A New Orleans native, Alex has been at Lakefront Airport for 5 years. In 2010 Alex attended Virginia Tech where he eventually graduated with a degree in engineering. In 2014 he started work as an airport line service technician at Flightline First in order to begin his flight training. Alex is also a former student of Gulf Coast Aviation, getting his instrument rating and single engine commercial through the flight school. Alex began working for the flight school in 2018 and has his commercial (ASEL and AMEL), CFI and CFI-I.

Blake Wedig was born and raised in New Orleans. Blake enjoys watching football and playing golf during his time off. A former student at Gulf Coast Aviation, Blake now holds his commercial single and multi-engine licenses and has been instructing at GCA since March 2018.

Brady Cook joined the Gulf Coast Aviation team as a part-time flight instructor in January 2019. He got interested in aviation at a young age and graduated from Louisiana Tech with a degree in Professional Aviation. Brady works full-time giving out bad driving awards and hopes to one day join the Air Support Unit at Louisiana State Police. Brady lives in Watson, LA with his wife, son and daughter. When he is not working he enjoys doing anything outdoors including hunting, fishing, scuba diving, and playing any sport.

Mr. Brian Capone has been involved with aviation since 1975. He is the holder of several FAA certificates both in maintenance and operations. They include A&P/ IA, ASMEL, SES, CFII, AGI, and IGI. Mr. Capone holds a Bachelor of Science from Louisiana State University and two aviation associate degrees from Alabama Aviation Technical College. He has worked as a part time flight instructor and ran several flying clubs. His maintenance career spans over 30 years and includes work as a mechanic, IA, supervisor, maintenance contract administrator and FAA aviation safety inspector. He spent nine years working with the air drug interdiction program aircraft with the then U. S. Customs Service. Additionally, Mr. Capone served in active duty and reserve rolls in the USMC within various logistics, maintenance, and command billets, retiring from reserves at the rank of LtCol. As an aviation safety inspector since 1995 he has served in various Principal Maintenance positions covering operators from corporate, general aviation, flight and mechanic schools, aerial applicators, repair stations, on demand charters with both fixed and rotor wing aircraft. Since 2006, Mr. Capone has been a full time member of the Flight Standards FAA Safety Team involved with the continuing evolution of the team. He held the position of Southwest Region Assistant FAASTeam Program Manager covering five states and FAASTeam Program Manager for Louisiana Area. In 2011, Mr. Capone was selected as the manager of the Baton Rouge Flight Standards District Office. In that role he coordinated a consolidation of two offices while continuing to provide all stakeholder services. His leadership took the office through government furlough, shutdown, extensive hiring replacing 70% of the office, and resulted in receiving the Southwest Region FSDO of the Year for 2014. He retired from federal service with 32 years served. After retirement he served as the Chair of Aviation Technology at Baton Rouge Community College. In that role he established and obtained a FAA certification Part 147 school leading to an Aircraft Mechanic, Airframe and Powerplant Ratings along with college credits and courses leading to an Associate degree. After completion of getting the aircraft maintenance program and an existing Helicopter Training program running, he turned over to hired BRCC personnel and became self-employed as GingerAir, LLC in February 2016. In this capacity he provides consulting in aviation maintenance and operations that have included establishing a heliport, manual and logbook reviews, and tailwheel transition training. The current endeavor of assisting in establishing a Part 141 satellite operation for Gulf Coast Aviation is complete and he is serving as the Assistant Chief Flight Instructor.

Cornel Martin began his flying career through the 141 flight school “Delta Connection Academy” in 2008. There he obtained his commercial and instrument ratings. He further advanced his education by obtaining his CFI and CFII as well as a B.S. in Professional Aviation through Louisiana Tech University, which he completed in 2018. Apart from flight instructing, Cornel currently serves as an officer in the Louisiana Army National Guard. Both Cornel’s military and aviation background greatly contribute to his teaching style as well as his strong emphasis on professionalism and preparedness as a flight instructor.

