All Rod's Posts

It happened in the early 1990s. That was the time we saw the diminishing influence of WWII flight instructors (and their instructional progeny). Our pilots didn’t fly jets during that...

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...

Novelist Arnold Bennett once wrote, “I myself have seen it empty buildings that had been full; and I know that it will scatter a crowd more quickly than a hose-pipe,...

When a humorist is asked about the looming pilot shortage, he proposes booster seats to solve the problem. When the aviation industry is asked about it, it offers a range...

Have you ever heard someone say that flying commercially is safer than walking? I have. Every time I hear this statement I wonder why we don't put insurance machines in...

There I was at my local airport café being pummeled by anti-aviation propaganda. "Flying is dangerous," said an experienced (and easily overheard) instructor on the other side of the room...

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...

Name one thing that you'd spend thousands of dollars on, develop a relationship with, care a great deal for, then might fear being around. Any parent who said "teenagers" picked...

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...