This entertaining and unique video series, hosted by NAFI Director of Program Development John Niehaus (CFII/ATP), poses the same ten questions to current and retired flight instructors about their flight training experiences. Without question we know that shared learning and wisdom is vital in aviation. That’s what this program intends – to hear about the varying experiences our fellow instructors had in the same situations to learn in ways we otherwise might not.

Questions include:
“How did you come to be a flight instructor?”
“What did you learn as an instructor that benefits your efforts outside of flying?”
“What was it like when you gave your first lesson?”

Viewers can directly compare the unique responses and experiences of these instructors for common threads of success in flight instruction and beyond. The benefits include getting ideas for one’s own instruction practices, get tips on how ways to transition into other areas of aviation such as flight school ownership, airlines, NAFI Master CFIs and more.

If you have an interest in participating or have a friend or colleague you recommend, send us an email to [email protected].

Ep. 25 w/Rod Machado Aviation Author/Columnist, Speaker, and Humorist:

• Hundreds to fly from the right seat as a Certified Flight Instructor
• Thousands as a classroom instructor
• 350,000+ through his over 400 aviation articles
• 100,000+ through his training materials
• Several million with his flight lessons on MS Flight Simulator

 Rod...

• has degrees in Psychology and Aviation Science
• is Airline Transport Pilot rated with all fixed wing-flight powered instructor ratings
• started instructing student pilots full time in 1973
• taught grounds schools often to classrooms of 200 starting in 1975
• has taught many hundreds of aviation safety seminars—US, Canada & Europe
• has taught hundreds of Flight Instructor Re-validation Clinics—US, Canada & Europe
• 10,000 hours flying were earned the HARD WAY—ONE flight instructor hour at a time
• co-wrote and co-anchored ABC’s Wide World of Flying for five years
• was the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's National Flight Instructor Spokesman for 15 years (AOPA is the largest aviation association)
• asked by Microsoft to design the lessons and be CFI voice for MS Flight Simulator
• was a columnist for AOPA Pilot magazine for 18 years
• was a columnist for Flight Training magazine for 25 years
• personally writes and illustrates all of his own training materials—unlike some who put their name on employee's work
• uses humor like no other to help you remember the lessons
• has Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido black belts and 20 years experience in Gracie Jujitsu  (Maybe why Rod never has difficulty collecting his instructor fees.)