Max.Trescott                Last Visit: 03.24.2008


Max Trescott is a glass cockpit guru. Initially a skeptic, he's now a champion of glass cockpits and their potential for increasing flight safety. He's authored "Max Trescott's G1000 Glass Cockpit Handbook," and developed the Pilot Learning website for the online delivery of training courses for the Garmin G1000. He's received CFI factory training at Cessna, Cirrus, and Columbia, and is a Cessna factory FITS instructor, Cirrus CSIP and Columbia 400i instructor. Max lives in the San Francisco Bay area and gives advanced avionics and glass cockpit training. He also travels on request to train elsewhere and to assist owners in bringing their new airplanes home. Max was licensed to fly as a teenager. He earned degrees in Psychology and Electrical Engineering from Swarthmore College and an MBA from NYU. He worked for 25 years in sales, marketing and management positions for Hewlett-Packard and now devotes full time to teaching flying, speaking, and publishing aviation training materials. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate and is an FAA Gold Seal CFI. He is recognized by the National Association of Flight Instructors as a Master CFI. He's a past President of Los Medicos Voladores or "Flying Doctors", and regularly flew volunteer medical teams to Mexico in his Cessna T210. An avid writer, he publishes he Pilot Safety News, an online newsletter, and has authored flying articles at Avweb.com, InFlight USA magazine and the National Association of Flight Instructors Mentor magazine.

I'm located in Mountain View , California

Certificates:    Pilot, Ground Instructor and Flight Instructor.  

Certificate Levels:   Airline Transport Pilot.  

Certificate Ratings:    Airplane Multiengine Land, Airplane Single Engine Land, Airplane Single and Multiengine, Instrument Airplane, Instrument and Advanced.  

Flight Instruction Rate:   $80/hr  

Ground Instruction Rate:   $80/hr  

Instruction Material:   My own materials.  

Awards of Merit:   NAFI Master Instructor, FAA Gold Seal Instructor, 2008 National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year by the General Aviation Awards Program  

Flight/Flight Instruction Experience
Garmin G1000 expert and author Max Trescott was named the 2008 National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year by the General Aviation Awards Program. Perhaps best known for his Max Trescott's G1000 Glass Cockpit Handbook, he is a Master CFI and Master Ground Instructor and teaches flying at the Palo Alto, Calif. airport. Nominated by the FAA Flight Standards District Office in San Jose, Calif, he was previously the FAA's Western Pacific Region CFI of the Year. Trescott resides in Mountain View, CA, where he has lived for most of his professional life. A native of northern Pennsylvania, he started flying when he was 15 years old. Too young to drive, his mother Sue, who had herself taken flying lessons as a teenager, drove him to the airport for lessons. He was also inspired by his flight instructor, Dick Johnston, a former Pennsylvania CFI of the Year, for whom the Wellsboro-Johnston airport is now named.

Educational Background
While attending Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, Trescott completed his private pilot certificate at the age of 19 and met his future wife Laurie. He graduated with a B.A. in Psychology and a B.S. in electrical engineering. That was followed by an MBA in management strategy and marketing at NYU's Stern School of Business. After college, he worked for Hewlett-Packard in New Jersey, later moving to HP's company headquarters in Palo Alto, CA. During his 25 years at HP, he worked in a variety of marketing, sales, and management positions while continuing to fly and earn additional certificates and ratings.

Additional Comments
Max acquired his CFI rating in September, 2001, and began working as an aviation educator on weekends at San Jose's Reid-Hillview Airport. Subsequently, he added an ATP certificate as well as CFII and MEI ratings. After leaving HP, he began teaching full-time as an independent flight instructor with several flight schools at the Palo Alto Airport (PAO) but shifted his focus to glass cockpit aircraft. He is now a factory trained Cessna FITS instructor, a Cirrus Design CSIP, a Columbia (Cessna) 350 / 400 instructor, and teaches in the national Columbia recurrent training program.


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