I love helping people learn to fly
My flyosophy
Flying should be fun! It’s your money and your time. Yes, learning requires hard work but it should be a positive experience. If you’re not having fun, are you really being successful?
Flying should be safe. If we (all Pilots and Instructors) are not actively training and working to make every aspect of training safer we do ourselves and the industry a great disservice.
Flying should be accessible. My goal is to make aviation and flight training available to more people and minorities through smart resourcefulness and thinking outside-the-box. Do this we can (Yoda voice)!
“Ben has a thorough passion for aviation that sets him apart from many other CFI’s. He rises above the standard set by the FAA, and because of this I can guarantee that anyone who has the pleasure of flying with Ben will be the best pilot they can be.”
— Ian Rodriquez, CFII, MEI
Who I am
Hi, I’m Ben. I’m a Commercial Pilot and Certificated Flight Instructor (CFI) based in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve been dreaming of flying since I was a kid building marginally airworthy Lego planes. I’ve been flying for over 20 years. Along the way I’ve wandered through careers in healthcare, design, marketing and startups. In these roles I helped to create an award winning learning platform, define and lead digital strategies and teams and being a founding team member of the creation and launch of GoNoodle. The good people I met and the experiences in these roles form who I am today.
The accomplishment I am most proud of is co-founding and building Crema, Coffee Roasters with my lovely wife and coffee fanatic. At Crema we relationally source and roast delicious coffees from coffee producers we know and trust. People care is paramount at Crema as well as being thoughtfully sustainable through our zero waste and carbon neutral practices. Food and Wine Magazine recently recognized Crema for a second year as one of America’s best coffee companies. So this is how two disparate passions, coffee and airplanes, have intersected. But doesn’t every pilot know that a great day of flying begins with a great cup of coffee? (…and ends with a Yamazaki whiskey?)
In my free time I enjoy coffee (again), riding motorcycles, anything outdoors, woodworking and mechanical tinkering and flying radio control airplanes.
But more than anything I love introducing others to aviation and helping seasoned pilots alike. Aviation education and training is all I do and what I enjoy most. Whether you’re just curious and want to take a Discovery Flight, seeking your Private or Commercial Pilot’s license, tailwheel endorsement or need a biannual flight review I’d love to help you reach your goals!
I’m glad you’re here. Welcome to my corner of the web where I wonder and write about airplanes (and sometimes coffee).
Blue skies,
“I’ve learned a lot and feel confident when practicing maneuvers in the air. Ben did a great job bringing his years of experience as a pilot to our lessons.”
— Dan Gartley, Student