After Hours: In the Friendly Skies

Major Michael Brisson, DO, is a third-year family medicine resident in Alabama. He came to our attention through the American Osteopathic Association, and we had spoken with him once before, briefly, but did not know at the time that he flies Black Hawk helicopters every week as part of the Alabama National Guard. More inquiry revealed that medicine and aviation have been in his family and his life since he was a child – his mother worked for airlines, his father was a general surgeon— and he learned to fly before he learned to drive. His wife is also a Black Hawk pilot; they met in the Army, courted and married in the Army, and she flew an attack chopper as the chase aircraft when he flew the lead medevac “bird” on rescue missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other theaters. They have 2 beautiful children and lead an otherwise “normal” American family life.