Welcome.

Our mission is to create a better flying experience for students beginning with safety-focused instruction.

We offer flight instruction based around Nashville, TN.

Contact information: info@safecfi.com


Damon
CFI
 Home Airports
Smyrna MQY
John Tune JWN
Nashville Int'l BNA		 Flight Experience
C182 Skylane
C172 Skyhawk
T206 Stationair
BL8 Super Decathlon
GA8 Airvan
C150 Aerobat
PA27 Aztec
PA30 Twin Comanche
BE76 Duchess
P28R Arrow
DA40NG Diamond Star
P28A Cherokee
BE33 Bonanza
CH7A Citabria
C140		 Qualifications
Flight Instructor
Commercial Pilot
Multiengine Land
Single Engine Land
Instrument Rating
Tailwheel airplane
High-performance
Complex airplane
Spin training
Mountain Flying
Ground Instructor
Advanced, Instrument 		Avionics Experience
G1000 NXi
Legacy G1000
GI275
G500
G5
SkyView HDX
uAvionix AV-30
GNS430/530
GTN650
Avidyne IFD440		 2025 Instructor rates
$65 / flight hour
$65 / ground hour
$0 / CAP instruction

My goal is to produce safer, competent, and proficient airmen and be accountable to my community. I offer tailored instruction as a CFI in single-engine airplanes toward private pilot, sport pilot, and commercial certification (in your airplane). We focus on risk management starting on day one in the process and phase in added procedures that keep you safer. For aeronautical knowledge, we can use online training providers to assign, track, and evaluate ground school homework in manageable stages. I can also teach the knowledge content toward each certificate via my own curricula as desired. I offer a syllabus, structured lessons, accountability, and a customizable plan to fit your pace as a fresh candidate seeking training or an experienced pilot seeking recurrency or, offer a second opinion on your progression as an airman. I have a few years of experience as a volunteer search and rescue pilot, collecting damage assessment photography, and providing many of the nation's youth and educators their first discovery of flight in series of aircraft flights.

In today's flight instruction market, we seem to be facing a challenge of high instructor turnover which seems to be increasing overall training and retraining time of pilot candidates. I take a proactive approach to minimize this erosion of knowledge by obtaining counsel of many career instructor pilots locally and across the country, networking with the FAA Safety Team volunteers to capture and share refined experience for all types of my students. A challenged student pilot may find receiving instruction with me after their growing list of former instructors to be worth their investment provided that the student contributes readiness and effort to the learning process.

Let's get in touch today to crack your code of learning and progression. I'm mostly available outside core business hours and on weekends. Contact me for my availability. My weight will also permit light sport aircraft as an option.

Contact information: damon@safecfi.com


My recent volunteer orientation flight photos for youth and educators:
Aircraft options: Student/pilot provides their own aircraft. If you wish to purchase an aircraft, we recommend starting with browsing freshaircraft.com, controller.com, or contacting Murfreesboro Aviation for their current inventory and general pricing. It would be advisable to seek an independent mechanic that has not worked on that particular aircraft for a pre-buy inspection, agree on an annual or condition inspection, additionally requesting borescoping cylinders and getting lab results with oil analysis. Be particularly aware of price vs overhaul type/dates including presence of all prop, powerplant, and airframe logbook entries including AD compliance. You also have the option of starting or joining a flight club for joint ownership and requesting permission to use your own instructor. Contact local airports before purchasing to check on prices and waitlists for hangars or tiedowns, as this is currently a hot item in the Nashville area. Lastly, you will want to purchase aircraft owner (hull) insurance and I carry my own CFI insurance.
Flight risk assessment tool This is a risk assessment tool which attempts to measure the risk for a given flight, providing a risk score to better inform the crew and passengers. The goal is firstly identify hazards to the flight, classify said hazards to highlight the most probable and severe ones, then determining mitigating techniques for those that made the top of the list. There's also an opportunity to identify new hazards based on formulated mitigating techniques, and this entire process can then be cycled again. Lastly, the findings should be reviewed and decisions be made at the appropriate level. For example, the pilot in command and student should be populating this form through this whole process. Multiple sources have been used in the creation of this tool, carving out the best ideas among each source to create a more effective overall risk assessment tool. Accidents are too often the culmination of a series of poor choices. I've managed to avoid costly mistakes by taking this assessment of risk to heart and I hope that other pilots may also effect positive results from this constructive thinking approach to aviation. This safer mindset works toward avoiding accidents and incidents.

DATA USAGE: To protect your data, I retain the simplest website possible with no account information requested or retained, no ads, and no server-side code.

DISCLAIMER: This site is not affiliated with Society of Aviation and Flight Educators, which is an excellent but separate resource for educator support.