Good flying books recommendations?

[Chock 17,769]

5 minutes ago, Jude Bradley said:

You've been watching Red Dwarf again, haven't you?

You can never watch too much of that, however, as odd as it might seem, i really do recommend that Biggles book, some of the Biggles novels are a bit cack to be honest, but that one genuinely is an interesting read for all the reasons I mentioned. It might surprise you to see how good it actually is if you read it, sure it's not exactly A Tale of Two Cities, but it's a lot better than many novels I could mention which get undeserved praise heaped upon them, and for someone who is currently learning to fly, as the OP is, it might help with a bit of inspiration, as it mentions a lot of the pitfalls new fliers make, one of which I did on my very first solo in exactly the same way as is portrayed in the book, so it's definitely got the ring of truth to it for me.

Edited June 15, 2018 by Chock

[Jude Bradley 659]

You're right of course,Alan. I am actually tempted by your reply. I read through it all and it seems a good read.

Not sure if you're from the North of England or not, but I recognize the word "cack" - we use in in Ireland too, well back in the 70's maybe 🙂
 

[Chock 17,769]

5 minutes ago, Jude Bradley said:

Not sure if you're from the North of England or not, 🙂
 

Yup, sure am. incidentally, if you do decided to get hold of a copy of that book, I'd recommend finding an old used copy, the older the better, as many of those novels were subsequently edited in more recent versions to make them politically correct, for example, mentions of substance abuse among WW1 fliers were removed etc.

Edited June 15, 2018 by Chock

[Jude Bradley 659]

Ah sure Dublin's idea of emmigration is Liverpool 🙂

A good read I would recommend for general reading would be one I got 2nd hand "Impact Erebus" shipped from New Zealand with the author's signature  - about the TE901 crash. It explains "sector whiteout" very well indeed. There's even a youtube documentary about it available online. 

 

Edited June 15, 2018 by Jude Bradley

[PilotPete99 915]

Rod Michado's Private Pilot Handbook is great, I used it when I was training for my private pilot license.

Cheers, Pete

[Bobsk8 12,489]

If you like airline Books, Final Destination is a good book, about Eastern Airlines demise. And don't forget Joe Sutters book, 747

Edited June 15, 2018 by Bobsk8

[Patco Lch 1,459]

Capt. Mike Rays books are all good for learning specific airliners. Very well illustrated and makes other wise dry technical material fun. Well, kind of fun. 

[Chock 17,769]

Yup, second that Mike Ray recommendation fully. You can't go wrong with his books, which are both knowledgeable and humorous too.

[captain_adf 16]

Check out the books by James Albright, the guy behind code7700.com.  The books chronicle his career starting with USAF training and VIP airlift and then his leadership as a Lt. Col. in the USAF in the 90s.  His website is a treasure trove of pilot education and he's a great writer.

[Manny 1,293]

I would concur with all the folks who recommended "Stick and Rudder" by Wolfgang Langewiesche

But if you have graduated from basic stick and rudder and gotten into IFR. there is only 1 book. "Instrument Pilot flight training manual" by Ralph Butcher

https://www.amazon.com/Instrument-pilot-flight-training-manual/dp/188168802X

This book costs around $65 or so..not the outrageous price you see there. But I see you get a used book for 45$ grab it if you are into IFR.

This is different from all the 101 IFR books out there (like Jeppesen, rod Macordo..etc etc)  that teaches you the theoretical procedure  of IFR flying. The The FAA Instrument book is a good book to get for the theory stuff. Butcher's books is about HOW TO FLY IFR.  There is no other book like this I know of.  

Butcher is the IFR equivalent of Wolfgang for Stick and Rudder. 

 

The 3rd book I would suggest for PPLs is this "The killing zone.. How and Why Pilots die". This is my bed time book. Not any religious text. this is more valuable than any religious text.

Here is a simple statistical truth. A new pilot with a fresh license after 70 hrs of flight is a much safer pilot  than 130 hr experienced pilot. It would take close to 200+hrs of experience for a pilot to be come close to a 70 hr noob pilot.

https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BBT22Q6J2JR0BM9H3CXW

Edited June 16, 2018 by Manny

[jon b 2,041]

For large aircraft flying I’d recommend HANDLING THE BIG JETS this has been the standard U.K. text on large aircraft aerodynamics for years.

For a less dry read on modern -ish airline operations FLYING THE BIG JETS is a good read covering a BA flight from LHR-JFK in a 747-400, at least in the version I own. I believe it was updated in later versions to cover 777 operations.

A fantastic read on historic airline ops, not so much the technical side but the fun human element try THREE DIMENSIONED DARKNESS. Written by a BOAC 707 captain in the early days of the 50’s and 60’s when jets were new, exciting and extremely glamorous.. He tells the story of the crews exploits down route while traveling the world before it became the stale politically correct place it is now. I’ve not read it for years but one story that sticks in my mind was the crew were out at night in some distant foreign land having fun when they found some building materials. I think it was the captain  who was having an early night asleep in his room, so as a prank the crew built a solid brick wall in front of the the captains chalet door completely encapsulating him!

I can only imagine the reaction of airline management and the health and safety executive to that in the present day. 

There’s a few copies to be found at amazon and the like but just digging around there’s free digitised copies on the internet.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015003321828;view=1up;seq=1;skin=mobile

For those of us who have been simming from the C64  80’s era this website is a great resource 

https://www.flightsimbooks.com

I used to love the books by Charles Gulick, in particular A FLIGHT SIMULATOR ODYSSEY https://www.flightsimbooks.com/odyssey/

They really used to add to the immersion and gave a credibility to the early simulators , filling in the gaps left by the wire framed graphics !

Jon

 

Edited June 17, 2018 by jon b

[scianoir 610]

On 6/15/2018 at 7:30 PM, Chock said:

I'm going to throw an odd one into the mix on books about learning to fly, and one that was piublished even earlier than Stick and Rudder, and that's the WE Johns book, Biggles Learns to Fly.

That jolts me straight back to childhood - found it when I was about 10 and loved it!

Another great one to add to the list is North Star Over My Shoulder by Bob Buck - highly recommended!

Bill

Edited June 17, 2018 by scianoir

[mtrainer 136]

Not sure if they are still using it, but I was lucky enough to come across a book at the Barksdale AFB library about 30 years ago- it was called "Basic Airmanship" (or something like that) and was essentially the first book given to pilots in the earliest parts of their training.  It explained everything in a very ordered, logical, no nonsense way.  A beacon of clarity I must say.

Mark

 

[John_Cillis 2,406]

On 6/14/2018 at 9:58 PM, ptr1959w said:

Hi there,

What are some good flying books that you guys could recommend? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Livingston_Seagull

[birdguy 3,943]

I would go three already mentioned here.

Stick and Rudder

Fate is the Hunter

Jonathan Livingston Seagull

Also Bach's Stranger to the Ground

Noel