Veteran CFIs to join Instructor Hall of Fame

Two long-time safety advocates, Doug Stewart and Tim Tucker, will be inducted into the Flight Instructor Hall of Fame during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2024.

The pair “will be honored for their significant contributions to instructor professionalism and improvement of pilot technique to further reduce the accident rate in general aviation,” according to officials with the The National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI).

“A common thread links both honorees this year: The relentless pursuit of developing safer pilots,” NAFI officials said. “Both Stewart and Tucker have dedicated their professional lives to giving fellow instructors the tools to pass along to their clients, and they have served as much-needed mentors within the aviation education sphere. The two have also given back to the industry by working in coordination with the FAA, associations, and aerospace companies on various certification and safety committees.”

“The combined positive impact these two individuals have had on aviation safety and training is remarkable,” said NAFI President Paul Preidecker.

Doug Stewart

Stewart, the 2004 National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year, is a full-time flight instructor focusing on real-world IFR training primarily conducted on multi-day training missions.

Due to his modest resources at the time, Doug’s original motivation for becoming a CFI was so he could fly without having to pay for it. Soon after he started teaching, however, he realized that flight instruction was his life’s calling.

From his home base at the Columbia County Airport (1B1) in Hudson, New York, Stewart has provided more than 13,500 hours of flight instruction, including more than 5,700 hours of instrument instruction. He has been a Gold Seal instructor, a Master Instructor for 26 years, and a designated pilot examiner for more than 20 years. He was named the Aviation Safety Counselor of the Year by the Windsor Locks FSDO in 2001.

The Executive Director Emeritus of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE), and one of its founding members, Doug has served on the General Aviation Joint Safety Committee (GAJSC) for more than 10 years. Beginning in 2010, he was part of the FAA-initiated Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) and subsequent Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) tasked to overhaul the practical test standards into the airman certification standards.

Stewart also provides expertise for Pilot Workshops and Community Aviation, in addition to serving as a mentor to new instructors. He also has presented FAA WINGS seminars, among others, to thousands of pilots across North America.

Tim Tucker

Tucker stands today as one of the most influential rotorcraft instructors in the modern era. His 8,800-hour flight instructor career is divided into three categories: FAA instructor, military instructor, and designated pilot examiner.

His instructing career began in 1973 when he received his CFI in Danbury, Connecticut, and began teaching in a Bell 47. As a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, Tucker attended the U.S. Army Instructor Pilot course at Ft. Rucker, Alabama, in 1977 and the Army’s Instrument Flight Examiner course in 1986. During 20 years as an Army Reserve instructor pilot, Tucker rose through the instructor ranks to become the Standardization Instructor Pilot.

Tucker’s affiliation with the Robinson Helicopter Company began in its nascent days, taking delivery of the first Robinson R22 production helicopter in 1979, and then endorsing the first student pilot for solo. In 1982, he went to work for Robinson as its first chief instructor and spent the next 38 years with the company. He wrote the Robinson Flight Training Guide, which has become the foundation for all Robinson training and is used by instructors around the world.

In 1983, Tucker and founder Frank Robinson developed the Robinson Flight Instructor Safety Course. Over the next 10 years, the course was credited with cutting the R22 instructional accident rate by 66%. As of 2020 when Tucker retired, the Safety Course had more than 21,000 participants.

Since becoming a DPE in 1994, he has given tests in 26 different helicopter types, conducting 8,794 helicopter practical tests by the time he retired in March 2024, which he estimates to be more than any other helicopter pilot examiner in FAA history. He has logged 7,514 hours as an FAA pilot examiner.

Tucker has written training articles for magazines around the world, conducted safety seminars throughout the U.S., and with the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team produced several safety videos. He is responsible for naming the “Vuichard Recovery” from the vortex ring state, which is now used by helicopter pilots worldwide.

Tucker’s awards include the HAI Flight Instructor of the Year (2000), the Joseph L. Mashman Safety Award (2005), and the Cumberbatch Trophy awarded by the UK Honourable Company of Air Pilots (2021).

About the Flight Instructor Hall of Fame

The National Association of Flight Instructors administers the Hall of Fame program, though it is not a NAFI-governed entity.

Eligibility rests upon several elements, including:

• Nominees must have worked in the field of aviation education under 14 CFR parts 61, 121, 141, or 142 for a minimum of 20 years prior to nomination and have been considered to have provided active flight instruction for at least 10 years.
• Nominees must have held a valid FAA flight instructor certificate during that time.
• Nominees may have worked as flight instructors, pilot examiners, technical support developers, instructional innovators, academicians, and publications and/or textbook authors.
• Nominees must be of good moral character (i.e., FAR 61.153(c)) and must be respected within the aviation industry for their integrity, professionalism, and diligence.

For more information: NAFInet.org