About Master Instructors LLC
The Master Instructor Continuing Education Program™ (aka, Master Instructor Program™) was originally conceived by Colorado CFIs Sandy & JoAnn Hill in 1995. After two years of research, development, and vetting, the program was formally announced by then-FAA Administrator Barry Valentine at a news conference in 1997:
The FAA is pleased to see that industry is taking its own steps to raise the quality and professionalism within the flight instructor community. The Hills are to be commended for putting together a detailed program in the form of the Master Instructor designation that will truly enhance the abilities of dedicated instructors everywhere.
The Master Instructor Program has grown from humble beginnings to a nationally recognized — and highly coveted — credential. As a measure of the accreditation’s national significance, former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey observed in 2007:
The Master Instructor accreditation singles out the best that the right seat has to offer.
In 2008, acting FAA Administrator Robert A “Bobby” Sturgell stated:
…kudos to Sandy and JoAnn Hill for their dedication to the Master Instructor Program and the Masters themselves.
Sandy & JoAnn Hill
The Hills and seven other highly qualified Masters comprise the Master Instructors LLC Board of Review. This Board has processed more than 1,440 Master Instructor portfolios, granting more than 1,397 Master Instructor designations to 638 aviation educators worldwide, while having to deny 44 applications. The frequency and breakdown of designations follows:
1 time = 285
2 times = 164
3 times = 78
4 times = 52
5 times = 24
6 times = 24
7 times = 10
8 times = 1
Master CFIs (MCFI) = 571
Master CFIs-Aerobatic (MCFI-A) = 23
Master Ground Instructors (MGI) = 28
Master Aviation Educators (MAE) = 3
Master Instructors Emeritus (MIE) = 10
Master Flight Instructors (MFI) = 3 (no longer offered)
Additionally, 36 applicants have earned more than one of the five Master Instructor accreditations, and one applicant has earned three different designations (MCFI, MCFI-A, and MGI). The first CFI renewal was issued on 1 June 2002. Since then, 401 Masters have been issued Master Instructor Graduation Certificates with which they may renew their flight instructor certificates [14 CFR 61.197 (a) (2) (iii)] or update their Part 141 chief / assistant chief CFI status [14 CFR 141.79 (c)].
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Retired school teachers, the Hills got their start as national-level aviation educators while working as staff instructors for AOPA’s Air Safety Foundation beginning in the late 1970s. They served as directors of NAFI for more than a quarter century, including acting as vice presidents and directors of education there for more than a decade. The Hills currently administer the Master Instructor Program™ as well as the General Aviation Awards Program out of their office in Longmont, Colorado. JoAnn Hill also serves as the GA Awards national chairperson, while Sandy Hill serves as that program’s communications director. Master CFIs themselves, the Hills are national FAASTeam representatives for the FAA’s Denver FSDO and are members of the Society of Aviation and Flight Educators (SAFE).
For more than 30 years, the Hills lived in Alamosa, a small town in south-central Colorado’s San Luis Valley. They are the parents of two children. Son Matthew, a United States Marine staff sergeant (SSgt) and artilleryman, recently returned from his 4th combat tour, and is serving as a Marine artillery instructor at Fort Sill (Lawton, Oklahoma). Tri-lingual daughter Jennifer spent six years as an Arabic linguist in the United States Navy and is currently attending medical school in Denver.