MentorLIVE #85: Your First Student

Aaron Dabney

Presenter

AARON DABNEY - Presenter

Aaron Dabney earned his Flight Instructor certificate in 2009, and has been an active instructor ever since. He has provided more than 5,000 hours of instruction in more than 30 models of aircraft, mentoring pilots from their first hour through becoming accomplished instructors themselves, and all points in between.

Dabney grew up in an aviation family. His maternal grandfather Joe was a World War II fighter pilot, and much of his childhood was spent in the family J-3 Cub with his grandfather or his uncle Mark. Aaron completed his first solo in that Cub in 1999 and is now its caretaker.

Aaron is a 6-time NAFI Master Flight Instructor, owns a small flight school, and has served as an adjunct lecturer for Baylor University's Aviation Sciences program since 2010. He serves on NAFI's Board of Directors and serves in several volunteer roles including coordinating MentorLIVE.

Nathan Ballard

Host

NATHAN BALLARD - Host Nathan Ballard is a CFI-I, IGI in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the safety officer of his flying club and a FAAST representative. Nathan has just under 1000 hours of dual given, and with this in mind, he is aware of how much learning occurs in the first several hundred hours of flight instruction.

He is committed to assisting newer flight instructors by sharing lessons and experiences that aren’t part of a typical CFI curriculum.

Nathan believes that while many practices in aviation are sound, we should also be thoughtful and scrutinize practices that have been handed down over the years. The foundation of his flight instruction and content is deeply established in his philosophy of “Attacking Aviation from a Critical Angle.” You can see more on his YouTube channel, “Nathan Ballard Safer Flying.”