Mid Island History

In the early 1940’s, based in Florida, Louis Mancuso was teaching British Royal Air Force cadets in Stearmans and AT-6s. Louis accumulated thousands of hours as a CFI during the war years. After the war Louis returned to Long Island and in 1946 established Deer Park Airport and Mid Island Air Service. 

Lou & Connie Mancuso       1943

Deer Park Airport      1962

 With Lou as the primary flight examiner, Mid Island graduated hundreds of vets under the GI bill. In 1964 a satellite operation was started at Brookhaven Airport. By 1967, the flight school grew to over twenty planes and logged over twenty thousand hours. By the early 70’s, growing real estate taxes would cause Lou to sell the Deer Park property and relocate Mid Island to MacArthur Airport.  

 At the same time, Louis Jr. had earned his CFI and a BS in education from the University of Dayton in Ohio. After two years of teaching business and math, Lou was ready to enter the family flying business. Lou Sr. quickly recognized Lou Jr.’s business acumen and drive, and in 1974 Lou Jr. became president and sole stockholder of Mid Island Air Service. Encouraged by his father, Lou became a talented, knowledgeable aircraft salesman and business leader. With hard work and dedication, he built his newly-acquired Piper dealership to number one in the Northeast, receiving sales achievement awards in 1973 and 1974. In 1974, Mid Island sold 82 aircraft, including 22 new Pipers. Lou’s strong belief in the reinvestment of the company’s profits has enabled Mid Island to build over 150,000 square feet of rental hangar space, accommodating aircraft as large as a Gulfstream V.  

 Today, Mid Island retains the same family spirit of its early years. (Lou is CEO, concentrating on maintaining the company’s excellent reputation with its landlords, customers and suppliers.) Lou’s sister, Gail returned to Mid Island full time in 1987 and is now a quarter partner as well as vice president and ISP general manager. She graduated from Kutztown College in 1976 with a BS in Art Education. Before returning to the company, she not only taught art but managed the flight control department for New York Air, a regional airline based at LaGuardia Airport. (She is an FAA certified aircraft dispatcher and private pilot.) Lou’s son, Michael, also a partner, is a graduate of Ohio State University with an aviation management degree. Michael has a special love for aerobatic flying and after winning many awards for aerobatic competition, was honored to be selected to fly the Extra 300 with the Northern Lights Aerobatic Team. Michael flew in over thirty-five airshows in the US, Germany and South America during his two seasons with the team. When the team ceased to fly Extras, Michael began performing solo. He currently flies corporate turbo prop and jet aircraft for charter. Vincent Basile, a CFI with a BS from Dowling College, joined Mid Island in 1972. Show up at Mid Island’s Islip branch and Vinnie will give you the same warm and friendly greeting he has been giving customers for almost thirty years. When it comes to researching the market for the right airplane to fit your needs, Vinnie has the energy, the contacts, and the knowledge to find that airplane, whether it’s a single engine Cessna or a corporate jet. In the last decade alone, Vinnie has sold over 300 planes. The Mancuso family has enormous respect for Vinnie and showed their appreciation by making him a partner in 1993.  

 This company is a leader in flight training and aircraft sales on Long Island. Our standardized training techniques along with our uniformly equipped training aircraft has produced the most confident, safest and well–educated pilots in the industry. Students can train under FAA Part 141 or 61 flight rules for their Private Pilot Certificate up through the Certified Flight Instructor Ratings in a choice of our Bristell or Cessna single engine aircraft. In addition to training, Mid Island has over two dozen aircraft available for rental. (In order to make our students and renters safer, Lou has proudly authored and implemented the “Personal Limitations Checklist”.) Mid Island trained Dowling College aeronautical students.  They also provide exclusive training for Eastern Suffolk Boces’ students. This two–year high school junior and senior flight training program has introduced aviation to hundreds of students, many completing their Private Pilot Certificates.  In 2019, Mid Island became the first school to have a Light Sport Aircraft (LSA) certificated for their 141 Private Pilot, and Commercial Curriculums. 

 Mid Island has many qualified Line Technicians and Customer Service Representatives, the backbone of any FBO. Whether the Customer Service Representatives are scheduling students or making reservations for corporate pilots, they happily attend to the needs of our customers. Our, AV Fuel, linemen are fully trained in fueling piston, turboprop and jet aircraft, concentrating on safety and quality control. Their dedication to keeping equipment and fuel trucks clean and well-maintained makes Mid Island equipment reliable and ready to serve all of our customers aviation needs.  

 Under the direction of John Coluccio, we have been approved as a Cessna Service Center at our ISP branch. We offer full maintenance facilities at both branches for a variety of single and multi–engine aircraft. Mid Island is proud to offer free monthly FAA seminars in conjunction with the FAASTeam (www.faasafety.gov). Since 2003, these seminars have delighted and educated pilots and non–pilots with a variety of well received topics and presenters. When asked about the firm’s business philosophy, Lou responds quickly, “We steadily improve our procedures and processes by soliciting input from our employees, customers and suppliers. We strive to make our customers ecstatically happy, while maintaining the dignity of the entire family of Mid Island employees.” 

Rev. 04/01/2020