ORANGE — Business is taking off at the Orange Municipal Airport, where certified flight instructor John Gorgoglione has opened JEDAIR Aviation.
The 25-year-old rents an office from the airport and offers a variety of services, including pilot training and demonstration flights.
“I worked at a couple different flight schools … and what I’ve found was that so many flight schools do not do right by their students. They’re very profit-hungry — you know, maximize profit, minimize expenses — to the detriment of the students’ success,” he said. “So I started this business because I was sick of it. I didn’t want to affiliate myself with flight schools and owners of those flight schools that were misleading their students and misguiding them.
“The nice thing about this operation,” he continued, “is that it’s just me and my family, and one aircraft,” a Diamond DA 40.
Gorgoglione’s new venture, which began in October, is the realization of a lifelong dream.
“I was always, sort of, a made pilot, I guess, ever since I was a child,” he recounted. “You know, my mom tells me stories about how I was looking at the sky and airplane-watching. She could tell I wanted to be a pilot, basically.”
Gorgoglione, who lives in Rindge, New Hampshire, recalled that in high school he dedicated himself to achieving his goals and was mentored and encouraged by a family friend who worked as a JetBlue captain. He moved across the country due to his father’s career as a military policeman and eventually attended the University of North Dakota, where he earned his license through its well-known aviation program in 2019. He then took a break from flying for a couple years before rediscovering his passion in 2023, getting all of his ratings within a year and becoming an instructor.
Gorgoglione had briefly worked at a law firm and in retail before feeling that pull back to the skies.
“I found it fun at first, but then after six to eight months I always got bored of it,” he recalled. “The great thing about flying is that nothing ever gets really monotonous. It’s different every day, you know — there’s new weather challenges, there’s new airspace challenges. [Air traffic control] will always throw something unexpected at you.”
Information about the services Gorgoglione offers can be found at jedairaviation.com. He said he tailors the experience to what his students want to get out of it. He mentioned that acquiring a private pilot license requires an average of 75 hours of training. Students learn in the cockpit as well as through the often-underestimated ground training, which includes aerodynamics, weather, navigation, regulations and aircraft systems.
JEDAIR Aviation can be reached at 978-219-4439.