Stuart Hirsch, CFII

Stuart D. Hirsch, CFII has over twenty years of combined healthcare, administrative and aviation experience. He has attained degrees in Nursing, Sciences, and graduated from Binghamton University with high honors in Anthropology.

His passion for flight began from an early age with a family involved in aviation. His father and grandfather were pilots and his maternal grandfather was a pilot and an Airframe & Powerplant specialist with Sikorsky during World War II in the early years of helicopter development. Stuart lived on his hometown airport in Monticello, NY (N37) where his father provided flight instruction. As Stuart recalls, “My front yard was a ramp full of aircraft. My inspirations were watching Neil Armstrong take his first step on the moon in the live broadcast, seeing the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey and spending hours climbing into cockpits of these wonderful winged machines envisioning flights into the sky and beyond.”

Stuart believes in training aviators to be the best within their scope
of practice. In regard to whether aviation is 'safe', he says: "I have
had personal losses of family members and friends in aviation-related
accidents and I believe that all accidents are composed of 'links' in a
chain. Our students are trained to recognize those links and to prevent
adverse events through focused instruction in best practices and
critical decision making algorithms. That is why our training at TML
includes strong didactic components, simulated flight environment
training and, for our IFR students, flight in actual IMC conditions. Our
team's goal is to give our aviators the skills to enjoy many years of
safe flight and an experience that is truly unparalleled."

His parallel career was in Trauma and aeromedical care. Stuart flew for seven years with the STAT Flight helicopter medevac team out of Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, NY. As a former safety committee chairperson, he credits the superlative safety record of his team to lifesaving Crew Resource Management techniques and checklist approaches.

As an aviator, Stuart holds commercial ratings for single and multi engine aircraft. He is a certified instrument flight instructor and has flown for Part 135 operations and corporations. He continues to provide intensive simulator-based and actual instrument flight training with an emphasis on consistent, reproducible performance. Stuart draws upon his trauma and aeromedical background to use algorithms for lifesaving success in the cockpit. He enjoys flying a variety of aircraft – from the Piper Warrior trainer to the Aero L-39 aerobatic jet.

Stuart’s ultimate goal is to utilize aviation for world transformative aeromedical mission work. He is currently forming an NPO to provide clinicians and medical supplies to underserved areas and has selected Haiti as the first mission area. “The ability of the aircraft to bring relief and lifesaving aid to those who need it most is an incredible mission – and I envision a dynamic team of dedicated professionals who truly believe in changing the world one life at a time for the betterment of all.”

Stuart is also a consultant with the LifeWINGS corporation – a group of military and commercial aviators that bring best practice aviation solutions into acute healthcare setting to improve the safety of hospital systems and save lives and improve patient outcomes.

Aviation articles by Stuart Hirsch

Visit the LifeWINGS website at: www.saferpatients.com