All Rod's Posts

     One of my grandfathers was an absentminded poet who kept his grandchildren constantly amused. After a few hours at the typewriter, he'd slip his glasses over his hair and...

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 his book The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Gary Zukav states, “He begins from the center and not from the fringe. He imparts an understanding of the basic principles of...

Trust is the key. First-time passengers consider the pilot a custodian of their being. That’s why it’s important to act in a manner that develops trust. When introducing someone to...

Who among us hasn’t experienced some type of communication problem during flight training? I worry every time I ask a student to put the airplane on the numbers when landing....

My neighbor Bob was fond of saying, “The best gift you can give is a gift that keeps on giving.” I always thought this was a profoundly significant statement, until...

Any activity, regardless of its complexity, can be dissected into smaller, easily learned parts. This is what got me through dance lessons and it would for you, too. “One, two,...

Airplanes with side-by-side seating offer instructors a wonderful opportunity to apply a unique teaching technique. Your seating proximity allows you access not only to your student’s flight controls, but to...

Preflighting an airplane can often become a mundane activity. And students are especially susceptible to this when, after many successive preflights, they fail to find anything wrong with their airplanes....