CFI
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New Certificated Flight Instructor – William Sun
May 16 2022CFI Checkride: April 18, 2022
Instructors: Jen Watson & Dick Chang
Aircraft: Cessna N6796H
Location: San Jose, CA (KRHV)
AeroDynamic is very proud to welcome our newest instructor to the family. William trained for his CFI with our Chief Instructor Jen and senior instructor Dick Chang. Everyone’s hard work earned William a first-time pass on his CFI checkride with DPE Richard Conte. Very well done, all. That’s quite the achievement!
New Tailwheel Endorsement – Kenny Behlen
Apr 27 2022Date: March 29, 2022
Tailwheel Endorsement
Aircraft: Citabria N2508Z
Instructor: Jen Watson
Hip-hip hooray! Kenny’s friends can now call him a “real aviator” after earning his tailwheel endorsement today with our Chief Instructor Jen. She put Kenny, who is an AeroDynamic Aviation CFI, through his paces to earn the privilege of flying taildraggers. He met her high standards in windy conditions for 3-point, wheel, short- and soft-field landings. Way to go, Kenny!
New Instrument Instructor (CFII) – Chris Bonneau
Mar 05 2022Instrument Instructor Checkride: February 25, 2022
Instructor: Thao Do & Lynzie Hudson
Aircraft: Cessna N6796H
Location: San Jose, CA (KRHV)
Congrats to AeroDynamic Instructor Chris! He is now a Certified Flight Instructor-Instrument Rating (CFII). Chris loves flying IFR and has many hours flying in the clouds in actual IMC. He is excited to share his passion with his Instrument students. Well done on a first-time pass of this thorough checkride with DPE Richard Conte.
New CFI – Chris Bonneau
Jul 27 2021CFI Checkride: July 10, 2021
Instructor: Lynzie Hudson
Location: San Jose, CA (KRHV)
A big congrats and welcome to our newest certificated flight instructor (CFI), Chris Bonneau!
“I always knew I wanted fly since I was a young kid. My great grandfather was a Navy Pilot and I was always obsessed with his pictures and his model airplanes. I guess you can say he is the one who sparked my initial interest. Over time, my inserts grew and I saved up for what seemed like forever and bought a flight sim for my laptop and was playing around with it every chance I could. Fast forward into adult life and I found my self working in Tech working for Verizon Wireless in San Francisco, which at that point, I decided I was going to give flying a real shot, and without a thought, bought a discovery flight and ever since…I knew flying was going to be my new career…and as some would say, the rest is history. My journey continues as I am always wanting to learn something new.” ~ Chris
New Multi-Engine Instructor – Evgenii Sikachev
Jun 29 2021Date: June 15, 2021
Certification: Multi-engine Instructor (MEI)
Instructor: Lynzie Hudson
Aircraft: Twin Comanche N40DA
Welcome to the family! Evgenii completed all his training from Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI), Instrument Instructor (CFII) and now Multi-engine Instructor (MEI) with AeroDynamic Aviation. We are so delighted to welcome him to our instructor roster. He is already hard at work on training to fly from the backseat of our Citabria to add teaching tailwheel to his credentials!
New Flight Instructor – Joseph Oberholtzer
Jan 06 2021Date: December 10, 2020
Certification: Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI)
Instructor: Lynzie Hudson
Aircraft: N54102
“I am looking forward to sharing my love of flying with others and continuing to improve my abilities as a pilot and now as an instructor”~ Joey
Welcome to our family of instructors! Joey completed his final checkride to become a flight instructor with us. We are so proud to have been with him through this journey and can’t wait for him to share his love of flying with others. Congrats from all of us!
New Instrument Instructors – Cheryl Mitrus & Zibin He
Aug 07 2020Date: July 28, 2020
Certifications: Certificated Flight Instructor – Instrument
Instructor: Jen Watson
Aircraft: Cessna N54102
A huge congratulations to two of our instructors for earning an instrument rating on their flight instructor certificates. These new CFIIs trained with our Chief Instructor Jen on our new Redbird sim and Cessnas with Garmin 530 and 650. They are very qualified and well-trained on our aircraft and simulators to help you add an instrument rating to your certificate. Way to nail a first-time pass of your checkride with Richard Conte, Cheryl & Zibin!!!
