Jeff Wolf, Chief Flight Officer and Guest Blogger

I joined Paragon Flight as a flight instructor in January 2009. Just a few months later, the Chief Flight Instructor left for a new opportunity. Despite being new to the fledgling company and new to the flight training industry (I’d been a regional commercial pilot immediately prior), I became the Chief Flight Instructor at age 23. While I was not kidding myself – I knew I had no idea how to run a flight school –I was determined to figure it out. Ultimately, the goal went beyond that – and remains to this day – for Paragon Flight to be the best flight school in the country. 

I worked 7 days a week for about two years, meeting potential students, handling discovery flights, hiring flight instructors and staff and often eating lunch in my office in an empty building. The onboarding of new team members took about five minutes – versus the weeks-long, well-defined program we offer now.  I knew every client that trained with us in the early days (and am grateful for the many who stop by occasionally to say hello), and hosted poker parties at my home for the flight instructors. I’d like to think we have that same sense of collegiality today – it’s certainly what we strive for. 

From the earliest days, the commitment to being a different kind of flight school guided our steady growth. Plus, we were really getting the hang of being flight school owners (that happened in 2010 with Chris and Sarah Schoensee). While 20 years is a milestone occasion, it may be dwarfed by the 2014 announcement that Paragon Flight Training had been named Best Flight School in the country by AOPA. We were happily stunned. Many other awards followed, cementing our standing in the industry. 

Following a calculated growth strategy, we invested in aircraft to own our own fleet – now 40 aircraft strong. We invested in technology and world class simulators. We invested in people and programs to develop a rock star team. None of this happened in a vacuum, though. As training and operations technology advanced and news of the pilot shortage spread, so did the number of flight schools – and the quality of flight training operations. This is not the mom-and-pop industry it was when Paragon Flight was established in 2006 – and that’s a good thing. We like to believe that Paragon Flight played a role in that.    

One of my proudest accomplishments is a shared one: Paragon Flight has a world class reputation. When commercial pilots at the biggest names in the industry ask colleagues where they trained, a Paragon Flight response is known and respected. The same is true for the aviation industry- where a million dollars may be invested in one pilot new hire -and the Paragon Flight name is vetted and trusted. Such a reputation is not built by one person. It’s the collective result of every student, flight instructor and staff member who helped us reach the 20- year milestone. Thank you!