What's On Your Bookshelf?

On 12 Oct 2004 23:18:29 -0600, Blanche
wrote:

The fact is, this book is outdated and contains some gross inaccuracies.

Knowing full well this is going to open a bag of worms...

citations and explanations, please.

When I started taking lessons, a friend loaned me his copy of Stick
and Rudder. It almost drove me crazy, those drawings of how the
airport should look while you are in the pattern. It wasn't till long
afterward that I realized that old Wolfgang wanted me to enter on the
base leg.

May not be an inaccuracy, but sure as heck outdated, and very
misleading.

I don't think you are doing a student pilot any favors by giving him
this book. I suspect it's something for oldtimers to smile about ("Ah,
the good old days!").


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
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Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

Flight of Passage, by Rinker Buck. One of the best books I have ever
read, right up there with Young Men and Fire and A Moveable Feast.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

Flight of Passage, by Rinker Buck. One of the best books I have ever
read, right up there with Young Men and Fire and A Moveable Feast.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

CJC writes:
. His views were
not nearly so radical as he seems to think they were, and too much of the
text is taken up with promoting how great a thinker he is, as if he was
writing a diet book or something.

LOL!
The old flyers have a lot to offer, and it's rather a comfort to know they
struggled with the same fears and phenomena we do...but it's a good point that
knowledge has improved and we'd better read the "classics" with the knowledge
that there are also contemporary teachers with a great deal of valuable
knowledge to share.

Jay Beckman wrote:

As a newly-minted PP-ASEL, I want to continue to absorb knowledge
and do all that I can to fly as safely as possible.

What books and or videos would you recommend that a new pilot put
on his or her short list?

A couple of years back over in rec.aviation.military discussion
turned to the Tenerife crash and cockpit resource management.

Here is what I wrote about a book that is on my bookshelf:

An interesting source (with a provocative title) is David
Beaty's book, "The Naked Pilot: The Human Factor in
Aircraft Accidents" (ISBN 1 85310 482 5, Airlife).

I think Beaty may have used the Tenerife crash as an
example in his chapter on "The Clockwork Captain, or Deus
in Machina".

Many of the lessons in this book can be applied to other
areas, such as my own (software development), and to life
in general - and that certainly includes driving.

I have it in mind to buy it for my brother for Christmas and to
encourage him to ensure that my nephews both read it before they
start driving.

("Cub Driver" wrote)

Flight of Passage, by Rinker Buck. One of the best books I have ever
read, right up there with Young Men and Fire and A Moveable Feast.


I used a bookstore gift card from Christmas to buy Flight of Passage this
summer. I enjoyed the book.

However ...

It was written in 1994(?) by a 44 year old guy - looking back on a
cross-country trip he took with his brother, when they were both teenagers,
in the summer of 1966. So far so good.

As I got into the book, it felt to me like telling his story was part of a
therapy regiment that Rinker was on. He'd spend an hour on the (HMO
approved) psychologist's couch, then go home and write for an hour.

Don't get me wrong, I really liked the story - I just didn't like having to
wade through endless "I was a brilliant 15 year stud" recollections. The
characters in the book were endearing, even the not-so-nice ones,
unfortunately, I didn't like Rinker talking about Rinker through Rinker. He
was unlikable. I'm not 100% sure why?

The part of the book that was the most interesting for me was how absolutely
special it was, to a variety of aviation people who the boys meet on their
journey, that these two kids were really doing it, flying across the country
in a J-3 Cub. I enjoyed this aspect of the story very much.

Solid recommendation for Flight of Passage.


Montblack
Waiting for the movie :-)

On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 18:25:11 -0500, "Montblack"
wrote:

It was written in 1994(?) by a 44 year old guy - looking back on a
cross-country trip he took with his brother, when they were both teenagers,
in the summer of 1966. So far so good.

One of the papers -- I think it was the New York Times -- did a piece
on the book when it came out. The hook for the story was getting Rink
together with the PA-11 he flew co-piloted that summer. It was a very
pretty plane, well maintained, located I think in MA.

You are quite right about the long look back. I drove across country
the same year, and I crossed the continental divide on Route 10. No
big deal in a VW bug, and it wouldn't have been a big deal in a PA-11
either. That trip over the Guadalupe Pass is much hyped in
recollection, and wasn't necessary in the first place.


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! www.vivabush.org

"C J Campbell" wrote in message news:
...I realize that criticizing Langewiesche is an attack on a basic religious
belief, but the truth is that some progress in understanding aviation has
been made in the more than sixty years since the book was written, even if,
as is sometimes claimed, the basic principles of aerodynamics have not
changed....

Yup, that's certainly true. When I read the book as a student pilot,
I was aware of it's age and took much of it with a grain of salt.
That being said, I enjoyed it and found it of some use. The style of
explanation in that day is sometimes more straightforward and works
better with me than some of the more modern textbook styles today. I
was able to get a concept better by reading Jeppeson, getting puzzled,
reading Stick & Rudder, getting the idea, and re-reading Jeppeson to
get the modern corrections.

Yeah, I read a lot. Works for me, your mileage may vary.

I'm reading some aerodynamics stuff now and understand the wing
better, but for many purposes the idea that "the wing flys because it
pushes air down" is good enough. If you're going to build wings or
such that's clearly too weak, but for knowing how to fly it works.

Perhaps I'm just a young old fart?

-Malcolm Teas

"Marty Ross" wrote in news:kPCad.576$SZ5.490
@newsread2.news.atl.earthlink.net:

"Stick And Rudder", Wolfgang Langewiesche
(http://www.pilotsbooks.com/stick_rudder.htm)

IMHO, this book should be "required reading" for all pilots.



Just the arrogance of this book turned me off. It spent a great deal of
time describing what a great book it is. No thank you. I will decide that
for myself after reading the book.


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In article 2ypad.33442$R43.1589@fed1read01, Jay Beckman
wrote:

As a newly-minted PP-ASEL, I want to continue to absorb knowledge and do all
that I can to fly as safely as possible.

What books and or videos would you recommend that a new pilot put on his or
her short list?


Fate Is The Hunter, and The High And The Mighty, by Ernie Gann

Flying South by Barbara Cushman Rowell