Oregon State
Flying Club

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OSFC Approved Flight Instructors

These are the Flying Club's approved flight instructors. As a member you can receive instruction in OSFC aircraft from one of these instructors per the Club's Bylaws.

Steve was born and raised in the Eugene/Springfield area where he currently lives with his wife and two children. Steve earned his private pilot certificate in 2001 at Corvallis Aero Service before completing his training as a flight instructor at Lane Community College.

Steve has spent most of his professional career working as a human resource director and distribution manager for Oregon's Own Dollar Stores based in Springfield, Oregon, and continues to serve as a human resource consultant when not instructing. A large part of Steve's job involves training new employees. This has given him the opportunity to develop an understanding of how people learn and what it takes to get positive results from his students. "I would say, my motivation for teaching comes from the joy I receive sharing new experiences with others, especially the gift of flying."

When not in the cockpit, Steve enjoys spending time with his family, coaching his kids' teams, running, and fishing local rivers and lakes. Steve is pretty sure he is the luckiest person on earth.

Dennis has a unique aviation background; he enlisted in the U.S. Navy as an Aviation Structural and Hydraulics Mechanic during his first tour, then served 16 more years and flying 5,000 hours as a flight engineer on the Navy's P3 Orion turboprop airplane.

After retiring from the Navy, Dennis attended Embry-Riddle University, then flew as a Flight Instructor for them for 2 1/2 years. He holds a Commercial Pilot Certificate, Certificated Flight Instructor Single-engine, Multi-engine Instrument Airplane certificate, as well as an Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic and Flight Engineer certificates.

Currently, Dennis and his wife Linda live in Turner where he runs his own contracting and rental home management business. He also flies for the Civil Air Patrol as a Mission Pilot (search and rescue), Transport Pilot, Check Pilot and Cadet Orientation Pilot.

John Larson holds the Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate and is the Chief Flight Instructor for both airplanes and helicopters for Corvallis Aero Service. John holds VFR and IFR flight instructor privileges for single and multi-engine airplanes, seaplanes and helicopters. He stopped totaling his flight hours when he hit 10,000. John graduated from the University of Iowa, where he served as their Chief Pilot and Pilot Examiner. He has flown in ambulance, ferry, fire fighting, cargo and executive transportation roles, and his passport shows he has flown in 33 countries. John is married and lives in Corvallis. His wife is a Special Education faculty member at Lebanon High School, his son attends LBCC and is a student pilot, and his high-school age daughter is currently on exchange in Japan.

John’s flight training started in Oregon in 2000 and led him to Delta Connection Academy in 2004, where airline based standards and expectations are high. He is excited to pass the structured and precision flying skills acquired at Delta to people who are motivated and ready to learn.

Now back in Corvallis after some childhood years and 4 college years, many may recognize him from 4 years coaching with the Corvallis Parks and Recreation baseball, basketball and football programs. In addition, John enjoys boating, swimming, reading, skim boarding and woodworking.

John is a full time professional flight instructor dedicated to keeping flying affordable and is available to fly day or night to accommodate your schedule. The Federal Aviation Administration has designated John as a Gold Seal Flight instructor for his exceedingly high student pass rate.

John’s advice for those reading flight instructor bios and looking for a flight instructor; take your time, interview, do your homework and find an instructor whose personality and teaching style work best for you.

After graduating from Oregon State, Sherry went to work for Bell Labs in New Jersey. That Christmas her future husband, Bill, gave her a $5 learn-to-fly gift certificate. By the next summer she had her private pilot license. Sherry and Bill moved back to Corvallis in 1977 where they raised two sons. They have owned their current plane, a C182, since 1974. Sherry obtained her Instrument Rating in 1980. As a pilot, she has enjoyed several interesting trips in the 182, including visits to family and friends, Oshkosh, AOPA Expos, air shows and air museums. A highlight trip outside the country was flying a C172 across northern Australia from Perth to Brisbane.

When not in the air, Sherry can be found on her bicycle or involved in her other interests; finding the best solutions for and helping others with hearing problems, gardening, music and digital photography.

Sherry recently retired after an interesting career in software development that started at Bell Labs and ended after 28 years at Hewlett-Packard. She used her new free time to earn her Commercial and CFI ratings.

Rich's first flight was a $5 airplane ride his dad bought for him in the early 70's. Wanting to spend as much time as possible in the air, in the spring of 1976 at the age of 16, he started working on the line at Aurora trading for flight time. In 1994 he moved to Corvallis from Bend to start up a small business, and over the many years since, has developed a loyal cliental building it on excellent customer service.

Rich has always wanted to fly for a living and in 2001 sold just about everything and moved to Vero Beach Florida to attend Flightsafety Academy. Now, back in beautiful Corvallis and having been a member of the Oregon State Flying Club for many years, Rich is looking forward to helping club members and others in the flying community to reach their aviation goals.