How to Be a Pilot
Many people dream of becoming a pilot and it remains a dream. But it can be done. And one of the keys to this is to understand what is required, the training involved, the opportunities that exist for candidates from around the world and the cost. It might surprise you to learn that it is possible to become a professional pilot by spending up to $100,000 or nothing at all.
This book will guide you through everything you need to know about becoming a pilot. It can be as a private pilot flying for pleasure, a commercial pilot working for an airline or a charter company, a flying instructor or a military pilot flying fast jets, large transport aircraft or helicopters.
This book will tell you what you need to know such as education, age, medical fitness and language proficiency. Then you will learn about the different training modules – what is involved, how long they last, the costs and opportunities.
There is a World Aviation Authorities Contact List which gives you access to almost every country’s aviation authority where you can get up to date information on becoming a pilot anywhere in the world. If you have ever dreamed of becoming a pilot, this is your first step.
The Air Passenger’s Guide to Flying
Millions of people fly to places around the world each day. It is the safest form of travel. But for the vast majority of passengers, what really happens in the cabin, in the cockpit and on the ground during a flight remains a big mystery. We sit there and hope the crew knows what to do.
But just how on earth does a 300 ton aircraft get into the sky in the first place? Why don’t they fill the fuel tanks up? What would happen if an engine caught fire and why are the doors left unlocked during a flight? And finally, exactly how does everything come together to allow the pilots and cabin crew to control one of the most complicated pieces of technology ever invented?
If you’ve ever sat in your seat aboard an aircraft and asked yourself, “I wonder what…” this book will answer it and a whole host of other questions ranging from how to navigate across the globe to what really happens to the toilet waste? So if you want to be a passenger who knows all the answers, read on.
How to Fly a Plane
There are many people who have wondered what it must be like to fly an aircraft. Perhaps they have sat in the passenger cabin of an airliner on the way to a holiday destination and imagined what the aircrew do to fly the plane.
But it is important to realise that every pilot has to start his or her training somewhere and that somewhere is a small training aircraft. This applies to pilots flying military fighters to jumbo jets. And although these aircraft are very different in size and performance, the basics of flying a plane are very similar. So if you want to really know how to fly a plane, you need to start on a small training aircraft like every other pilot at the beginning of their career.
This book will take you through the basics of every stage of a typical flight – from the pre-take-off checks to taxiing, take-off, climb, flying manoeuvres, navigation, flying on instruments and finally, making a safe landing. If you’ve ever wanted to know how to fly a plane – this is your chance.
How to Fly an Airliner
In today’s world many people have flown aboard an airliner. Some love it and a few hate it or feel apprehensive about flying.
Perhaps the biggest flaw in their experience is that your bags are taken away from you and you sometimes wonder if you’ll ever see them again. You are then screened and checked, moved to a departure room and then wait to board a metal tube which takes you miles up into the air. And any weather problems you encounter such as turbulence have to be endured by staying in your allocated seat.
It’s no wonder that most feel they have no control or understanding about what really goes on. And that is what this concise guide will do. We will take you through a typical flight from the preparation that has to be done before the pilot even goes aboard the aircraft, through all the phases of a flight until it reaches its destination.
If you understand what is going on you can relax and enjoy your flight much more. And you will know that flying really is the safest form of travel you can take.
The Private Pilot Flying Course
Many people can be taught to fly but for those who want to earn the coveted pilot’s licence, there is much to do such as a medical to pass, a number of groundwork courses and exams to take and then there is the flying course itself with its own tests and exams at the end.
This book aims to cover in a clear and concise way the whole of the flying course – from checklists, ground inspections, take-off, flight exercises, navigation, flying on instruments and finally making a safe landing under various conditions.
The exercises cover the entire flying course for the private pilot’s licence for students following the European EASA course. Students on the USA FAA course will also find this guide a useful aid.
It is recommended that a student should study a particular exercise in the book before practicing it for real with their instructor in the aircraft. In that way the fundamentals and procedures will have been learnt allowing the time in the cockpit to be devoted to flying the exercise. This will help the student pilot to save both time and money.