Curtis Prince is a CFI and MEI. He is a full time instructor at our Baton Rouge location. Curtis is from Shreveport, Louisiana. He caught the bug for aviation growing up flying with his dad out of a grass airstrip at their home. He earned his Private Pilot License at age 17 and went on to study aviation at Louisiana Tech University, where he graduated in 2018.

Howie hails from Niagara Falls, NY though he grew up mostly in Nashville, TN.  He made the trek to New Orleans to attend Naval ROTC at Tulane University and earn his commission in the Navy.  After graduating in 2006 with a degree in Computer Science, he moved to Pensacola, FL to begin flight training.  He earned his wings in 2008 and moved to San Diego, CA to fly the MH-60S.  On that tour, he deployed twice to Iraq and Kuwait to fly MEDEVAC during both Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.  When his time in San Diego was complete, he moved to Lakehurst, NJ to become the Airport Manager of Maxfield Field (KNEL) in charge of all aspects of the airfield to include Line Operations, Air Traffic Control, and Ground Electronics while earning his Aviation Master of Business Administration degree from Embry Riddle.  Upon completion of his time in NJ, the Navy transferred him to Okinawa, Japan.  Over three years in Okinawa, Howie was responsible for military airspace throughout Asia and Australia.  After his rewarding time in Okinawa, Howie decided to give civilian life a try and moved back to New Orleans to become the Airport Manager and Assistant Airport Director here at the Lakefront Airport!  After a couple of years at the airport, the call of the cockpit became too strong.  Howie earned his CFI and began working for Gulf Coast Aviation in July 2019.  In his free time, Howie and his wife Jacquelyne enjoy traveling the world.  When they aren’t traveling, they can be seen absorbing as much New Orleans culture as possible, to include as many Tulane sporting events as time allows!

Erica joined the Gulf Coast Aviation family in August of 2017 as a weekend Office Assistant and is thrilled to be affiliated with a company that dedicates itself to helping individuals realize their dream of flying.  Her first experience with aviation was on a transatlantic flight, and she has been enamored of the experience ever since.

Originally from the Acadiana area, Erica received her undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  She relocated to New Orleans in July of 2016 and enjoys applying her years of administrative experience to help individuals optimize their flight experiences with Gulf Coast Aviation. Additionally, Erica currently works full-time assisting small businesses at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Greater New Orleans area.

In her free time, Erica enjoys cooking healthy meals, running, and catching as many live musical acts, movies, art shows, and stand-up comedy shows as she possibly can.

Originally hailing from Canada, Josh grew up in Toronto, Dallas, and Los Angeles before attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, graduating with a degree in Aerospace Engineering in 2007. After attending Navy Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, Josh was commissioned as an Ensign in the Navy and began flight training. Earning his wings in 2009, Josh was assigned to fly the MH-60S helicopter in Guam, deploying to the Pacific aboard various ships and later in Iraq flying MEDEVAC missions, as well as effecting search and rescue missions on Guam between deployments. After Guam, Josh moved to Oklahoma as an exchange instructor pilot with the Air Force teaching primary US and Foreign military students in the mighty T-6A Texan II trainer. Additionally he earned a Masters degree in Aviation Safety and Human Factors with Embry-Riddle Worldwide during this tour. After a non-flying tour aboard ship, Josh joined the Navy reserves and was assigned here to New Orleans where he flies the C-130T full time. Josh has a true passion for all aspects of aviation and aviation safety and with various certificates ranging from a ATP-AMEL, C-ASEL, CFI, CFII, CFI-H, CFII-H, and MEI, and an extensive background in various parts of military aviation, he can certainly help you reach whatever aviation goals you may have!

Born and raised in New Orleans, Mary was introduced to aviation at a very young age. At only 3 years old, she took her first ride in a single-engine aircraft with her brother, David Cusimano, who is one of the owners of Gulf Coast Aviation. After dappling around with many career options such as nursing and real estate, Mary is excited to have landed upon such an exciting opportunity to be the General Manager at Gulf Coast Aviation. She recently graduated with her Bachelor of Science in Health and Wellness, but her passion for aviation has become her top priority. She is currently working toward her private pilot license while striving to create a flight school that runs smoothly and successfully.

