Landing aircraft is in the family blood

Not too many fathers get to swear their daughters into the military. And not too many see their daughters follow their footsteps to a new career.

Jeff Byman can brag that he participated in his daughter Kiera’s induction into the Navy in Arizona on March 3. Jeff spent more than 20 years in the Air Force and retired as a captain. Kiera, 19, is headed for boot camp in Illinois, followed by specialized training in Pensacola, Fla. as an air traffic controller — the same career path Jeff followed.

“She always wanted to travel and see the world, so that’s why she chose the Navy,” he said. “But it was a little bit surprising she chose air traffic control — she always thought they were a little weird.”

Kiera graduated from high school in Anchorage, Alaska, where she played hockey and other sports. She initially wanted to go into air rescue, Jeff said, but working in a tower is safer, and the Navy offered her the training.

Jeff, a 1991 Columbia Falls High School graduate, recently returned to the Flathead with his wife Lisa and landed an air traffic control job at Glacier Park International Airport. Their other daughter, Meaghan, is a junior at Arizona State University studying forensics and criminology. Lisa is a 1993 C-Falls graduate and played sports in high school.

“I guess that’s where my daughters got their athletic ability,” Jeff said.

Jeff grew up in Hungry Horse. Tragedy struck his family when he was 13 — his mother and two of his brothers died in a house fire. He and his other brother spent time with an aunt in Alberta before returning to Montana. Jeff lived with family friends in Hungry Horse, who ended up adopting him.

“It was a tough circumstance, but I got through it,” he said.

Jeff enlisted in August 1991, two months out of high school, and right away found himself on the air traffic control career path.

“It was uncommon to get a guarantee like that,” he said.

After boot camp in Lackland, Texas, and tech school in Biloxi, Miss., came 13 months of additional training at Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Wash.

“That’s a lot of training before they let you land a plane,” he said.

After six years in Spokane, Jeff left the Air Force and returned to the Flathead. Eleven months later, he re-enlisted and returned to Spokane for another four years. During that time, he took night classes with the goal of completing college and becoming an officer.

Jeff completed his bachelor’s at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. in 2002 and went on to combine his air traffic control training with airfield management. He rose to the rank of captain as an airport operations flight commander and served in Hungary during the Yugoslav Wars, as well as at air bases in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and Alaska.

After retiring from the Air Force in April 2013, Jeff landed an air traffic control job in Phoenix, Ariz. Eleven months later, however, Lisa’s mother suffered a serious illness and the Bymans found themselves back in the Flathead, with Lisa taking care of her mother and Jeff working at GPI Airport.

Jeff says he plays some hockey at the Ice Den in Whitefish and loves to hike in Glacier National Park. He also said he loves skiing at Big Mountain, “a world-class ski hill,” but there’s something missing.

“Kiera was my ski partner,” he said.