The Private Pilot Skill Test
You have your Flight Medical, passed your Ground Exams and spent many hours (and money) in the aircraft practising your flying skills. There is just one hurdle left – the Skill Test.
It is the culmination of all your hard work. At the successful conclusion of it you will have gained your Private Pilot’s Licence and the privileges that accompany it. You will be able hire an aircraft and with certain restrictions, the freedom of the air is yours.
But you must pass the Test first. What can you expect? Is there a particular order to the tests? What are the individual responsibilities of the student pilot and examiner? What does the oral test include? And which flight exercises are likely to be examined?
This concise guide aims to answer all these questions. No one Skill Test will be exactly the same but knowing what to expect is a positive advantage. In addition, there are short descriptions of some of the more likely flight exercises you will be examined on. Look on this book as a final revision.
The Flight Pilot’s Radio Manual
This Guide aims to provide you with all the essential information you need to understand how to use an aircraft radio. It is written in concise and clear terms with examples that cover almost every eventuality you are likely to encounter.
The Flight Pilot’s Radio Manual is not only designed for student pilots and private pilots but for anyone interested in aviation and who wants to know how pilots communicate with the ground and other aircraft.
It begins with the fundamentals of using an aircraft radio including all the terms used and their definitions. In the following sections there are examples of correct radio procedures in almost every aspect of a flight from start-up to brakes-on. It concludes with a section on radio theory and background knowledge which will help you to feel confident in all areas of radio communications.
This is a good study aid for student pilots and a valuable resource for qualified pilots.
The Instrument Rating Flying Course
The Instrument Rating or IR is considered by many pilots to be the greatest challenge they face when training to become a professional pilot. It is usually the final step before applying to the airlines with your commercial licence.
One of the reasons why the IR test can be so exacting is because it requires you as the student to show a high attention to detail. In all ways you are proving to the examiner that you can be relied upon to fly, navigate and communicate in a safe and professional way and at a high level.
There is no substitute to spending all those hours in the aircraft or simulator with your instructor practising the procedures for real. However, this book aims in a concise way, to cover all the checklists and flying exercises you will need to exhibit during the IR test. It is split into sections and covers – Aircraft Ground & Flight Checks, General Instrument Flying, Instrument Approach Procedures, Asymmetric Flying and a Profile of the IR Test itself.
In addition there is a section covering Background Knowledge which you will need to know. This covers subjects such as Instrument Rating Test Tolerances, Angles of Bank, Calculating Wind Drift and Radio Procedures.
Fly a Plane…with Captain Jack
Would you like to know how to fly a plane or be a pilot when you grow up? Then this is for you.
Join Captain Jack and First Officer Alisha as they fly an airliner from London to Athens in Greece. You will be with them for every part of the flight as they explain and show you how to fly a modern jet.
From the very start when they check over their flight plan to shutting down the engines at their destination airport, they will show you how to take-off, climb, navigate, descend and land an airliner. And during the flight they will also explain all the aircraft systems from how to pressurise a plane to what to do if a fire breaks out.
At the end of this book you will know a lot about how to fly an airliner and what the pilots do on each flight. And to make sure you know what Captain Jack and Alisha know, there are questions at the end of each section. But don’t worry, you can find all the answers at the back of the book.
So if you would love to be a pilot, read this book and you will find yourself in the cockpit with the pilots learning to fly an airliner.
Flying the Dream
This is a story about two flying clubs and two airfields and how they evolved and merged into the Stapleford Flight Centre of today. But it is so much more than this. Both the clubs and airfields made their mark on British civilian and wartime aviation. From the earliest days of airline flying to the day to day sorties flown in WWII by pilots who knew they might not return.
But there’s something else, something intangible that runs through this book and which many readers will feel they know and understand.
It is the spirit of flight – a spirit which has flowed from the first pioneers, flying aircraft made of canvas and wires, to the glass cockpits of today. All of the characters, both famous and larger than life, have had their stories to tell. Triumph and tragedy – it is the story of flying.
John Pullen 