Trade Winds Aviation prides itself on hiring only the most professional, well trained, and safest flight instructors for our flight school. The flight training staff consist of full and part time instructors and includes airline and corporate pilots, aircraft mechanics, and airplane owners just to name a few.
Several of our instructors are multi-lingual and all combined our staff has taught hundreds of students how to fly and logged thousands of hours of instructional flight lessons. While all of our instructors will provide you with professional training, due to the diverse nature of our staff's experience and knowledge, we classify our instructors into different categories as outlined below. So whether you need a high performance endorsement for your new Cessna Skylane, or an instrument profiency check, or this is your first time in an airplane - Trade Winds has the right instructor for your needs.
Senior II Flight Instructors
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Ken Maples
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Title: Senior II Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI, CFII
Profile: Senior Flight Instructor Ken Maples (CFI, CFII) is the Chief Flight Instructor and a full-time instructor for Trade Winds Aviation. Ken lives in Cupertino and is retired from the semiconductor industry. He has been flying out of Reid-Hillview since 1987 and owns a Cessna Turbo 210 that is based at RHV. Ken obtained his private pilot's license in 1973 and has over 3,000 hours of flying experience. He is an instrument instructor and has been teaching since Oct. 2004.
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Jamie Fernandez
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Title: Senior II Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI, CFII, MEI, API
Profile: Senior Flight Instructor Jamie Fernandez (CFI, CFII, MEI, API) has extensive experience as a professional pilot and as a flight instructor at Trade Winds Aviation. His specialty is multi-engine training for advanced pilots.
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Frank Kunzfeld
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Title: Senior II Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI, CFII, MEI, API
Profile: Senior II Flight Instructor Frank Kunzfeld (CFI, CFII, MEI, ATP) is a part-time instructor, lives in San Jose, flies for NetJets, and has a Bachelor of Science in Communications from SCU. He has had CFI since 2000, and is one of our five stage check pilots.
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Senior Flight Instructors
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Tom Navin
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Title: Senior Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI, CFII
Profile: Senior Flight Instructor Tom Navin (CFI, CFII) is one of our part-time instructors. He is a full time Police Sergeant and began his flying career in 1979. He is a graduate of the Tradewinds Flight Instructor and Flight Instructor – Instrument program. He is available weekends and most mornings.
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John Nauman
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Title: Senior Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI, CFII, MEI
Profile: Senior Flight Instructor John Nauman (CFI, CFII, MEI) has extensive experience in teaching student pilots to earn their wings. He has given over 3,000 hours of instruction and is open to teach Private, Instrument, Commercial and/or CFI students.
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Aaron Bell
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Title: Senior Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI, CFII
Profile: Senior Flight Instructor Aaron Bell (CFI, CFII) has a desire to become a captain at some point in his aviation career. He flies a King Air from time to time to gain experience in larger aircraft. His student pilots like his friendly and professional style and enjoy flying with him.
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Cecil Chapman
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Title: Senior Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI
Profile: Cecil, is an Instructor with a FAA Gold Seal certification with over 2,000 hours of instruction given. He is devoted to full time flight training and dedicated to high quality for the benefit of his students.
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Advanced Flight Instructors
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Larry Murdter
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Title: Advanced Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI, CFII
Profile: Advanced Flight Instructor Larry Murdter (CFI, CFII) has given wings to many students over the years and is welcoming new students at Trade Winds Aviation.
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Evan James
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Title: Advanced Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI, CFII
Profile: Flight Instructor Evan James (CFI, CFII) is a graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, FL with a Bachelor’s Degree in Aeronautical Science with a minor is Aviation Business Management. His passion for aviation was sprouted in 2004 and since he has attained his CFI/II credentials as well as AGI/IGI. He has been working to ensure the highest levels of safety and proficiency through understanding with his students while remaining friendly and open minded. He joins the Trade Wind Aviation instructor team to teach students with the highest level of professionalism and enthusiasm on a daily basis.
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Flight Instructors
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Mark Guerrero
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Title: Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI
Profile: Mark is a very experienced pilot and an enthusiastic instructor. He is currently a student at San Jose State University studying to earn a degree in the engineering field.
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Angela Brandini
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Title: Flight Instructor
Certifications: CFI
Profile: Angela graduated from San Diego Christian College with a Bachelors of Science in Aviation. She has since earned her Advanced Ground Instructor certificate and her Flight Instructor Certificate at Tradewinds Aviation and is excited to continue providing excellent training. She is certified to instruct in single-engine aircraft, land and sea. Angela, like the other Tradewinds instructors, is dedicated to safety and professional training.
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