A five-time Master Certified Flight Instructor and multi-time AOPA award-winning instructor, as well as an award-winning STOL competitor, Doug’s instruction philosophy is grounded in discipline, exposure, repetition, and accountability. He has logged over 9,000 hours of dual given across more than 100 makes and models, developing a reputation for producing highly capable, safety-focused pilots.
He is the owner of Air Ventures Flying School and Newport Aviation in Rhode Island, where his work centers on structured, performance-driven training designed to build competence rather than push volume-based certification. His approach emphasizes decision-making, consistency, and long-term pilot development in an industry with historically high attrition.
Tailwheel flying remains his passion. He treats it as a foundational discipline that reinforces stick-and-rudder precision, energy management, and timely pilot judgment skills that transfer directly to all levels of operation and are increasingly absent from modern training environments.