John Post, 21, a CFI at Independence Aviation at Centennial Airport (APA) near Denver, has become one of the country’s youngest airline pilots, joining American Eagle Airlines in Dallas. Post, who won his spot with the airline just a year after earning his CFII, credits his success to Independence Aviation’s total immersion team approach to flight instruction.
Post was introduced to IA in 2008. After completing his Instrument Rating, he earned his commercial certificate, multi-engine rating, Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) and CFII certificates, taking advantage of IA’s diverse instructor corps and team teaching concept. He said training at every phase under IA’s curriculum-based syllabus provided him with an efficient road map to success. He immediately joined the instructor corps once he earned his CFI certificates.
“He logged experience with a wide range of aircraft, including high performance Cirrus, Beech and Cessna airplanes,” noted IA President and Chief Pilot Robert Stedman. “All this more than compensated for the fact that John was one of the youngest applicants with the lowest total time. His success is a validation of the IA training philosophy, which emphasizes training in technically advanced, high-performance aircraft that exposes students to invaluable real-life cockpit experiences.”
“The chief pilot browsed through the pages of my logbook and saw that I had flown 14 types of aircraft types, most of them high performance and technologically advanced,” Post said. “And I was able to answer every tell-me-about-a-time question with a personal experience about flying in challenging weather in far-away destinations, as if I had been flying for years.”
While he’s excited to begin his new career, Post said he feels good knowing that his current students will not be impacted by his departure from IA. “IA’s team-teaching approach means that my students will not miss a beat in their training, because the other instructors are already familiar with their progress. There will be no bumps as they work to achieve their aviation goals.”
Founded in 2007 by two veteran CFIs, IA is guided by a philosophy that relationship-based flight instruction produces superior private pilots. Key elements of IA’s approach are to teach students in airplanes they’d be willing to fly cross-country, and mentor them as they evolve to aircraft that fly faster and higher. For more information: IA-kapa.com
