Captain Benjamin Head founded VNAV Flight Labs at the intersection of two careers: two decades in the cockpit and at the front of the classroom, and two ventures built from scratch in the tech world. VNAV is what happens when both of those disciplines get applied to flight training.
Most flight schools are run by people who are good at flying. VNAV is run by someone who has also had to build, brand, and ship an actual product — and who is still evaluated, by his own airline, on how well he trains other pilots.
Benjamin is a captain at a major airline — and one of the select captains there entrusted with an even higher credential: Check Airman. That’s the role an airline hands to the pilots it trusts to evaluate and sign off its own captains, so it only goes to captains with a proven record for judgment and consistency, not just stick-and-rudder skill. It’s the same bar VNAV’s own curriculum is measured against.
Benjamin is a Certified Flight Instructor himself, and has built a reputation in the training world for developing pilots who go on to succeed at the airline level — not just pass a checkride and move on.
Before VNAV, Benjamin founded two technology companies, including TUNED, an app-driven platform for massage therapists, where he led the branding and product from the ground up. That background is why VNAV runs on modern software and a real digital maneuver tracker instead of a paper logbook and a folder of PDFs.
Benjamin has real, working relationships at nearly every major U.S. airline. VNAV’s curriculum isn’t a guess at what airlines want from new hires — it’s built with direct input from the people doing the hiring and the training.
Airlines aren’t just looking for warm bodies anymore; they’re looking for highly competent, systems-minded aviators who can pass a demanding airline training footprint on the first try. We built VNAV to train the next generation of captains using modern technology and unbeatable economics.
— Captain Benjamin Head, Founder, VNAV Flight LabsThe curriculum reflects how airlines actually train and evaluate their own pilots, because it’s built by someone who does that evaluation for a living.
The digital maneuver tracker and student dashboard exist because the founder has already built and shipped consumer software — this isn’t a school’s first attempt at an app.
Two prior ventures mean VNAV is run with real financial discipline and operating rigor, not just enthusiasm for aviation.
Direct relationships across the industry mean graduates aren’t hoping an airline will notice them — the program is already built around what those airlines are looking for.