MentorLIVE #89: Keeping Up With Flight Instructor Rule Changes

Sarah Staudt

Presenter

Sarah Staudt is the Program Development Manager at NAFI. She's a commercial pilot with single and multi-engine ratings along with an instrument rating and a CFI, CFII, and MEI. A graduate of the University of North Dakota, her flight instruction career began as a flight instructor for UND. From there she moved on to instructing for a Part 61 school and volunteering as an instructor pilot with the Civil Air Patrol. The next phase of her career took her to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), where she spent 11 years prior to joining NAFI. During her time at AOPA she answered the pilot technical question phone lines, served as the chief flight instructor for their flight operations, and before joining the safety team and overseeing the flight instructor refresher course.

Aaron Dabney

Host

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

Aaron lives in Waco, Texas with his wife of 20 years Alisa.