Our Instructors
All of our Instructor Pilots are 50-year Master Aviators, current or former OEM Test Pilots, or military trained pilots. While the news about the pilot shortage continues to make the nightly news, we have no difficulty finding the most qualified pilots as our Instructors self-select to fly with Seattle UPRT.
Simply put, none of our Instructors are in “…it for the money” or to build hours. Our Instructor Pilots are among the most qualified pilots in the country and teach at Seattle UPRT to have fun and give back to the aviation community by teaching the flying skills to save their fellow aviators.
Tim Dold
Seattle UPRT’s Chief Instructor Pilot and Co-Founder is Wright Brother’s Master Pilot Award Recipient Tim Dold. One of less than 8,000 pilots in the country ever to be awarded this distinction, Tim began flying at age 16, and has accumulated more than 14,500 hours of flight experience over his 55 years of accident and incident free flying. With Pilot-in-Command experience in more than 55 different single and multi-engine aircraft, Tim holds type ratings in the Douglas DC-4, Hawker HS-125 series, Gulfstream 1159, Gulfstream IV, V (inclusive of G450/550 differences training), Bombardier Global BD-700 and Dornier Alpha Jet. In addition to his type ratings, Tim is an ATP, CFI-I, MEI-I and holds his Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic Certificate.
“My dad, who in general never gave me very good advice, did give me one good piece of advice, which at the time I thought was worthless: ‘You need to learn to fly in a taildragger.’ After over 14,000 hours of flying, that one thing has given me more benefit in airplane control on crosswinds, wind shear and just general control of any airplane with challenging runway conditions.”