Aviation Anxiety

The Games Young People Play

By Rod Machado Lucky me. Lucky, because at a recent aviation event, I met and chatted with Sally Melvill, wife of Mike Melvill (SpaceShipOne). She’s a delightful and insightful lady who earned her chops teaching kindergarten. She knows how the... read more

Private Pilot Checkrides: The Good Old Days

My friend, DPE and highly experienced pilot, Mr. Frank Phillips was kind enough to provide me with much of the following documentation in this blog piece. I am grateful that he loves flight training--including its history and development--as much as... read more

Reduce Stalls and Spins with Right-Hand Traffic Patterns

By Rod Machado NOTE: I post these articles, in particular this one, in hopes of receiving some well reasoned input. This article presents an hypothesis that needs testing. Nearly every response so far suggests that pilots should be taught to fly coordinated... read more

The Limited Flight Instructor Certificate

A recent Polish immigrant visited his local flight surgeon to take a third-class medical exam. The doctor had him stand in a specific spot, then pulled down a chart showing the letters: CVOKPTNXZYKV. The doc said to the Polish immigrant,... read more

The FAA's New "Not-So-Slow" Slow Flight Procedure

As most flight instructors know the FAA recently changed the requirements for slow flight in the private pilot ACS. Slow flight must now be accomplished at a speed higher than MCA or Minimum Controllable Airspeed (a speed at which the stall... read more

Your Airline Career

By Rod Machado Now that you've acquired all the necessary flight instructor ratings, you're ready to think about becoming qualified for that airline job. Normally, you should think about getting hired with a regional airline first. This allows you to... read more

Obtaining Your Advanced Pilot Ratings

By Rod Machado Once you've acquired the private pilot certificate, you're ready to fly, have fun and, perhaps, pursue that airline career. If so, here's what you should think about doing. First, you'll need to obtain the following certificates... read more

How to Become a Private Pilot

By Rod Machado What Does it Take? What does it take for you to become a private pilot? If you’re like most people, once you get the thought of flying airplanes in your noggin, it continues to play like a musical... read more

NINE FIRST STEPS TO BECOMING A PILOT

By Rod Machado Here is the sequence of steps you should consider in pursuing your private pilot license (it's technically called a "certificate" but we'll call it a license). As you'll see, the most important steps listed below deal... read more

Young People and Career Choices

By Rod Machado I remember a time when an airplane would fly over our house during dinner and I’d run outside shirtless—in my tiny pants and bare feet—and then point skyward and yell, “Airpwane! Airpwane! Airpwane!” I remember that because... read more

The FORBIDDEN Question

By Rod Machado During my high school years, it was known as the forbidden dance—the Lambada. Do it on the dance floor in front of the principal and you’d be “dancing with the scars” resulting from that encounter. Some things... read more

Rod's Letter to the FAA and ACS Committee Members

Yes, really! The Private Pilot ACS adds 363 Risk Management items to the PPL practical exam testing requirements. Students are responsible for knowing the answers to each and every one of these items, all of which require highly subjective answers (according... read more