Brandon Kanning
President / CFI

Brandon Kanning began his life living and working on a wheat farm in Montana.  He spent his childhood helping his dad farm and riding motorcycles with his brother.  Brandon had his first airplane ride in 1997 aboard a Fokker F-28, from Great Falls to Seattle.  Although he was very interested in airplanes all his life, he didn’t catch the flying bug until taking the controls of his grandfather-in-law’s Cessna 182 in 1999.  From that flight on, there wasn’t a Cessna 152 to a Boeing 747 in the sky that escaped his attentive eye. 

In 2000, Brandon began attending Clover Park Technical College (CPTC) in Puyallup, WA, and enrolled in their Professional Pilot program.  It was through CPTC that he earned his flight certificates and instructor ratings.  Upon completing these certificates and ratings in 2002, Brandon was fortunate enough to catch the attention of the Chief Instructor at Clover Park and was offered a job as a college flight instructor. 

Brandon gained valuable experience by regularly teaching career student ground schools and through flight training multiple students towards all certificates for an FAR Part 141 school.  From these work experiences, he was able to build enough flight hours to be hired at another flight school teaching FAR 61 students.  Here, Brandon buzzed around the pattern more times than he could ever count, doing everything from instructing private pilots in single and multi-engine airplanes, to giving scenic flights, to conducting “intro” flights for prospective students.  During this valuable time as an instructor, Brandon was able to build enough flight time and experience to get hired as a Captain for an FAR Part 135 cargo airline at Boeing Field. 

Flying freight, Single Pilot, IFR (in the clouds), at night, over the mountains, through every season, was a wonderful experience building endeavor.  Brandon was able to see and experience about everything you could ever want, dare to think about, or even fear seeing, in the pilot profession.  It was the most challenging and rewarding flying that Brandon had ever done – and he wouldn’t take back those experiences for anything.

Close to the end of his commitment to this airline, Brandon was appointed as a flight instructor.  In this position he was responsible for teaching the new cargo pilots how to fly the twin Cessna’s and twin Piper’s that the company owned and operated.  He was later selected to be a check airman for this airline; which involved testing new, and current, pilots on company procedures and flight standards. 

In 2005, Brandon was hired by a regional airline based in Seattle, WA.  He currently is a First Officer on the Bombardier DASH-8 Q400, flying some of the most technologically advanced airplanes in the industry.

Brandon’s passion for aviation has always been strong; and his career has given him the opportunity to gain a vast amount of flying experience in the Pacific Northwest.  Brandon’s involvement and enthusiasm towards instruction has made him a valuable resource in the flying community.  He is very highly regarded amongst pilots of all levels – not only for his knowledge, professionalism, and experience; but also for his love of aviation, his patience, and his natural ability to connect with people on many levels.  When Brandon is not flying, he enjoys photography, a wide variety of outdoor activities, flying general aviation airplanes for fun, and being a dad!