By Rod Machado Nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, is more important to a person’s success at learning to fly than having a good flight instructor. Yes, there are many good flight instructors in the aviation business, just as there are many good doctors and lawyers in their respective businesses. Unfortunately, there are also individuals …
By Rod Machado I’m curious about your experience with bad flight instructors and hope you’ll add to this blog with your comments. Of course, most flight instructors do a fantastic job. I just can’t say that LOUD enough: Most flight instructors do a fantastic job. But not all do! And when they don’t, they cause a …
By Rod Machado Fear. It’s a nasty little word that most pilots treat like someone’s bad toupee. Don’t think about it; don’t speak of it and, if it attracts your attention, pretend you don’t notice it. We often try to ignore fear and, in the process, we deny what it represents. In fact, a little …
By Rod Machado Are you interested in sabotaging your flight training experience? OK, then let me help. Here’s how to do it. Before you begin your flight training, demand to fly with as many different instructors at the flight school as you possibly can. Insist on being bumped from one instructor to the next. Don’t …
By Rod Machado Every student wants a good instructor. That’s given. What’s often not understood by these same students is that good instructors also want good students. The problem is that no one teaches students how to be good students. Sorry, but offering the instructor an apple prior to a lesson or not staring at the …
By Rod Machado On the day of my first flying lesson, a tiny voice spoke to me in a Sicilian-like accent. It pleaded, “Rodney, donta goh, donta goh. I cook you pasta, I cook you pizza. Just donta goh flying today,” I’ll never forget that voice—it came from my grandmother, standing in the kitchen. I …
By Rod Machado Pop psychologist Leo Buscaglia once said, “When you learn something new, you become something new.” This is a vivid description of the benefits of learning to fly. Students, in the throes of flight training, are constantly undergoing profound personal changes. They’re becoming something new with each flight because of the unique perspective …
By Rod Machado When Bob stepped into his Cessna 172 on a recent Sunday morning, he had no idea how difficult it would be to apply power for takeoff. No, his airplane was fine. His anxiety level wasn’t. He sat poised for departure but couldn’t prevail against the dread he felt at the thought of flying …
