About Our Instructors

Grant Hooks

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Originally from the Charlotte, NC area and living in Florida since 2009. He joined the US Navy in 2002 at the age of 18 as a Naval Aircrewman on the Lockheed Martin P3C Orion aircraft. He is currently still serving in the Navy Reserves 20+ years later. He accumulated more than 1,700 hours of flight experience flying all over the world in the P-3’s. His love of aviation began at the age of 13 in North Carolina when he took his very first flight in a General Aviation plane. In 2008 he earned his private pilot’s certificate while stationed in Hawaii. While stationed on Instructor Duty in Pensacola, FL he earned his Instrument rating while a part of the Pensacola Navy Flying Club. As an active member of EAA Chapter 485 in Pensacola he served two years as club president and newsletter editor. Moving to Jacksonville, FL in 2012 he continued serving in the military and flying accumulating more experience. In 2017 he left active duty and pursued civilian flying full time. He began working for a local aircraft charter company running aviation operations and their drug screening program. Once he obtained his Commercial Single Engine (ASEL) and Multi-engine (AMEL) he flew copilot in the Cessna 421, Piper Malibu, and King Air 200 all over the United States and the Bahamas. He flew a Cirrus SR20 corporately all over Florida and Georgia during that time as well. In 2019 he became a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI), Advanced Ground Instructor (AGI), and Commercial Drone Pilot – Part 107. He then decided to move into flight training and aviation maintenance full time at Keystone Heights Airport. His extensive aviation background and experience makes him a great instructor. He has experience in tailwheel, high performance, multiengine, turbine power, complex, real world instrument flying, application of crew resource management. He has extensive experience in scenario-based training formed around real-world experiences as both single pilot or crew environments. He applies his knowledge from his Naval underwater survival training that includes topics such as hypoxia, bailout, ditching, as well as search and rescue. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​