In short: Rod Machado recalls a student who, on downwind in a Piper Warrior, kept pressing the electric trim switch while trying to talk to the tower. When Rod asked what was wrong, the student joked that the tower had him in a tractor beam. It is a lighthearted story about switch confusion and the fun that keeps flight training memorable.
Video: “You’re Watchin’ too Much Star Trek!” by Rod Machado, from his YouTube channel.
What you’ll learn
- How a wraparound push-to-talk switch and electric trim can get mixed up
- What happened when the student kept pressing the trim instead of the mic
- How Rod handled the moment by taking the airplane
- Why Rod values students with a sense of humor
Mixed-up switches on downwind
Rod tells this story about a student he calls Marty, noting in the description that he changed the name but the story is true. Marty was flying a Piper Warrior whose control wheel had a wraparound push-to-talk switch along with an electric trim switch. On the downwind leg, he confused the two.
Each time he tried to call the tower, he was actually pushing the trim switch forward, trimming the nose down instead of keying the microphone. Rod watched it unfold as Marty’s radio calls went nowhere and the airplane kept wanting to descend.
Beam me up, Tower
When Rod asked what the matter was, Marty, who always had a great sense of humor, announced that the tower had him locked in a tractor beam. Rod told him he had been watching too much Star Trek, took the airplane, and played along with the joke, adding his own self-deprecating riff about the tower keeping an eye on him when he was a student.
Rod knew exactly what was happening. Rather than turning it into a lecture in the moment, he took control and let the humor do its work.
What the story says about teaching
Rod says in the description that every flight instructor eventually collects unusual student stories, and that moments like this are one reason he loves teaching people to fly. The story also carries a quiet practical reminder: know exactly which switch does what on the controls of the airplane you fly, because mixing up the mic and trim switches can change your pitch at a busy point in the pattern.
Go deeper with Rod Machado
If you enjoy Rod’s storytelling and his light touch with aviation lessons, his collection Speaking of Flying offers much more in the same spirit. Learn more in Speaking of Flying.
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