Josh Hunter

Lead instructor Josh Hunter started his aviation career in 2001 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. Josh graduated in 2004 from the Aerospace Studies program, covering the fields of professional flying, meteorology, safety science, and Air Traffic Control. In 2006, Josh started working for the Federal Aviation Administration in ATC, spending over three years at Washington Center in Leesburg, Virginia and almost two years at Mobile Tower/Approach Control in Mobile, Alabama. Josh became a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) in 2007 and taught students part-time while working in ATC.

At the end of 2011, Josh left the FAA to pursue teaching and contract flying full-time. One of Josh’s clients was Skywarrior Flight Training in Pensacola, Florida, where he taught Navy ensigns and Marine lieutenants in the Introductory Flying Syllabus program, a screening process for Naval Aviator hopefuls. Josh also taught in various models of Light Sport Airplanes (LSA), expanding his experience beyond the typical training airplanes. In 2013, Josh earned the CFI Instrument (CFI-I) certificate, which, combined with his ATC experience, made him a specialist in Instrument Flight Rules procedures and radio communications.

After a short stint as the Chief Flight Instructor of a school in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Josh and his wife moved to Cincinnati to take care of her mother. He continued to teach and landed a job in Indianapolis flying a Cirrus SR-22T, through which he earned the Cirrus Standardized Instructor Pilot (CSIP) designation. He then moved on to Piedmont Airlines, a regional subsidiary of American Airlines. Josh spent two years flying the deHavilland DHC-8 “Dash 8” turboprop and then another two years on the Embraer 145 regional jet, including over a year as a Captain on the ERJ. In May 2020, he started flying a Hawker 800XP for an air charter company out of Lunken Field, a position which afforded him time to resume his passion for teaching.