RUMFORD — Nori Hoshimoto will teach you how to repair your car – but would like to teach you how to fly a plane.

“I hope to start a flight school in Bethel, someday,” said Hoshimoto, who said he has received a lot of encouragement for the idea.

Hoshimoto, who works as a mechanic, says his passion for aviation began with paramotors, then progressed to free-flying off Streaked Mountain in Oxford. Eventually, he took a discovery flight to see if piloting airplanes was right for him.

Flight school, he admits, was difficult. “If I didn’t have a great instructor, I probably would’ve quit,” he said, citing both the financial and mental challenges of learning to fly. Still, he persisted – and today, whether in the garage or at the airport, Hoshimoto is often in teaching mode.

At Bethel Airport, where his Grumman Trainer is parked, he demonstrates a thorough pre-flight inspection – checking wings, flaps, gas caps, rudder, and more. He explains how air pressure is tested, then climbs inside the cockpit. “You always follow the checklist, no matter how much of it you’ve memorized,” he said.

To earn his pilot’s license, Hoshimoto completed a written test, an oral check-ride, and a flight test – an experience he calls “the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” By comparison, he says, “Mechanics is easy. My brain is wired for it.”

After graduating from Mountain Valley High School, Hoshimoto attended a one-year automotive trade program, then worked in several garages in Massachusetts. When he lost a job he’d held for four years, he bought a one-way ticket to Hawaii, where he volunteered in exchange for room and board. Later, he worked as a WWOOFer (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) in California before returning to Maine in 2016 to join the family business started by his father when he was just a baby.

Today he runs Toshimobile, on Potato House Road – technically in Rumford, but near Milton Township and Bethel. Most of his customers are from Bethel. On a recent day, Caleb Clarke’s red-and-yellow flatbed truck and Charlie Reiss’s green Tacoma were parked out front, waiting for repairs.

Hoshimoto appreciates the flexibility his job gives him. On rainy days, he works in the shop. On nicer days, he often flies. “This job, I’m good at it. I like it, I don’t love it,” he said.

He and his friend Alex Hoyt plan to co-teach a class on car maintenance. Hoshimoto would focus on Toyotas, which he says are “not a luxury car, but are super reliable.” Hoyt would cover Subarus. “If people like to do their own maintenance, I could give them tips,” Hoshimoto said.

He grew up on Potato House Road with his two sisters. “Both my sisters are super smart,” he said. Shizuko is an immigration lawyer, and Meika, who lives in Bethel with her family, writes children’s books.

His father now devotes much of his time to growing thousands of shiitake mushrooms in a nearby hothouse. Each September, the family sells them fried at the Common Ground Fair – a 25-year tradition Hoshimoto describes as, “like a family reunion.” His mother, he says, “escaped Japan and could tell you an interesting story, too.”

When he first returned to Maine in 2016, Hoshimoto said it felt, “a little depressing.” But over time, he built community – through his customers and through flying.

“I’m glad I stuck around,” he said.