opening of RSW. Wilson believes that was a mistake. He wants to see Page opened back up to regional carriers, the same as Houston's Hobby and Dallas' Love Field. His interest is vested — he owns an aviation fuels trucking company and would like to handle fueling chores for Page-based carriers.

Scheduled service may be a long shot, though. Ever since RSW opened, Lee County's commissioners have been trying to chip away at Page. The latest proposal — to close a runway and sell off 200 acres of airport property — failed, fortunately. Wilson and others want to see commissioners take a more enlightened view of Page by building badly needed T-hangars, leasing the still-empty terminal, and in general encouraging greater use of the airport.

Though he now spends a portion of each day tending to the family horse farm and the trucks, Wilson still bustles about the FBO. He comes in very early in the mornings for flight training appointments, and enjoys chatting with customers. Jackie Wilson still works in the office, too, along with various other family members. Wilson surveys the ramp on a bright and warm winter morning and says he feels pretty good about the way things are going. "Corporate jets have replaced the airliners here," he explains, "and the single-engine tourist traffic is getting better all the time. Not many new airplanes are being built, but the ones that are out there are being used."