Sonny Perdue

George Ervin "Sonny" Perdue III has flown airplanes for 57 years. The former Governor of Georgia and immediate past U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, who now serves as Chancellor of the University System of Georgia, likes flying “because it's functional and fun.” He says, “I don't fly just for fun. It has to be functional and transportive in a way that gets you more efficiently and effectively to different places.”

It was that fun and functionality that helped Perdue to win his race for governor of Georgia and contributed to his legacy of economic prosperity in the state.

Perdue grew up on a farm in Bonaire, Georgia, and attributes his interest in flying to watching his neighbor land an aerial applicator on the flat highway in front of his family home. In 1967, when Perdue was 21, that neighbor became his first flight instructor. His first lessons came on a hand-prop plane with only basic gauges in the cockpit: RPM, altitude and a compass. This gave him what he calls “good seat of the pants” flying experience. Perdue has been flying ever since.

During veterinary school in Athens, Perdue and his roommate, also a pilot, bought a Piper J-5 Cub. The summer after graduation, they would fly it to North Carolina’s Outer Banks to camp. However, Perdue’s favorite application of the craft was as a commuter from Athens to his home where he could land on the strip of road in front of the farm. After veterinary school, Perdue enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and moved to a base in Columbus, Ohio. There, he took flight training, and though he never flew militarily, he obtained commercial instrument, multi-engine and flight instructor ratings.

Back in Georgia, as he was beginning his gubernatorial campaign, he obtained a Bellanca Super Viking. He used this craft throughout the campaign to fly across the state and meet constituents and find out their needs face to face. He also gained an appreciation for the aviation network across Georgia. He won the election, having only raised $3 million, to his opponent’s $25 million. He jokes the effort made the Bellanca worth $22 million.

As governor, Perdue went to flight safety school and earned certification so he could fly the state’s King Air aircrafts. With this new skill, he learned the essence of crew resource management. Toward the end of his second term, he also achieved his rotary license and became a helicopter pilot. Perhaps most importantly, Perdue as governor used resources from the state’s OneGeorgia rural development program to invest in the state’s regional airports. He uses the example of Thomasville, which draws people from all over the country for hunting and other activities. The airport was transformed from a “little cinder block building” to something that could welcome people properly and show a hospitable front door to Georgia. Overall, the initiative increased many of the state’s airports runways to 5,000 feet and improved safety, allowing business owners to more effectively visit their facilities and encouraging economic development across the state.

Flying runs in the family, too. He calls his wife a “very comfortable flyer” and credits her comfort to keeping his nerves calm in the air. His youngest son and one of his daughters both have a private pilot’s license, and one of his grandsons is on his way to getting his own private license.