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Flight instructor,
public speaker, humorist are all interesting
careers.
However, when you combine them all into
one whopper of a job then things get very
exciting indeed. This is what Rod Machado
has done with his fast-paced lifestyle.
Ever since he was a kid, aviation was a
destiny for this well-known aviation professional.
His
website says it all.Machado traded
his motorcycle for flying lessons at the
age of 16. His parents were delighted he
gave up riding with the vegetarian motorcycle
gang known as the sprouts. Captured by the
romance and adventure of flight in a Taylorcraft
L-2 at Amelia Reid Aviation in San Jose,
Rod has remained hooked ever since. In fact,
he is one of the few Airline-Transport-Rated
pilots who still gets excited by a Cessna
150 fly-by (which he claims he likes because
it lasts so much longer that the Mooney,
Bonanza and Malibu fly-by).
Rod is a professional speaker who travels
across the United States and Europe delighting
his listeners with upbeat and lively presentations.
Machado truly loves mixing it up with the
audience. His unusual talent for simplifying
the difficult and adding humor to make the
lessons stick has made him a popular lecturer
both in and out of aviation. Rod's presentations
include topics as diverse as Risk Assessment,
Defensive Flying and Handling In-flight
Emergencies. His non-aviation topics include:
Safety Awareness programs, Humor as a Communication
Tool and The Lost Art of Thinking. Additionally,
he is known for his rapid fire, humorous
banquet presentations.
One Man:
Many Jobs
Flying since 1970 and instructing since
1973, Rod has over 8,000 hours of flight
time earned the hard way One CFI hour at
a time. Since 1977 he has taught hundreds
of flight instructor revalidation clinics
and safety seminars and he was named the
1991 Western Region Flight Instructor of
the Year. Rod holds all fixed-wing (powered)
flight instructor ratings as well as an
airline transport pilot license. He also
owns an A36 Bonanza.
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For six years, Rod wrote and co-anchored
ABC's Wide World of Flying. He is AOPA's
National CFI spokesman and a National Accident
Prevention Counselor appointed by the FAA
in Washington D. C. Rod is the flight instructor
voice on Microsoft's Flight Simulator starting
with the 2000 version and he wrote the flight
lesson tutorials for the textbook that accompanies
the software. He is also an instructor on
Cessna's Computer-Based Private Pilot CD-ROM
and the author of four books, four DVDs,
a 14 CD audio album, a Private Pilot Course
on 30 audio CDs and a CFI image CD. You
can read his monthly column in AOPA Pilot
magazine as well as in Flight Training Magazine.
Rod's eclectic interests are reflected
by his equally varied academic credentials.
He holds degrees in Aviation Science and
Psychology. Rod believes you must take time
to exercise or you'll have to take time
to be sick. Holding black belts in the Korean
disciplines of Tae Kwon Do and Hapkido as
well over a decade of experience in Gracie
Jujitsu, he gets his exercise from practicing
and teaching martial arts. He also runs
20 miles a week and claims it's uphill both
ways.
A Word
from Rod
While all of us may not keep the busy that
rod Machado possess, we may be interest
in one or more of the various aviation jobs
he holds. From public speaker to flight
instructor, Machado proves that the aviation
industry offers a host of work opportunities.
His television work recently included several
educational segments on the
Sport
Pilot TV program. This week's video
features Rod Machado discussing in-flight
turbulence. Enjoy watching aviation's renaissance
man in action.
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