Griffing Flying Service - Linda Higgins

Harry Thomas Griffing and Sue Griffing founded Griffing Flying Service in 1937 on a 100-acre plot of land in Sandusky. It began as a flight school, then evolved into a private air taxi company within a few years, flying goods as well as humans of all ages back and forth between Sandusky and the Lake Erie islands. By October of 1992, the company had taken over the rival Island Airlines, adding a daily mail service to the islands under the U.S. Postal Service.
Griffing continued to develop its reputation as reliable and safe for two more decades. Then, in 2013, the company moved from Sandusky, taking with it 20 jobs, two Griffing turbo props, eight single props, 12 private planes, and a full-service mechanics shop, to the Erie-Ottawa International Airport on State Road in Port Clinton. One of the perks was that the trip to the islands was now faster than from Sandusky.
Although the shuttles were and are active year around, in winter they’re the only way to get to Kelleys Island, Put-In-Bay, and the Bass islands. The ferries from Port Clinton, Marblehead, and Sandusky can’t run because the lake and rivers are usually iced over during the winter months.
Harry Thomas (Tom) Griffing, Jr., son of the company’s founders, grew up riding in, working on, and flying Griffing planes. As a result of his exemplary, longstanding safety record, in July of 2024 he was awarded the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award. This recognition is given only to pilots with 50 years of safe flying; in his case, over 33,000 miles. His family cites his excellent decision-making skill as a major factor regarding his safety record.
Griffing has Hawker private jets and King Air turboprop airplanes available for its long corporate and private charters, nonstop flights throughout the States and Canada. College student charters and transport of schoolchildren are among the many other types of long- and short-haul trips.
Griffing has a flying school and a maintenance shop, as well as their daily, and some emergency, trips to and from the islands, including Ontario’s Pelee Island. Besides mail, Griffing’s fleet also carries UPS and FedEx boxes for distribution to customers.
Like his father, CEO Harry Thomas (Thomas) Griffing III grew up around and on planes, flying and working on them. Both of them were flying commercially by 18 years of age. Their educations were literally gathered from the ground up, as they were working on the planes in various essential capacities by the time they were 13. Thomas’s son, Harry Thomas Griffing IV, is in line to inherit the business and no doubt is being exposed to the same learning experiences as his dad, grandfather and great grandfather, although at eight years of age he’s a bit young to fly planes now.
As of this past year, Griffing Flying Service has a fleet of 20 planes, including five long-haul aircraft, and 16 pilots, offices, the maintenance shop, and a large hanger. Their maintenance department, made up of fully certified A&P mechanics, has grown substantially and handles repairs and inspections for 65 aircraft, most of which are owned by other businesses and individuals. The flight instructors offer both primary and advanced instruction. Griffing Flying Service clearly has fulfilled a need historically in our area, and continues with its mission today and well into the future.
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