775-691-6593 Book a first lesson Book
Short final to runway 19, Saint George, Utah.

Flight training

Flight training at Four Corners Regional.

Short final to runway 19, Saint George, Utah.

Certificates and reviews

Private, Commercial, CFI, and Flight Review.

Flight training with Matthew Cox at Four Corners Regional Airport (KFMN) in Farmington.

Private Pilot

Learn to fly, or finish a certificate you already started. Pattern, cross-country, and the oral, taught for density altitude.

Commercial Pilot

Develop precision in how you operate and control the airplane. Improve aeronautical decision making and risk management while you prepare for a career in aviation.

Certified Flight Instructor

Tie your training and experience together. Learn the steps and process it takes to teach other aviators safely.

Flight Review

A real review, not a rubber stamp. Currency, risk, and how the airplane performs at KFMN.

Also available

Commercial & aircraft services

  • Aircraft ferry & positioning
  • Aerial photography support
  • Aircraft management & fleet support
Ask about these

Part 107 drone services

  • Inspections
  • Insurance work
  • Part 107 operations
  • Part 107 training
Part 107 details

Cessna 172 based at KFMN. Instructor and aircraft $250/hr. Ground instruction or instruction in your own airplane $100/hr.

Ground notes

Don’t fly under the storm

31 Aug 2026

If you are looking at a Private certificate, late August at Four Corners is when this one shows up on the ramp.

The mesas heat. The air gets unstable. Towers build over the high country around Farmington. That is a thunderstorm getting organized, not a reason to hurry the takeoff.

It needs three things: enough moisture, unstable air, and a lift to start it. Around KFMN that lift is often afternoon heat, or air being shoved upslope along the mountains. Then the storm has a life: cumulus, mature, dissipating. The mature stage is the violent one. Rain or hail gets too heavy for the cloud to hold. A downdraft hits the ground. Surface wind changes fast.

You cannot out-climb one in a light airplane. Tops can run 50,000 to 60,000 feet. You also do not duck under it, even if you can see through to the other side. Turbulence and wind shear live under that cloud. Hail can fall miles outside it. Outflow can be well ahead of the rain.

On the high desert the rain sometimes never reaches the ground. Virga, or a ring of blowing dust, may be the only clue of a microburst. The FAA describes a typical one as a mile or two across, lasting minutes, with a downdraft strong enough to take performance away on takeoff or on final.

Do not take off or land into an approaching thunderstorm. Stay at least 20 miles from one that is severe or painting an intense radar echo. If you cannot go around the whole area, wait it out on the ground.

That is how we treat August weather at KFMN.

FAA diagram of the life cycle of a thunderstorm: cumulus, mature, and dissipating stages, from the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Enlarge
Figure 12-28. Life cycle of a thunderstorm.
FAA diagram of movement and turbulence of a maturing thunderstorm, from the Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. Enlarge
Figure 12-29. Movement and turbulence of a maturing thunderstorm.
Belly-camera view of a takeoff over the runway in Four Corners weather, with overcast sky and high-desert terrain. Enlarge
a takeoff in Four Corners weather.

Figures from the FAA Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, FAA-H-8083-25C, Chapter 12 (public domain). Companion reading: Aeronautical Information Manual 7-1-26 and 7-1-27. PHAK Chapter 12 (PDF)

Previous notes

Sunset off the strut at Double Eagle Airport.
Sunset off the strut at Double Eagle Airport.

Training country

Places we fly.

Based at KFMN in Farmington. Cross-country and mountain work includes Albuquerque, Double Eagle, and the high desert plateaus, canyons, and mountain terrain of the desert Southwest.

Over Albuquerque’s West Side, a training destination from KFMN.
Over Albuquerque’s West Side, a training destination from KFMN.
Weather on a training flight toward Albuquerque.
Weather on a training flight toward Albuquerque.
Cruise over the mesas near Cuba, New Mexico.
Cruise over the mesas near Cuba, New Mexico.
On the gauges over the high desert plateaus, canyons, and mountain terrain of the desert Southwest.
On the gauges over the high desert plateaus, canyons, and mountain terrain of the desert Southwest.

Start the conversation

Book a first lesson.

Cessna 172 based at KFMN. Instructor and aircraft $250/hr. Ground instruction or instruction in your own airplane $100/hr.

Book a first lesson Call 775-691-6593