General Books

Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying

Wolfgang Langewiesche

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Total reviews: 65 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

WHAT'S IN STICK AND RUDDER:

• The invisible secret of all heavier-than-air flight: the Angle of Attack. What it is, and why it can't be seen. How lift is made, and what the pilot has to do with it.
• Why airplanes stall How do you know you're about to stall?
• The landing approach. How the pilot's eye functions in judging the approach.
• The visual clues by which an experienced pilot unconsciously judges: how you can quickly learn to use them.
• "The Spot that does not move." This is the first statement of this phenomenon. A foolproof method of making a landing approach across pole lines and trees.
• The elevator and the throttle. One controls the speed, the other controls climb and descent. Which is which?
• The paradox of the glide. By pointing the nose down less steeply, you descend more steeply. By pointing the nose down more steeply, you can glide further.
• What's the rudder for? The rudder does NOT turn the airplane the way a boat's rudder turns the boat. Then what does it do?
• How a turn is flown. The role of ailerons, rudder, and elevator in making a turn.
• The landing--how it's made. The visual clues that tell you where the ground is.
• The "tail-dragger" landing gear and what's tricky about it. This is probably the only analysis of tail-draggers now available to those who want to fly one.
• The tricycle landing gear and what's so good about it. A strong advocacy of the tricycle gear written at a time when almost all civil airplanes were taildraggers.
• Why the airplane doesn't feel the wind.
• Why the airplane usually flies a little sidewise.
• Plus: a chapter on Air Accidents by Leighton Collins, founder and editor of AIR FACTS. His analyses of aviation's safety problems have deeply influenced pilots and aeronautical engineers and have contributed to the benign characteristics of today's airplane.

Stick and Rudder is the first exact analysis of the art of flying ever attempted. It has been continously in print for thirty-three years. It shows precisely what the pilot does when he flies, just how he does it, and why.

Because the basics are largely unchanging, the book therefore is applicable to large airplanes and small, old airplanes and new, and is of interest not only to the learner but also to the accomplished pilot and to the instructor himself.

When Stick and Rudder first came out, some of its contents were considered highly controversial. In recent years its formulations have become widely accepted. Pilots and flight instructors have found that the book works.

Today several excellent manuals offer the pilot accurate and valuable technical information. But Stick and Rudder remains the leading think-book on the art of flying. One thorough reading of it is the equivalent of many hours of practice.

The Few: The American "Knights of the Air" Who Risked Everything to Fight in the Battle of Britain

Alex Kershaw

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 32 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

By the summer of 1940 World War II had been under way for nearly a year. Hitler was triumphant and planning an invasion of England. But the United States was still a neutral country and, as Winston Churchill later observed, "the British people held the fort alone." A few Americans, however, did not remain neutral. They joined Britain's Royal Air Force to fight Hitler's air aces and help save Britain in its darkest hour. The Few is the never-before-told story of these thrill-seeking Americans who defied their country's neutrality laws to fly side-by-side with England's finest pilots. They flew the lethal and elegant Spitfire, and became "knights of the air." With minimal training and plenty of guts they dueled the skilled pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe in the blue skies over England. They shot down several of Germany's fearsome aces, and were feted as national heroes in Britain. By October 1940, they had helped England win the greatest air battle in the history of aviation. At war's end, just one of the "Few" would be alive. The others died flying, wearing the RAF's dark blue uniform-each with a shoulder patch depicting an American eagle. As Winston Churchill said, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

Robert Coram

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 92 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A larger-than-life fighter pilot and genius of aviation, engineering and military strategy, Boyd dared to challenge the intractable military bureaucracy and its outmoded practices. The single-minded determination developed in his youth carried him on to renown for his skill as a fighter pilot, for his passion as an instructor, his legendary appetite and lack of respect for his superiors. But this was just the start as he went on to transform the way military planes were designed, fighting the air force's entrenched ideas every step of the way. Boyd's breakthrough designs were crucial to the creation of the F-15 and 16, and he dedicated years to an innovative theory of conflict that eventually made him the most influential military theoretician since Sun Tzu. A magnet for bright young men dissatisfied with the impractically old-fashioned methods of the military, his circle of "acolytes" extended his influence through their headline-grabbing Reform Movement. By the time of Boyd's death his name had reached the furthest corners of the military establishment. Coram paints a colourful portrait of this extremely unconventional man who locked horns with the most conventional of bureaucracies - and won.

Miracle in the Andes: 72 Days on the Mountain and My Long Trek Home

Nando Parrado, Vince Rause

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 101 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the first hours there was nothing, no fear or sadness, just a black and perfect silence.

