I'm Wes Roche, an aviation enthusiast who caught the bug at age 4 when my great uncle flew his Cherokee 140 from Vermont into a small strip a few miles from our home in Minnesota.  While I was too young to fly with him then, I sat in the cockpit and looked at all the gauges and controls.  And just that quickly I was hooked.  So when I was about 13 I took any odd job I could find and started saving money for flight training.  At 15, I started taking lessons, then soloed on my 16th birthday and got my private license on my 17th birthday. Not long after that the reality of college expenses set in, and my flying took a back seat for a while. 

In 1999 I got back into flying by joining a J3 flying club where I got my tailwheel endorsement.  I was in a number of flying clubs through the years, even helping start one here at Sandpoint.  In 2015 I went partners on a Luscombe project, and to make a VERY LONG story short, it flew in 2022 for the first time in 35 years!  The following year my youngest son started taking lessons, soloed and got his private pilot certificate - all in the Luscombe.  It was during flights with him, informally teaching a few things here and there that I realized I really enjoyed instructing and decided to work towards becoming a professional flight instructor. I formally started that direction in 2024, earning my commercial license that year, instrument rating the following year, and CFI in early 2026.  Now starting a new chapter, I'm excited to share the joy of flying with others and hope to spark interest and appreciation of the old classics of aviation.  

In my spare time I mentor students at the local high school ACES program, which teaches young people skills needed to build aircraft and pursue careers in aviation.  I'm also a contract engineer specializing in aircraft structures and stress analysis.