Aviation classes awakened a fever in area teen

Back in the spring of 1997, 13-year-old Brandon Reed was finishing his seventh-grade year as a student in the Floyd Municipal Schools.

Anticipating the spring fever that strikes most kids as May rolls around, Reed said his school offered a series of enrichment classes.

"This allowed us, for around two hours a week, to take fun classes that might interest us," he said.

The one that caught his eye was "Introduction to Aviation," taught by Dink and Mitzi Miller, who still live and ranch near Floyd.

At that time, the Millers were both active pilots who also operated a local flight school, and familiar faces to Reed as their place adjoined his grandparents' farm.

"The classes began with Dink and Mitzi teaching basic aircraft knowledge," Reed said. "For the very last class, we were taken to the Portales Municipal Airport. Mitzi allowed us to fly her Cessna 152. After that flight, I knew this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life."

Seventh graders may not be widely renowned for sticking to early career choices, but Reed was an exception.

Today, at the age of 37- and with many years of experience and thousands of hours in the air behind him - he's a first officer with Southwest Airlines, where he pilots the Boeing 737-700, -800, and -Max series aircraft.

He calls it "the most rewarding job in the world."

"We always enjoyed him as a little neighbor kid," his first flight instructor Mitzi Miller said. "We're just so proud of him ... going from little bitty ol' Floyd to working for a major airline."

"Roosevelt County is still very close to my heart," Reed said, and his roots go deep.

His parents, Kenny and Darla Reed, live here, as do his surviving grandparents, Weldon Reed and Wanda Chenault. His grandmother, Vernell Reed, is buried in the Floyd Cemetery; his grandfather Wayne Chenault is buried in the Elida Cemetery.

"They always reminded me that family was the most important thing and that a hard work ethic will always provide you a job," Reed said. "That job may not be fun or your goal, yet you will never go hungry."

In Brandon Reed's case, however, when he was hired by Southwest Airlines 2 1/2 years ago, he landed (no pun intended) in a job that actually is fun and was his goal, and he couldn't be happier.

He would love to inspire other local kids to consider following his footsteps.

Reed graduated from Floyd High School in 2002, where he was a member of the 2000 six-man football state championship team, as well as the 2002 EPAC basketball championship team.

"As I look back, Floyd was unique," he said. "Since the student population was so small, we treated each other as family and for the most part we all got along. I have always been attracted to companies that have family as one of their core values. I guess it gives me a sense of comfort and belonging, like home."

After high school, he attended Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell, where he met Lynn Crouch, "my first full time instructor and lead ground instructor."

Under Crouch's guidance, Reed completed his private pilot, instrument, and commercial pilot certificates over the next two years, graduating with an associate's degree in professional pilot training in 2004.

He returned to Portales and enrolled at ENMU in 2005.

"Over the next several years I lived a double life," Reed said. "One was a fulltime college student and the other was commercial aviator.

"It was then that I met Lt. Col. John and Mary Carlson at the Clovis Municipal Airport," he said. "John became my mentor, instructor, and guide into the aviation industry. He was the finest aviator I ever met, and I am proud to be a product of his teachings."

Reed completed bachelor's degrees in business administration and human resource management from ENMU in 2007 and was hired shortly thereafter by the Pan Am International Flight Academy in Phoenix.

It became the TransPac Aviation Academy the following year, and Reed worked there the next four years before being hired to fly for SkyWest Airlines in 2012.

He claims "extreme luck" helped him make the move to Southwest in 2018.

"It had always been my goal to work for Southwest," Reed said. "They began offering job fairs that required a ticket to get into the event in 2017. The tickets were awarded through a lottery system and were extremely difficult to get. I was blessed to get one for the fall of 2017."

He was hired by Southwest in February of 2018 and makes his home near the airline's Love Field hub in Dallas, with his wife, Ana, and their 2-year-old daughter, Clara.

"Ana is a strong, amazing woman who has supported me and my dreams of an airline career since the day we met," Reed said. "She is the steadfast rock of my life."

Another pilot with eastern New Mexico roots also played a memorable role in Reed's life.

The late Stan Harrison left his Arch peanut farm in the mid-1980s for a 20-year career with Continental Airlines that ended in 2006.

Before Reed started flight school, he said he and his dad met Harrison for a meal at El Rancho Restaurant in Portales and Harrison "provided some guidance that I have never forgotten."

Reed said Harrison's advice included: "Continue your education to achieve any and all pilot certificates that interest you as well as a four-year degree. Do not get tunnel vision on the career path. Always focus on the route that brings you joy."

Although you have the sense that the enthusiastic Reed finds a measure of joy in each and every day, he said that Aug. 8, 2019, was a red-letter day both personally and professionally.

Not only was it his fourth wedding anniversary, but this former Floyd Bronco also had two extra-special passengers on his aircraft that day: his parents.

"I was able to make a special passenger announcement and thank them for their love and support through the years," Reed said. "Of course, my father had some very creative remarks for the flight attendants that brought a lot of laughs. The Southwest spirit was very much alive on that flight."

As he prepares to embark on a third decade of life in the air, Reed says the favorite part of his job is "without a doubt, flying the aircraft.

"When you hear the engines roar to life and you feel the aircraft accelerating and become airborne, it is a euphoria that is hard to explain," he said.

As for the path that brought him there, "If I had to do it all over again, I would not change one thing," he said.

Especially not a morning at the Portales Municipal Airport 23 springs ago when a 13-year-old kid from Floyd got to climb into a Cessna and fly.

Betty Williamson loves seeing small-town kids embrace big dreams. Reach her at:

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