Nando Parrado was unconscious for three days before he woke to discover that the plane carrying his rugby team, as well as their family members and supporters, to an exhibition game in Chile had crashed somewhere deep in the Andes. He soon learned that many were dead or dying—among them his own mother and sister. Those who remained were stranded on a lifeless glacier at nearly 12,000 feet above sea level, with no supplies and no means of summoning help. They struggled to endure freezing temperatures, deadly avalanches, and then the devastating news that the search for them had been called off.

As time passed and Nando’s thoughts turned increasingly to his father, who he knew must be consumed with grief, Nando resolved that he must get home or die trying. He would challenge the Andes, even though he was certain the effort would kill him, telling himself that even if he failed he would die that much closer to his father. It was a desperate decision, but it was also his only chance. So Nando, an ordinary young man with no disposition for leadership or heroism, led an expedition up the treacherous slopes of a snow-capped mountain and across forty-five miles of frozen wilderness in an attempt to find help.

Thirty years after the disaster Nando tells his story with remarkable candor and depth of feeling. Miracle in the Andes—a first person account of the crash and its aftermath—is more than a riveting tale of true-life adventure: it is a revealing look at life at the edge of death and a meditation on the limitless redemptive power of love.


From the Hardcover edition.

Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge: FAA-H-8083-25, December 2003 (FAA Handbooks series)

Federal Aviation Administration

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A great digest of aviation basics 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is definitely the best introductory book to the main aviation concepts I ever read.
Each issue - from flight static and dynamics to FCS, propulsion, avionics and navigation, weather theory and influence, flight and ground operations - is considered in this book with a technical, but easily understandable, approach. The book is, as a matter of fact, an introduction and, therefore, is not suggested to experienced readers. It's, in any case, a five-star introduction.

Editorial Review:

Required reading for pilots for more than 25 years, this handbook is used extensively as a reference source for the FAA Knowledge Exams and provides information for training and guiding student pilots. Including basic knowledge that is essential for all pilots, from beginning students to those pursuing more advanced pilot certificates, it introduces pilots to the broad spectrum of knowledge that will be needed as they progress through their pilot training. Principles of flight, aircraft and engine structures and systems, weight/balance and performance calculations, charts and navigation, weather theory, reports, forecasts, and flight manuals are among the subjects covered. Formerly published as an Advisory Circular (AC 61-23C), this new edition is now listed as an official FAA Handbook (#FAA-H-8083-25).

Air Traffic Control Career Prep: A Comprehensive Guide to One of the Best-Paying Federal Government Careers, Including Test Preparation for the Initial ATC Exams (Air Traffic Control Career Prep)

Patrick Mattson

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Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Could not be happier! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

All I can say is that the practice sets and cd-rom thoroughly prepared me for the AT-SAT. I received my book two and a half weeks before the test, and it prepared me so well that I ended with a test score above 95%. So thanks to Patrick Mattson I will soon be on my way to Oklahoma city and hopefully a very wonderful career in air traffic control!!!

Editorial Review:

This valuable guide—essential for anyone interested in or already pursuing a lucrative career as an air traffic controller—thoroughly explains the air traffic control field and what training and qualification requirements are needed. Part career guide, this handbook provides a brief introduction to the aviation industry and discusses the role of the FAA while also explaining what an air traffic controller can expect in terms of working conditions, available positions, benefits, and salary. A comprehensive test preparation section filled with questions, answers, practice tests, explanations, and test-taking tips and strategies helps applicants prepare for the current air traffic controller FAA entrance exam (AT-SAT). A helpful list of employment contacts and a CD-ROM are also included.

Airport

Byron Barton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

We love this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

This book is great to prepare for a trip on an airplane. We were getting ready to move to Australia and this book along with the "Shae by Air" DVD made a huge difference for us with our 2 & 3 year old boys.
Now that we are settled abroad, we just went on a short flight and brought the book with us to the airport-- they could not believe they were actually in the airport while looking at the pictures in the book of the check in counter, security line, and waiting area-- it was great!

Toddler son loves this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Our son is 27 months old, and loves this book. As soon as I finish reading it, he wants to read it again. I think it would be great preparation for a toddler's first airplane flight.

Great book for little first time flyers!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I read this book to my 2 1/2 yr old son over and over again in preperation for his first airplane trip. He loved all of the sounds that the airplane made on our trip and wasn't scared or startled at all by the loud engines etc. I highly recommend this book for little first time flyers.

