Jen Watson

Jen began flying in 2001 at Chandler Air Service in Phoenix, AZ. She earned her Private Pilot certificate there, then transitioned to a Part 141, airline-based flight school from 2002-2003. After completing all her flight training and earning a degree in Aviation Science, she starting flying for Mesa Air at 23 years old. Her experience at the airlines, and later corporate and general aviation flying, gives Jen an unfair advantage when teaching folks to fly. She has experience in a wide variety of planes from small trainers to King Air and jets, including the Citation and CRJ.

Jen has flight time and teaching experience in most small aircraft, and her tailwheel time includes Citabria, Decathlon, Laser, Pitts, Skybolt, Stinson, Husky, Swift, Maule, Great Lakes, Super Cub, Sport Cub, J3 Cub, Sonex and Extra 300L. She flies in aerobatic competitions and back-country for fun. She specializes in advanced training (tailwheel, aerobatics, multi-engine, ATP, upset recovery), instructor training and stage checks, so student availability can be limited. Jen also serves as a qualified expert witness in aviation accident cases and writes columns and articles for NAFI magazine.

Jen’s goal is to always be a student of aviation. In 2020 she earned her first NAFI (National Association of Flight Instructors) “Master Flight Instructor” accreditation and FAA Gold Seal. She then became a three-time NAFI Master CFI in 2022 and 2025. In 2023 she became a certified IAC Aerobatic Judge and Reno Air Race pilot. She won 1st place in the IAC Sportsman category California Points Trophy. She won 2nd place Sportsman for the Southwest Region. In 2024 she took home the 1st place Sportsman trophy at the Borrego Valley West Open Championship. She is currently competing at the Intermediate level in her Extra 300LP, and she also became a DPE in May 2025. So far in 2026, Jen became our Part 141 Chief Instructor and earned her Light Sport Repairman certificate (LSRM-A) to be able to perform maintenance and inspections on LSA and experimental aircraft.

Jen commutes to work and for checkride around the Bay Area/Sacramento valley in her RV-7 or the family “station wagon,” a 1980 Maule M5-180C, from a private airstrip near Sacramento. Jen began teaching at our school in 2011. She and her husband Josh, an IA A&P who runs the maintenance side of the flight school, have owned AeroDynamic Aviation since 2014.