Supplemental Resources for the Private Pilot Journey
Becoming a pilot means signing up for a lifetime of learning. The Private Pilot ground schools cover all the material that’s required for the knowledge test. However, there are a treasure trove of additional resources that I found extremely helpful during my journey and I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites. I consider all of these resources to be well worth the investment.
Book: The Killing Zone: How & Why Pilots Die by Paul A. Craig
The title of this book might induce a little anxiety and I think this was entirely intentional. The standard training material helps us understand what the regulations allow. This book does a great job of helping us learn from the mistakes made by others. The other important bit is that Paul explains how to avoid repeating those mistakes. Generally, the greatest distribution of those mistakes are for pilots who have between 50 and 350 total flight hours. This book helped me to inform my personal minimums and provided lots of practical advice for identifying these hazards while still on the ground.
Book: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying by Wolfgang Langewiesche
This is a classic that still has tremendous value. It was well worth my time to read twice. Recovering from a stall is not intuitive for most people. When the ground is rushing towards you the instinct to pull back on the stick can be strong. “Getting the stick forward” is repeated many times in this book and I have no doubt that Wolfgang played a part in welding this into my brain. This book left me with a solid understanding of Angle of Attack.
Book: How to Fly an Airplane Handbook by Rod Machado
This book has some fantastic content to aid in understanding concepts and techniques. While your CFI has their own methods, this book can be a valuable supplement to aid in discussions. For example, Rod has a great chapter on approaching to land that includes techniques for determining if you are on the glidepath by using the Trapezoidal shape method. If your CFI hasn’t introduced this technique, it could be valuable to review it with them an evaluate whether it would be valuable to add it to your training.
Manual: VFR Communications – A Pilot-Friendly Manual by Pilot Workshops
This concise manual is laid out very well with helpful illustrations and useful context commentary. It proved a valuable resource to me as I prepared for those solo flights that encompassed different radio work scenarios. If your primary airport is non-towered, there are great tips for towered airports and vice versa.
Engines by Mike Busch
The subtitle “What every aircraft owner needs to know…” should not dissuade you if you are not an aircraft owner. While the book is quite technical, I found it very useful to read through to capture the main ideas without getting too involved in the details. For example, there is some very practical information on leaning and Cylinder Head Temperatures (CHT) vs Exhaust Gas Temperatures (EGT). This book is responsible for helping me develop the practice of monitoring CHT, especially on those hot summer days when a sustained climb at Vy could be harmful to the engine. I feel like the book did a great job of making me less ignorant when it comes to understanding the powerplant that keeps me aloft.
Resources
Note that some “books” may be available in eBook or Audio formats
The Killing Zone : How & Why Pilots Die by Paul A. Craig
Book : Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying by Wolfgang Langewiesche
How to Fly an Airplane Handbook by Rod Machado
Manual: VFR Communications – A Pilot-Friendly Manual by Pilot Workshops