Flying then was not without risk, and a young Donahoe experienced his share. During a flight with a friend in the family’s Ercoupe, a low-wing two-seater, they noticed that the fuel was leaving the tanks at a higher-than-normal rate. Looking at the wing, they noticed that one of the fuel caps was not secured, allowing fuel to siphon out. Instead of landing at the nearest airport, his friend held onto Donahoe’s belt while he crawled onto the wing and secured the fuel cap. 

An early proponent of business aviation, Donahoe owned and flew airplanes to support his far-flung business interests, including a pressurized Beechcraft Baron, Cessna Conquest turboprop, Lockheed Jetstar II, Learjet 24, Diamond 1A, Cessna Citations, and a Gulfstream IV and G550. 

In addition to his flying skills, Donahoe earned a law degree and specialized in aviation legal issues, bought and sold airplanes as a broker, helped launch America West Airlines, was nominee for secretary of state in Oklahoma, and was the first owner of the Boeing 757 that later was purchased by Donald Trump, according to his son Michael Donahoe Jr. “He was a true aviator and had a remarkable influence on aviation in the late ‘70s and ‘80s. He was good friends with pioneers in the industry such as Howard Hughes, James Raisbeck, Bob Hope, Jack Pruitt, Olive Ann Beech, and many others.”

When he bought the Baron and took delivery from the Beechcraft factory, Mrs. Beech invited Donahoe to join her for tea, Donahoe Sr. recalled. 

Donahoe’s son obviously doesn’t remember his birth story, but it captured the family’s passion for aviation and perhaps led to his own growth as a pilot and aviation entrepreneur. 

It was in June in the 1980s, and Donahoe Sr. was flying a Cessna Citation 550, as a single pilot (allowable under an FAA exemption), from New York to Scottsdale, Arizona, with his pregnant wife Betsy on board. At 39,000 feet over Kansas, her water broke, and Donahoe told the controllers he needed to land quickly. With expedited clearance to make an emergency landing at the former Stapleton International Airport in Denver, Donahoe guided the Citation to an expedited touchdown, and Betsy was whisked to Rose Memorial Hospital where junior was born two months premature, weighing just 2.3 pounds. 

Donahoe was also involved in the sale of the first Mitsubishi Diamond 1A jet, before the program was acquired by Beechcraft, which turned it into the Beechjet. He ended up owing the first and the last ones manufactured. “I really thought they had a good product,” he said. “The only problem was they were underpowered. They should have put Honeywell engines on them, and I told them that.”

Asked about his favorite airplane, Donahoe Sr. happily recalled the Jetstar. “I love that airplane. It was just a flying…solid rock.” One day while landing the Jetstar in Scottsdale, a young Donahoe Jr. borrowed a handheld radio from the line shack to monitor the landing, and when he saw the jet touch down, tried to chase it while running alongside the runway. “The problem is, I raised a child in the industry,” Donahoe Sr. said.

His legacy includes long-time support of Wings of Humanity, a charity that helps families travel together for specialized medical treatment. Donahoe and his friend Denny Sanford (who died five days after Donahoe) helped raise more than $4 million for children’s charities and funded and backed Wings of Humanity. 

“His love and passion for aviation is not a story in its own,” Donahoe Jr. told AIN, “yet it is a legacy that will carry on through my lifetime and hopefully on to future aviators.”