Law is a lifestyle for Matthew Bunch, who grew up in a family of lawyers. But an aviation attachment has turned this attorney at law into an attorney at air.
“I tell you, I really do enjoy practicing law, because I practice with my brother and my wife,” Bunch said. His father founded Bunch & Brock in 1976. “I grew up at the dinner table with my parents talking about law. So every dinner we had, we spoke a little bit about law, and I just kind of fell in love with it.”
While the family business inspired his career as an attorney, Bunch has another passion brought on by memories of his dad.
“I got into the love of aviation with my father building remote controlled airplanes when I was a young age,” Bunch said.
He still builds and flies planes today, but Bunch has upgraded from his remote-controlled days. During his final year in law school Bunch took classes to become a pilot.
“Not only am I a pilot, but I’m a builder,” he said. “The first airplane I built took 10 years to build.”
Balancing work and having a family, Bunch shared, “I would work on the airplane at 10 at night to 2 in the morning two out of three days, never in a row, and never on a Friday. I would drive up to Georgetown Airport, build it in the hangar, and then drive home after 2 a.m.”
In 2009, Bunch bought a Cozy MK IV, an experimental plane, and rebuilt it.
“This looks like it flies backwards, because the engine is in the rear, the little wing is in the front,” he said. “It’s a really cool plane because it’s so different. It’s thinking outside the box.”
Bunch’s aviation hobby has a few real-world applications. His daughter plays soccer at Southern Illinois University, and the plane comes in handy.
“We can fly the Cozy to see her play for an hour and a half, two-hour flight, instead of a six hour drive.”
Bunch has also flown multiple races at Oshkosh in Wisconsin. This year, in front of 686,000 attendees, Bunch earned his first trophy with a third-place finish in his race.
“Over the course of 400 miles, her average speed was 200 miles an hour, 200.15,” Bunch said.
“It’s a great little fun hobby, and it keeps this lawyer sane after practicing law for a full day. Moving from the law office to the airport, gives me the idea that I can accomplish anything, of building an airplane that I should be able to fly just about anywhere.”
Building and flying planes is a great hobby for Bunch, but he also hopes his aviation enthusiasm will send a message to a different group of people.
“What I want to promote is general aviation in the younger generation so they can learn to fly and be able to afford it,” Bunch said. “Any person can build an airplane and get it licensed by the FAA, and then you can go out and fly it. It’s just that simple. And with our freedom in the United States, we can do that.”
In addition to working as an attorney at Bunch & Brock, Matt is finishing his final term as a board member on the Georgetown-Scott County Airport Corporation.
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