How Learning to Fly Transformed Henry’s Life: A Rod Machado Story

6 months ago1 day ago3 mins

In short: Rod Machado tells the story of Henry, a 16-year-old who was struggling in school when his father brought him to the airport in 1976. Rod taught him to solo, and ten years later spotted him in the right seat of a Boeing 737. Rod’s point is that flying gives people a chance at earned success that can transform their lives.

Video: “Learning to Fly Transforms Your Life” by Rod Machado, from his YouTube channel.

What you’ll learn

What astronaut Michael Collins said about how spaceflight changed him
Why Henry’s father wanted his son to solo an airplane
Rod’s early rule as a young instructor about ending every lesson with success
The chance reunion at Fort Lauderdale ten years later
Why earned self-esteem matters more than praise

Engineer to poet

Rod opens with Michael Collins, who orbited the moon alone during Apollo 11 while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the surface. Collins later said he went up as an engineer but came back a poet. For Rod, that captures what flying can do: transform people in ways that are sometimes subtle and sometimes not so subtle.

Henry’s first solo

In 1976, a father brought his 16-year-old son Henry to the airport where Rod, then just 23, was instructing. Henry had serious trouble paying attention in school and was in danger of being sent to reform school. His father, a private pilot who hadn’t flown in a long time, understood how powerful it is to solo an airplane. He couldn’t afford a full training program, but he asked Rod to get Henry to solo.

Rod says he knew one thing even then: never let anyone leave the airplane without experiencing some kind of success. After about 15 hours of training, and some gentle humor along the way, Henry soloed and did a wonderful job. Then he and his father disappeared from the airport.

A reunion on the ramp

Ten years later, in 1986, Rod was walking across the ramp at Fort Lauderdale to board a flight when he heard someone calling his name. He looked up and there was Henry, 26 years old, a college graduate, sitting in the right seat of a Boeing 737 in full uniform.

Rod’s reflection is that Henry simply needed an opportunity to succeed at something he loved, one that gave him self-esteem he had earned rather than been handed. That, Rod says, is how transforming aviation can be. He closes with a lighthearted story about a nervous student’s first solo at Long Beach, a reminder that every pilot starts somewhere.