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Scottsdale, Arizona

Sam Elliott Certified Flight Instructor

CFI/CFII/MEI at Flight Stars in Mesa, Arizona—instructing private, instrument, and commercial students with a 100% checkride pass rate. Also a licensed Realtor in the Scottsdale area.

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331+ Flight Hours
100% Checkride Pass Rate
MEI Multi-Engine Instructor
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About Me

Building Confident Pilots
and Trusted Partnerships

I'm a CFI/CFII/MEI based in the Phoenix metro. Helping people earn their wings is what drives me.

At Flight Stars in Mesa, I instruct private, instrument, and commercial students in both single and multi-engine aircraft—building safe, confident pilots from day one. 100% checkride pass rate across all students.

Outside the cockpit, I'm a licensed Realtor in Scottsdale and enjoy building web projects on the side. But aviation is home.

✈ CFI / CFII / MEI
🎓 B.S. Business
Sam Elliott
Aviation

Life in the Cockpit

I earned my CFI, CFII, and MEI after training at Sierra Charlie Aviation in Scottsdale. Now I instruct at Flight Stars in Mesa—building safe, confident pilots from private through commercial, single and multi-engine. 100% checkride pass rate across all students.

331 Total Time
52 Dual Given
83 Cross Country
71 Instrument
30 Multi-Engine
15 Multi PIC
CFI

Certified Flight Instructor

CFII

Instrument Instructor

MEI

Multi-Engine Instructor

Proficiencies

G1000 Glass Cockpit IFR Flight Planning ForeFlight Class B/C/D Operations High Density Altitude Ops Crosswind & Gusty Conditions Turbo Props Counter-Rotating Twins Weather Analysis Risk Management ADM

Aircraft

Cessna 172 Cessna 182 Diamond DA40 Diamond DA42 Piper Seminole PC12
Experience

Career Timeline

2026 — Present

Flight Stars

Mesa, AZ
  • Instruct private and instrument students in G1000-equipped aircraft — maneuvers, landings, radio work, and cross-country planning
  • Break every maneuver down into its core components and build them back up step by step, so students understand the why behind each input rather than memorizing a sequence
  • Run pre- and post-flight ground for every lesson and prepare students for stage checks and practical tests
  • Operate daily in Phoenix Class B/C/D airspace and summer density altitude, teaching students to plan around performance limits and afternoon convection
  • 100% checkride pass rate across all students
2023 — 2025

Sierra Charlie Aviation — Flight Training

Scottsdale, AZ
  • Completed accelerated professional flight training program
  • Earned PPL, Instrument Rating, Commercial SEL & MEL, CFI, CFII, and MEI certifications
2021 — Present

Licensed Real Estate Agent

Russ Lyon Sotheby's International Realty · Scottsdale, AZ
  • Closed $11M+ in residential transaction volume across the Greater Scottsdale area
2014 — 2020

Nebraska College of Business — University of Nebraska

Lincoln, NE
  • B.S. in Business Administration, Entrepreneurship
  • Vice President, Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity — elected by 120+ members
  • Head of Recruitment — led strategy that grew chapter membership
Side Projects

What I'm Building

HTML CSS JavaScript

This Website

You're looking at it. I designed and built this personal site from scratch using modern web technologies—custom animations, responsive design, and clean, semantic code.

  • Hand-crafted HTML, CSS & JavaScript
  • Fully responsive across all devices
  • Smooth scroll animations & interactions
  • Clean, aviation-inspired design
View on GitHub →
Beyond Work

What Keeps Me Going

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

Family

💪

Strong Relationships

⛷️

Skiing

⛳

Golf

🤝

Networking

✈️

Travel

🧭

Trying New Things

🛩️

Flying

🏔️

Being Outdoors

♟️

Chess

Get in Touch

Let's Connect

Whether you’re looking to start flight training, have questions about learning to fly, or want to connect about anything else—I’d love to hear from you.

✉ sfelliott4@gmail.com 📱 402-658-9001 📍 Scottsdale, Arizona
Easiest way to reach me

Shoot me a text

402-658-9001

Tell me a little about where you're at—brand new, mid-training, or looking to add a rating—and I'll get back to you between flights.