About Take Flight Aviation
Building great pilots, on a predictable schedule.
Since 2010, from a single hangar at Orange County Airport, with one standard for everyone who flies with us.
Our story
We started by writing the curriculum. Everything else followed from there.
Take Flight Aviation began with a thesis about how flight training should actually work. Not which airplane to fly. Not which manufacturer to align with. Not which financing partner to pitch. The first decision was a curriculum decision: what does a structured, measurable, finishable training program look like — one where students know what’s next, instructors know what “ready” means, and the schedule actually holds?
We wrote our own programs. We built our own stage check standards, our own multi-engine syllabi, our own training supplements. From that foundation, the rest of the operation followed. We needed airplanes that wouldn’t break the schedule, so we built one of the most modern fleets in the Northeast. We needed maintenance we could trust, so we brought it in-house. We needed instructors who taught to a standard, so we hired and developed them ourselves. Everything you see today — the Diamond fleet, the factory-authorized service center, the U.S.-exclusive Diamond Brilliance partnership, the AOPA recognition — is downstream of that original decision.
Sixteen years on, the thesis still holds. We track our students’ performance to a 93.4% checkride pass rate over the past eight years, fly the largest private Diamond Aircraft fleet on the East Coast, and operate the only Factory-Approved Diamond Brilliance Training Center in the United States. None of that is the point. Our curricula are sound, our planes are on the ramp and ready to go every morning, our lessons start on time, and our students finish their training knowing more than when they arrived.
What we believe
Four principles, applied without exception.
Training is a curriculum, not a schedule.
Part 141 syllabi we authored, structured stage checks, and a measurable definition of "ready for the checkride." No mystery, no drift.
The airplane is ready before the student arrives.
Five full-time A&P mechanics, on site, treating fleet maintenance as a training-quality issue, not an afterthought.
Honesty is the cheapest marketing.
We publish our pass rate, name our instructors, and tell prospective students what they're walking into. The good and the hard.
Safety isn't a department.
Every CFI, every mechanic, every dispatch decision is a safety decision. The standard does not flex when the schedule gets tight.
Leadership
The people running the operation.
A management team you'll meet — at the front desk, on the flight line, and in the hangar. Every one of them is in the building.
Ryan Mayo
President
Leads strategy, partnerships, and the Diamond relationship. Founded Take Flight Aviation in 2010 with a thesis that hasn't changed.
Jim Markey
Director of Maintenance
Leads the factory-authorized Diamond Service Center and the in-house maintenance team that keeps the fleet ready every morning.
Mitch Semel
Chief Instructor
Holds the FAA Chief Instructor certificate under 14 CFR Part 141 and owns the standard every flight instructor teaches to. Final authority on all flight training and checkride readiness.
Eric Jordan
Assistant Chief Instructor · Brilliance Program Director
Runs the Diamond Brilliance Training Program and supports senior training tracks. The reference point for advanced and transition training.
Caoilainn Mallon
Assistant Chief Instructor
Supports the Chief Instructor in instructor development, stage checks, and curriculum delivery across the primary training tracks.
Laura Mezzetta
Assistant Chief Instructor
Supports the Chief Instructor across student progress, training quality, and the full Part 141 stage check process.
Recognition
Recognized by the people who set the standard.
2026
Diamond Brilliance Training Center
U.S. exclusive Factory-Approved status from Diamond Aircraft
Ongoing
Diamond Authorized Service Center
Factory-authorized maintenance, parts, and warranty
2018
AOPA Best Flight School
National recognition by the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
Active
FAA Part 141 Certificate
Approved Part 141 pilot school with structured curricula
Partners & affiliations
The companies and institutions we work with.
From the airframe manufacturer to the universities educating our next generation of pilots.
Come see the operation.
A 30-minute tour of our hangar, our fleet, and our flight line answers more questions than any website can.
49 Hangar Road, Hangar D
Montgomery, NY 12549
845-457-4188
Open 7 days · 8 AM – 6 PM