Mohamad was born and raised in the countryside of southern Lebanon. He started his aviation career in 2010 at the age of 17 and graduated in 2012 with a degree in aviation from the Royal Jordanian Air Academy in Amman, Jordan. Mohamad then went back to Beirut and worked as a Safety Officer at the Aeroclub of Lebanon. He moved to New Orleans in August 2015 where he received his CFI, CFII, and MEI certificates. He joined the Gulf Coast Aviation team in May 2019 where he takes pride in his students’ progress and plays a positive role in the aviation community of New Orleans.

Nathaniel started flying at a young age and received his Private Pilot Certificate with Gulf Coast Aviation. He completed his flight instructor ratings (CFI and CFII) at the beginning of 2017 and started working at our New Orleans location. He is currently working on his engineering degree at LSU. Going back to school for the 2017 Fall Semester, he helped us open our new Baton Rouge location in September. He also flies for Southern Seaplane for their 135 operation.
**Nathaniel was not involved in the making of this biography. Please contact him for details.

Nicole was born and raised in California but moved to New Orleans from Alabama during Mardi Gras in 2016. With 5 years of managing experience behind her, she was hired as Office Manager for Gulf Coast in February of 2018. Her love of aviation and passion for aiding and supporting students has flourished during her time with GCA. She strives to see each student that walks through the door succeed in their aviation endeavors.

Nicole lives in Jefferson, Louisiana with her husband and young daughter. She loves SEC football, exploring new parts of the city, photography and design. She looks forward to speaking with you and getting you started on the exciting experience of flight training!

Rebecca moved from Lafayette, LA, where she lived for 11 years, to return to college for a Business Administration degree at University of New Orleans. She was hired as an office assistant for Gulf Coast Aviation in March 2018. She has grown to love aviation and our flight school during her time here. She now lives in Metairie while attending school at UNO. When she’s not working, she enjoys exploring, travelling, and being an avid dog lover.

Robert had the good fortune to learn about general aviation in high school when he was allowed to take a trip to Mississippi in a ‘small plane.’  At that moment he was hooked.  As his career of Risk Engineer started to grow, he would take ad-hoc lessons from anyone that had a “Flight Instructor” shingle hanging up.  In 2008 he realized that he had to get more astute if he was to realize his goal of becoming a pilot.  After researching his options, he chose Gulf Coast Aviation based on their attention to fleet maintenance, and their teaching curriculum.   Due to his belief in the school, he purchased shares of the company from some partners that were leaving New Orleans. Today, Robert is actively involved in the aviation community.  He was one of the 5 founding members selected for the Cessna Pilot Schools Advisory Group.

Roy Becker – aka ‘The King of Stoke’ – first took to the skies by Kiteboard before realizing 30 ft of air just wasn’t enough to satisfy his craving for altitude. Born and Raised in FL he was naturally drawn to the sea. He immersed himself in all things watersports and graduated with a B.S. in Ocean Engineering. After ‘flying a few desk jobs’ during summer internships, Roy knew 9 to 5 monotony would never be for him. Learning about the state of the aviation industry from his friends in the Millennial Wings organization, Roy actively began working on his ratings while simultaneously reigniting his childhood passion for aviation. Working full time as a Field Engineer & keeping laser focus on accomplishing his aviation goals, Roy has progressed from Private to Multi-Engine Commercial Pilot & CFI in under 2 years. He joined the Gulf Coast Aviation Team in March 2019 and is ‘stoked’ to share his love for aviation with his students everyday.

Steve, our Chief Instructor, is the old “guiding hand” of our instructional team, offering advice daily to both instructors and students alike.  Soloing in 1968, Steve has logged 4,300 hours flying both charter and student instruction.  Aviation is his passion as evidenced by his 30 + years as a Civil Air Patrol search and rescue pilot and check airman for the New Orleans area.  In his spare time, Steve is a FAAsteam Representative giving instruction towards the Wings program.