Catherine Cavagnaro
Judge
Catherine Cavagnaro is an aerobatics instructor at Ace Aerobatic School and the Gaston Swindell Bruton Professor of Mathematics at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. In 2018, she was named the FAASTeam Representative of the Year and inducted into the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame.
In 2020, she was named the FAA Flight Instructor of the Year, and in 2022, she was inducted into the National Flight Instructor Hall of Fame. She writes the Flying Smart column for AOPA Pilot Magazine and the CFI to CFI column for AOPA Flight Training Magazine.
She serves as a designated examiner for the Nashville FSDO. Catherine enjoys sharing the science of flight with pilots and helping them fly their airplanes more safely. She flies Wilbur, a Cessna 152 Aerobat, and enjoys cross-country adventures with her sons Jack and Pete in Niky, an acrobatic Beechcraft Bonanza, and has been teaching Jack to fly in Wilbur. When not in the sky or researching airplanes, Catherine loves baking artisan bread, running, knitting, and walking in the Tennessee woods with her dogs.