Dan Dorson took his first Cessna 172 flight with his dad when he was 10 years old, taking off from Quonset State Airport in Rhode Island. That sparked an interest in aviation that took him to the Air Force Academy and landing taildraggers in France to flying B-1s over Afghanistan and teaching spins in trainer planes (T-37s and then T-6s) over North Texas.

For the past decade, Dan has been based in the Minneapolis area and managing hangar space at Flying Cloud Airport. He’s come full circle back to flying the same Cessna 172 he looked out the window of when he was young, now out of Minnesota up to Canada, across the Great Lakes, and to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Dan has extensive experience as a former Air Force instructor pilot teaching aerobatics, instrument procedures, low-level navigation, and advanced formation to both U.S. and European student pilots. He holds Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII) and Commercial Seaplane ratings.