Since I started flying, I’ve amassed quite a collection of aviation books. During this period of time, I’ve also been focusing on eliminating clutter and moving, so I have focused on value when building my little aviation library. In this post, I’ll look at what’s on my bookshelf and why. In the interest of full disclosure, I will be offering links to the products on Amazon through the Amazon Associates program.
Some of the first books I purchased were the Gleim Private Pilot study guide, the Jeppesen Private Pilot textbook and the Jeppesen Private Pilot Maneuvers Guide. I highly recommend all of these books, as they all added quite a bit to my studying for my Private Pilot Certificate. The Gleim study guide is a great way to study for the written exam because it groups all the test questions into knowledge areas so that you can understand just what you need to pass the exam. The Jeppesen book on the other hand is much larger and more thorough. It is great for more in depth study prior to individual lessons and contains some really good illustrations. Which is also the strong point of their maneuvers guide. I got it a little later in my training and I wish I’d had it from the beginning.
The next books I acquired, which I wish had been first, are Stick and Rudder and Making Perfect Landings. Stick and Rudder helped me actually understand the concept of angle of attack and other complex topics while Making Perfect Landings taught me a lot about landing planes. These two books have definitely earned their spots on my shelf. They’re the two books I consistently recommend to every pilot.
To finish out my Private Pilot Certificate studies, I bought the ASA Private Pilot Oral Exam Guide, and I really recommend it. Oral exams can vary quite a bit, but this book is a great resource for mock oral exam questions because it is full of questions like examiners ask, and the answers are right there along with supporting documentation. Couple this guide with some intelligence on your examiner, and you can study specific areas for your exam.
Weather Flying, Modern Airmanship, and the Gleim Intstrument Pilot study guide are my newest acquisitions as I begin studying for my Instrument Rating. The study guide is almost exactly like the Private Pilot edition, but about 2 or 3 times thicker. It’s very daunting when you consider this is the bare minimum you need to know. I picked up a copy of Weather Flying because someone recommended it to me and I can see why they recommended it, too. It is a largely nontechnical book that is best summed up by its title. Modern Airmanship, which was updated in the 90s and sold as Van Sickle’s Modern Airmanship, was a surprise find at a used book store in town. I have a third edition from 1966, but I think most of the original editions are pretty much the same. Modern Airmanship covers pretty much every aspect of flying in one largish volume. Something I really like is that it typically offers a combination of military and civilian flying. For example, it is the only book on my shelf that explains a traditional traffic pattern and the overhead break traffic pattern.
To round out my collection, I have recently acquired Bob Hoover’s autobiography Forever Flying and Flying the Mountains. I have read Bob Hoover’s book, and all I can say is that it led me to understand exactly how a man learns to roll a plane and pour tea backhanded at the same time. I really recommend this for anyone, because I read it virtually cover to cover over one weekend. That doesn’t happen much, but I just couldn’t put it down. Flying the Mountains I bought because I was too cheap to buy F.E. Potts book or Sparky Imeson’s books. So far it has been a great introduction to mountain flying and mountain weather.