Our Pilots

My Background
 

You have likely heard the old saying, “Those who can’t do, teach.” My journey into aviation education followed a very different path. I teach because I had the privilege of doing it, living it, and building a career around it before circumstances beyond my control took me out of the cockpit.
 

My name is Drake, and aviation was never simply a job for me. It became a career and a passion that took me through some of the most demanding environments in professional helicopter aviation.
 

As a veteran and professional aviator, my career has included offshore oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, search and rescue, helicopter air ambulance and medical transport, NVG operations, and aviation leadership. I eventually served as a Chief Pilot and also had the opportunity to own and operate the original Superior Flight Academy.
 

Those experiences taught me lessons that cannot always be learned from a textbook or memorized for a practical test.
 

I learned that being a good pilot requires much more than knowing the correct answer to a question. It requires judgment, discipline, preparation, situational awareness, risk management, and the ability to make sound decisions when conditions do not unfold exactly as planned.

After years of building the career I had always wanted, my time as a professional pilot came to an unexpected end.
 

I was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease, an inner ear disorder that can cause unpredictable episodes of severe vertigo, hearing changes, tinnitus, and problems with balance. For someone whose livelihood depended on safely operating an aircraft, the diagnosis was life changing. I was medically grounded, bringing the professional flying career I had spent years building to an abrupt conclusion.
 

But losing the ability to fly professionally did not erase the experience, knowledge, and lessons aviation had given me.
 

It simply changed my mission.
 

That experience ultimately became the catalyst for bringing Superior Flight Academy back in a new form.
 

Through Superior Flight Academy Online, I now have the opportunity to take what I learned as a flight school owner, Chief Pilot, and professional aviator and pass it on to the next generation of pilots.
 

My goal is not simply to help someone memorize enough information to pass a checkride. I want pilots to understand why an answer is correct. I want them to work through scenarios, recognize and manage risk, understand the regulations behind their decisions, and develop the judgment and confidence that aviation demands.
 

Because eventually, the examiner gets out of the aircraft.
 

The checklists remain. The regulations remain. The weather still changes. The unexpected still happens. And the decisions are yours to make.
 

An FAA practical test is an important milestone, but passing it should never be the ultimate objective.
 

Do not just prepare to pass. Prepare to be the pilot others trust.

Drake