COPA Member April Gafford saw a need to combine her knowledge of hum an factors and what she had learned flying Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA) in the corporate aviation industry into a new approach to flight training. Founding JATO Aviation in 2004 was perfect timing as it was then that TAA piston aircraft, including the Cirrus, and very light jets were first being introduced to the general aviation community. "At the time, there was a lot of talk in the professional pilot community about not wanting the inexperienced pilots flying more advanced aircraft up in the same flight levels in which they were flying," Gafford explained. "I thought, with the current advances in technology and affordable price points, they' re going to be up there regardless, so are we going to ignore that fact or teach and mentor them properly? I chose the latter."