How it Started

UFlyMike was started by Michael and Debra Lackey in 2005.

Mike was an Air Force pilot for 25 years flying the CH-53, UH-1 gunship, F-15E and AWACS.  He retired from the service in 1996 to join Southwest Airlines flying the 737.

Debra was a military spouse, organizing functions and keeping everything on track.  After Mike's retirement from the Air Force, she began crafting and costuming.

Experimenting

While at Southwest Airlines, Mike was never satisfied with his options in headsets.  He found most were either large and heavy or small and didn't protect his hearing.  All headset were uncomfortable to wear for extended periods of time.

He began tinkering with various consumer headphones and splicing them together with his company issued Plantronics T-30.  In 2004, BOSE introduced the QuietComfort 2, an Active Noise Reduction headphone with a detachable cord.  He soldered and glued his T-30 together with the detachable cable and began to use it as his primary headset.

First Product

Mike was perfectly content using his Frankenstein headset and other pilots began to take notice.  He often found himself demonstrating his creation and being told that he should consider making and selling it.  After enough interest accumulated, he and Debra decided to give it a shot.

Mike had a friend who was an Electrical Engineer and owned a machine shop.  He helped with the initial design and manufacturing of the housings.  Mike used his time in the cockpit at Southwest to fine tune his prototype.  When he was fully satisfied with the prototype, he and Debra went into full production in their home.

In May 2005, with a grand total of 80 pre-orders, UFlyMike shipped it's first products.

The Family Business

UFlyMike found it's products to be very popular with commercial pilots and the company grew quickly.  In Dec 2006, Mike retired from Southwest Airlines to help Debra run the business full-time.  In Jan 2007, they were joined by their son Brandon, a recent graduate of University of Colorado at Denver with a degree in Technical Audio.

In 2008, Mike retired for the third and final time handing over all of the daily operations of UFlyMike to Brandon and Debra and stepped back to enjoy his hobby of auto racing, which he did with both of his sons.  Sadly, Mike passed away in 2014 from cancer.

Since 2008 and has seen a great deal of growth.  We have grown to to include several wonderful employees who all take great pride in our company and the products we produce.  In 2023 Debra retired to spend time with her grandchildren and enjoy her costuming.