In this episode of the Full Throttle Leaders Podcast, host Michael Falato interviews Jacob Baumler, co‑founder of Coach Air, an aviation intelligence platform focused on safety verification for private aviation and future air‑taxi services. Baumler explains that Coach Air provides a "verify before you fly" experience powered by AI, offering mobile and web booking tools for operators, brokers, FBOs, airports and upcoming vertiports. The platform also includes fintech capabilities to manage payments and creates end‑to‑end audit trails, aiming to prevent the poor user experiences Baumler endured seven years ago when private aviation relied on spreadsheets and phone calls. He describes the market shift toward advanced air mobility, where air‑taxis will serve a broader public, making safety verification essential. Coach Air is a five‑year‑old startup that has built its technology, self‑funded with roughly $1 million from the founders’ previous oil‑gas‑mining venture, and is now onboarding early adopters. Ideal customers are aircraft operators, fixed‑base operators, brokers, airports and future vertiports. Baumler shares contact details (gocoachair.com and phone 320‑287‑0021) and invites interested parties to reach out.
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Hello everybody, Michael Falato here from GTN Full Throttle and Full Throttle Leaders Podcast. I have Jason Baumler from Coach Air. How you doing, Jacob? How you doing?
Hey man, I'm doing great, thank you. Good morning.
So we've talked before. I wanted you on my podcast. I wanted to hear kind of your journey to starting up this whole new aviation intelligence program and solution. Tell us a little bit about what CoachAero is and then how you got here.
Yeah, you know, we've got an aviation intelligence platform and the backbone of all this is safety intelligence. We're making it so people can have a verify before you fly experience. Under the brands that you trust. So an operator, a broker, an FBO, airport, or vertiport in the future having a mobile app or an online booking platform powered by Coach Air.
Mm-hmm.
That's got an AI experience for frictionless booking experience. So if you need to go from Tampa to Orlando and you want an air taxi in the future, you're going to be able to do that in seconds. Um, behind the scenes The infrastructure behind the scenes is is why we're here today. We're we're making it so we verify the legality of a private charter before a passenger sees it and before the money moves. We're managing the movement of money with our fintech as well, and creating end-to-end audit trails. So you know why are we here? Right? That was your next question. Why am I here? I had a bad user experience seven years ago. when I was relying on an industry that, that still runs on spreadsheets and phone calls, right? Private aviation's running like the wild, wild west.
Yeah, let alone the, uh, the, um, the traffic.
Yeah, I mean, I mean, you— the traffic's increasing. It's a 30—
I'm talking about what Trump is doing with, uh, re-engaging all the, um, what's, what's it called, uh, the traffic Oh, the air traffic control systems. I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm sorry.
Our government's spending billions of dollars on that, but what about public safety infrastructure? How you get on the aircraft— is it even safe to get on the aircraft?
And even with these like new companies popping up with these small aircraft, right? I mean, that's probably one of the reasons why you're doing this now, because there's gonna be a lot less, um, bigger planes and a lot less— even people that own a half a million dollar, um, personal jet that might be wanting to get into the whole traffic transportation space, or what?
Yeah, I mean, so I mean, you've got, you've got high net worth individuals that typically fly, or business class that typically fly in jets today. But with air taxis, with, with advanced air mobility coming to the market, um, they're literally air taxis, like, you know, hailing a taxi with Uber today. But what about a verification process in hailing an air taxi? You want to make sure that's airworthy, right? But we're affecting a greater part of the population in regards to a new type of transportation. So you don't get stuck in 2, 3 hours of traffic going from Tampa to Orlando. Now it's a 20-minute flight over there, right? And people are going to pay $300, $500 to be able to do that. And how do you, how do you make sure that you're getting on an air taxi that's verified before you fly. You don't want to get on an illegal air taxi and get frauded in the process. That's what, that's what happened to me 7 years ago with a private jet. It was a terrible experience. I don't want that for anybody, right?
Yeah.
Um, you know, so if we don't fix the current infrastructure for private aviation today, we're going to have big problems as we move in into advanced air mobility and air taxis. And our— and what we've developed here at Coach Air with our aviation intelligence solves that problem.
And what stage is your business in right now?
Hey, um, a difficult stage. We are, we are a startup, Michael. Um, you know, we're— we've built the technology. Um, Heather and I, my wife and I, you know, we've, we've, we've put 7 years into Coach Air at this point. Um, we put about $1 million of our own money Um, all our royalties from our last business, um, and, and just been dedicated to building something that's resilient for private aviation and advanced air mobility. And today we're onboarding early adopters. Um, we're working—
What was your last business, out of curiosity?
Oh, our last business was in oil, gas, and mining. Um, we—
The same industry?
You know, it's, it's not quite the same industry.
I know, it was a joke.
But, but we, we innovated with new technologies and products there. And what we've learned through that process is, is that industry was also stuck in the Stone Age, okay?
Mm-hmm.
And we helped bring them with new technologies into a new revolution, reduce costs, improve safety, and help the environment with our last product and, and in our last business. We're essentially doing the same thing here. Right? We're bringing in new technologies and we're providing safety infrastructure for the general public so we can utilize resources that are actually better for the economy. Like an air taxi is an electric air taxi, right? Um, and instead of taking a private jet from Tampa to Orlando, you might take an air taxi and it might be more affordable in the future.
Um, who are your— who's your ideal customer profile?
Um, an operator, so a person that owns and operates an aircraft. Um, FBO, so a fixed-based operator. Um, you know, a broker, so somebody that brokers those aircraft and, and, you know, sells the entirety of the aircraft to somebody for the— for, for transportation. But also the, the airports and the future vertiports, which—
Mm-hmm.
A vertiport is a charging station, but a location, a destination location passengers go to, to get on an air taxi, right?
Sure.
So if you're going to be going to those locations, we're providing a user experience that attracts the general public and, you know, their passengers with their brand to come, you know, utilize those sources, those resources, so their operators can have more flights.
More often, and what's the best way to reach out to you? And who do you want to? Who do you want? What people do you want to for you to reach out to?
You know, I'd have to say there's you know obviously you can reach out to you know GTM right? But the best way to reach us is at gocoachair.com. So think of coach of the air and gocoachair.com. Go on there, fill out a form, find my contact information, and reach out. Give us a call, shoot us an email, fill out a form. We're gonna get back to you.
Do you want to give your phone number or for your company?
Absolutely. So, Coach Air's number is 320-287-0021.
All right. Well, thanks, Jacob. It's nice seeing you again.
