Peter Monaco
Certified Flight Instructor
About Me
Hello! I'm a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI), operating out of Palo Alto Airport (KPAO), and teaching fulltime through West Valley Flying Club. I teach new students learning to fly for the first time, as well as licensed pilots working on their Commercial certificate or needing a Flight Review.
Flight instruction is my second career. After 30 years in tech in the Bay Area, I decided to switch gears. I've been a pilot since 2017, and I've always loved teaching, so this switch combines two loves into one second career. I learned to fly at West Valley Flying Club, and now I enjoy investing in other pilots the way my CFIs have invested in me. I have a strong safety ethic, enjoy finding intuitive ways to explain concepts, and have special compassion for students struggling to “get it.”
Why Learn to Fly?
Different people have different reasons. Some people just love being up in the air, enjoying the views and feeling the freedom of moving in 3D. I feel that too, but for me, flying is about enlarging my "circle of adventure." It's so much fun to pop over the Santa Cruz mountains for lunch in Half Moon Bay or Watsonville; to buzz down to Santa Barbara for a leisurely weekend; to make it to Truckee in 75 minutes; to overfly the western national parks, seeing Half Dome from above; or to take friends flightseeing up the coast, with a lunch stop in Mendocino. My wife and I have flown all over the western US, visiting everywhere from LA to Phoenix, Moab UT, Colorado Springs, Friday Harbor WA, and Kalispell MT. Check out some of my aerial photos here. These are the adventures that await you with your pilot license!
What's the First Step?
I have a page explaining the overall process of getting your pilot's license. People learn to fly on all sorts of different schedules, but the first step is usually a get-to-know-you meeting, or a demo flight. It's extremely important to choose an instructor that you feel comfortable with-- you're going to be spending a lot of time together in a small airplane. So I recommend talking to two or three before settling on one. If you'd like to have a conversation or schedule a demo flight, please contact me. My info is below.
Contact
email: petercmonaco@gmail.com