About Mil Harmon

Dr. Millard Harmon's experience includes:

• Teaching
• Academic administration
• Federal and state service
• Work as a senior staff member with the New York State legislature
• Consultant to the Estonian government in the communications with Moscow
• Flying:
  • competition in air races
  • flight speed records
  • friendship flights in his Bonanza to the Soviet Union, the North Pole, Bermuda and the Caribbean.

In 1956 Dr. Harmon was named by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans.  He received his doctorate in education administration from Boston University with partial fulfillment of the degree requirements met by a field study in the USSR in 1958.

While serving as Director of Summer Sessions with the State University of New York (SUNY) he was widely known for his innovative approach to meeting academic needs of his students.  He placed the first group of SUNY students in the Soviet Union in the summer of 1968 to study Russian culture and language.  His combination ground school and flight laboratory provided the first opportunity for SUNY students to earn a private pilot license within an academic environment.

Dr. Harmon was officially cited by the US Army and by President Eisenhower for his efforts to promote the American educational system system abroad.  In 1969, Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller invited Dr. Harmon to Albany, New York to establish the Labor Staff Academy, the first of its kind in the country -- a landmark breakthrough in providing academic credit for proprietary training which became a model for industry.

Dr. Harmon has served as a consultant to a number of companies, including US Steel, Ford Motor Company, Life Magazine, and American Trucking Association.  In 1960, 1961, and 1962 he led the American delegation to the International Youth Science Fortnight held in England (under the auspices of Prince Philip).

Throughout his education and administrative career, Dr. Harmon has maintained his interest in flying and has promoted light aircraft as a safe and efficient administrative tool.  To prove this point, he has flown his Beech-36 single-engine aircraft to remote and unusual parts of the world, with considerable visibility.

In 1983 he took early retirement to devote full time to his interest in flying.

• That year he competed in the Grand Prix Air Race, completing the 2100-mile course first, and placed third in the Capitol Classic Air Race.
• In 1985 he obtained a speed record in his aircraft, TEN ROMEO, from Helsinki to Moscow, USSR.  This flight led to three years of consulting with Aeroflot to make Soviet skies more accessible to western pilots.
• Later in 1985 he flew to Bermuda and returned with a swing through the Caribbean for additional speed records.
• In 1986 he flew to the North Pole returning with additional records, and an assist from the Soviets who confirmed his presence at the Pole by their satellites reading a special transmitter he had dropped.
• In 1995 he delivered medicines to Havana, Cuba for hospitalized children.
• Today Dr. Harmon has 154 flight speed records which makes him the top man in speed records worldwide.

In 1991 Dr. Harmon was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

When Dr. Harmon is not flying his aircraft to interesting parts of the world, he does "Time Conservation" consulting.  In such consulting he works with middle and upper management personnel to show how a light aircraft can be used to save time for the busy executive.