Meet Our Member Instructors
Sharon de Oliveira
Sharon de Oliveira is Gillespie Flight Center’s Base Manager, in charge of day-to-day operations of the school.
She holds CFI and AGI Certificates and is passionate about teaching. She currently offers private and commercial instruction and flight reviews. Your success is her success and she will be a dedicated resource to ensure you achieve your goals.
Sharon also offers networking and scholarship guidance and can help you minimize the high cost of aviation, whether flying is your hobby or career goal, Give her a call and figure out your training path together!.. and have fun doing it!
Aviv Zmirly
Aviv Zmirly is a CFI-I who grew up around the aviation community. When not instructing you'll probably see him flying his Red Pacer around San Diego or in the desert. With the belief that you never stop learning. Aviv is excited to share his experience with all levels of pilots, from taking a pilot-to-be on a Discovery Flight, to enhancing your skills with an Instrument Rating, and even IPC or Flight Review refreshers.
Come expand your horizons with Aviv, whether it's to build your stick & rudder skills, or learn new avionics and hop in the soup.
Noah Buckner
Noah Buckner grew up in Oceanside, California, and completed all of his flight training at ATP Flight School at Carlsbad Airport (KCRQ). He earned six ratings with zero checkride failures in a 12-month span. As a new CFI at Gillespie Flight Center, Noah is dedicated to providing instruction specifically tailored to each student’s needs and delivered at your own pace. Being a young, married professional living in Southern California, he understands that life is expensive. With Noah as your instructor, students at Gillespie Flight Center will never feel that time or money is being wasted. He loves working with people and brings a deep passion for aviation to every lesson. One of his core values is to always keep learning. With this open mindset, Noah expects to learn a great deal from his students as well, continuously refining his experience as a flight instructor at Gillespie Flight Center.
Tiara Dienes
Tiara Dienes is a CFI-I and MEI whose love for aviation spans from complex multi-engine airplanes to unpowered gliders. Drawing on her background as a Navy veteran and space systems operator, Tiara brings a unique, well-rounded perspective to the right seat.
Tiara specializes in building solid stick and rudder skills while breaking down complex aircraft systems and concepts. Whether your goal is to fly for fun, build a foundation for a professional career, or brush up on skills, she will bring her passion for flight and aerospace to share.
Bryan Kilpatrick
Bryan Kilpatrick is a full-time flight instructor at Gillespie Flight Center with over 1,100 hours of incident-free flying experience in small general aviation piston aircraft. Not pursuing an airline career, his focus is on safe, efficiency-focused instruction. He uses a structured, syllabus-driven approach with clear milestones, delivered in a calm and patient manner with real-world decision-making scenarios.
Bryan transitioned from a successful Fortune 500 career in sales, marketing, and project management with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He brings valuable experience in risk management, efficiency, and customer satisfaction to flight training. Passionate about general aviation aircraft systems, ownership, operations, and maintenance, Bryan owns Gillespie Flight Center’s Beechcraft Sundowner as well as a Beechcraft Sierra and Bonanza A36 based at Gillespie Field. He provides private pilot, commercial, flight review, and complex/high-performance instruction.