Newest Pilots!
Jun 25 2020Evgenii Sikachev
Date: May 20, 2020
Certification: Instrument Rating
Instructors: James Hwang, Sara Stumpf & Scott Holland
Aircraft: Cessna N98485
Alex Ambrose
Date: May 26, 2020
Certification: Private Pilot
Instructor: Cheryl Mitrus
Aircraft: Cessna N98485
Lukasz Weber
Date: June 6, 2020
Certification: Private Pilot
Instructor: Cheryl Mitrus
Aircraft: Cessna N12234
Graham Harbman
Date: June 12, 2020
Certification: Certificated Flight Instructor
Instructor: Dick Chang
Aircraft: Cessna N12234
Randy Rerucha
Date: June 22, 2020
Certification: Private Pilot
Instructor: Scott Holland
Aircraft: Citabria N9091L
Derrick Gendron
Date: June 22, 2020
Certification: Private Pilot
Instructor: Mitchell Templeton
Aircraft: Cessna N9027H
Our Chief Instructor, Jen Watson, earns “Master CFI”
Jan 24 2020AeroDynamic’s Chief Flight Instructor, Jen Watson, has been awarded Master CFI accreditation by the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI). This distinction is held by only an average of 300 flight instructors per year!
“The NAFI Master Flight Instructor designation is a national accreditation for aviation educators that is based on a system of advanced professional standards and peer review. The designation is granted by NAFI and has two levels: the NAFI Associate Master Flight Instructor, and the NAFI Master Flight Instructor or Master Ground Instructor. These accreditation’s publicly recognize aviation educators who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to excellence, professional growth, and service to the aviation community, and they set professional standards to which all professional aviation instructors and educators can aspire.
Both levels of the accreditation process focus primarily on the individual’s training activity and evaluation of pilots as well as his or her experience—the foundations of what an instructor is able to pass along to his or her students. They emphasize active instruction and pilot evaluation, not simply taking courses or the tenure of an individual’s instructor certificate. They are not honorary awards that recognize long-time service; rather, they are recognition for the individual who continues to practice aviation education at the highest level.
Accreditation requires a rigorous process of on-going professional activity. Like a flight instructor certificate, NAFI Master Instructor accreditation’s must be renewed every 24 months to assure a dedication to continuous involvement.”
New Flight Instructor – Ivan Stanojevic
Oct 09 2019Date: September 26, 2019
Certification: Flight Instructor (CFI)
Instructor: Jen Watson
Aircraft: Pacer N8712D
Wahoooo! A big congrats to Ivan for achieving this major milestone in his piloting life. Ivan passed his CFI checkride on his first try, which is a serious accomplishment! His hard work has paid off and we are so excited that he will be teaching at our San Jose location in the Cessna and Citabria.
Ivan has been fantasizing about flying planes since he was a child. His first general aviation flight was in a Cessna to the Grand Canyon for a boy scout trip. Ever since that flight, he knew aviation would one day be a part of his life. He began taking introductory flying lessons in high school and later studied aviation at San Jose State. His aviation aspirations, however, were put on hold while he redirected his focus on a software startup. A decade and a half later, he found himself in a great position to continue exploring flight while also pondering the use of fixed wing aircraft to access the wilderness. After earning a private pilot certificate, Ivan began hunting for a capable back-country aircraft, which ended up being the tailwheel Piper Pacer. During his time as a private pilot exploring the backcountry, he added a seaplane rating at Kenmore in Seattle, WA. Loving all his new flight privileges, he realized a desire to share his joy of aviation with prospective pilots and friends. Ivan is excited to bring new pilots into the skies, help experienced pilots access new destinations, and support all pilots in achieving their aviation goals.