Editorial Review:

Describes and pictures what happens from the time an airplane passenger arrives at an airport, and boards an airplane until the plane is in the air.

Lockheed SR-71 Operations in the Far East (Combat Aircraft)

Paul Crickmore

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Editorial Review:

Even before the first operational flight of the legendary Lockheed U-2 spy plane, aircraft design genius Kelly Johnson began work with his team at the company's "Skunk Works" plant on the type's replacement. The result was the SR-71. First deployed on March 9, 1968, this tri-sonic 'hotrod' flew its first operational sortie over North Vietnam just 12 days later. On that debut mission, the Blackbird overflew surface-to-air missile sites with complete impunity, collecting the detailed intelligence that led directly to the end of the siege of Khe Sanh in the process.

Thereafter, the SR-71 roamed freely over areas previously denied to the vulnerable U-2, capturing photographic, radar and electronic intelligence. This book examines the immense impact this revolutionary aircraft had, not only on North Vietnam but during the Cold War as a whole, gathering information about the Soviet nuclear submarine fleet based in Vladivostok as well as the port's defenses, monitoring the actions of North Korea and flying four 11-hour, non-stop sorties into the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War in the late 1980s.

Rotorcraft Flying Handbook (FAA Handbooks)

Federal Aviation Administration

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

As good as it gets 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I am thinking seriously about learning to fly helicopters at the age of 55. A private pilot's license can be purchased for a flat fee of $12,500 in my area, including a lot of extra hours to really add that extra safety factor of assurance beyond the minimum required.

I bought this book to get a sense of what I would be getting into, and I find it fully satisfactory. It is the "official" FAA book and unlike most government publications I have seen in the past, this one is well-organized, fully illustrated into color, with figures also in color.

It is divided into two parts, the first part deals with helicoptors, and the second part (chapters 15 through 21) with gyroplanes, which are a hybrid capable of achieving fixed wing speeds and often with wings that increase stability.

The final chapter is about aerunautical decision-making.

The FAA designation for this handbook is FAA-H-8083-21.

I appreciate this handbook--it makes it crystal clear that serious training will demand my total attention, and that in combination, the complexity of the aerodynamics of the helicopter, the instruments required to calibrate the operations of the helicopter, and the unpredictability and force of weather (not covered in this book, but I am also an offshore sailing skipper with an advanced weather certificate) all make piloting a helicopter a very challenging endeavor.

This handbook also persuaded me that the training facility I have found, which includes a flight simulator, the better for that--I definitely want to feel comfortable in a simulator as part of the training.

Editorial Review:

This series of textbooks and supplements for pilots, student pilots, aviation instructors, and aviation specialists provides information on every topic needed to qualify for and excel in the field of aviation. Most FAA Knowledge Exams’ questions are taken directly from the information presented in these texts.

Written for applicants preparing for the private, commercial, or flight instructor certificate with a helicopter or gyroplane class rating, this guide covers both aeronautical knowledge and skill for operating rotorcraft vehicles. It is also a valuable tool for flight instructors as a teaching aid. This is the Basic Helicopter Handbook (Advisory Circular 61-13B) updated and renamed. This is FAA handbook FAA-H-8083-21.

Principles of Helicopter Flight

W. J. Wagtendonk

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Principles of Helicopter Flight 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I purchased this book as an optional book for a helicopter theory class, knowing nothing about helicopters going into the class. Since, I have found this book an essential read to supplement the FAA's rotorcraft flying handbook. Principles of Helicopter Flight delves deep into the theory of helicopter operation more than the FAA version, with chapters broken up well for each subject. It also follows a very logical, simple format so that people not familiar with basic physics concepts can pick up the book and learn everything they need to know. Overall, it is the perfect text for new pilots and veterans alike. Engineers will have to use it only as reference, as it does not delve too deep into the equations of flight theory and aerodynamics.Principles of Helicopter Flight

Editorial Review:

Recently updated, this comprehensive handbook explains the aerodynamics of helicopter flight, as well as how to perform typical helicopter maneuvers, unlike many aviation training manuals which are strictly how-to guides. Beginning with the basics of aerodynamics, each step of the process is fully illustrated and thoroughly explained—from the physics of helicopter flying and advanced operations to helicopter design and performance—providing helicopter pilots with a sound technical foundation on which to base their in-flight decisions. Containing discussions on the NOTAR (no tail rotor) system, strakes, and frequently misunderstood principles of airspeed and high-altitude operations, this revised edition also includes the latest procedures and regulations from the Federal Aviation Administration.