Mike Thompson has been a CFII since 1979. He served eight years with the US Coast Guard and conducted flight instruction part-time. After active duty, Thompson earned a master’s degree in education while teaching airframe and power-plant mechanics. He then went on to spend eight years as an instructional-design consultant on projects in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Kuwait. In 2013, after working in college administration as a dean, he retired and continues to teach and fly as a flight instructor out of New Smyrna Beach, Florida.