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Thanks. I am almost done reading The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die. I am not going to end up in the third edition.
I highly recommend Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche. Written back before WW2 it has served many pilots of many eras. He writes in a way that makes co.plex aerodynamic ideas easily relatable to the "common man". My copy is well worn from many read throughs.
Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying https://www.amazon.com/dp/0070362408/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_lZXEBbBQ3YW93
In the case of these pilots, I think he was fair. If you haven't read his father's "Stick and Rudder" you might understand where he's coming from.
I recommend the Private Pilot Oral Exam Guide. My city library even had it available for an ebook, so I read it for free.
Knowing Pilot Qualifications & Airworthiness is critical (PAVE, IMSAFE, ARROW, 91.205). My 91.205 scenario was Panel Lights. I found some confusion on if "Turning them off" was enough to be considered Deactivated (I'm still not 100% sure lol)
Pointing to an aircraft and saying "can you fly that?" (high performance, complex, tail wheel)
Weather (what kind of weather do you expect with a cold front passing).
Aft CG and what kind of performance that brings you, W&B Reconfigurations, Spin Recovery.
Good luck! Try not to overthink everything. Have your FAR/AIM tabbed.
Don’t pay if you don’t have to. I would recommend joining VATSIM and going through VATSTAR to get your P1-PPL rating. I am currently working on this and it’s all free. There are 9 one hour long videos covering various areas of flying and then there are many readings of about 20 hours of reading for more learning. You’ll want to make a VATSIM account, do the new member orientation, create a VATSTAR account and then go through the lessons. If you absolutely feel you have to buy something, I’d start with this for private pilot and this for instrument/commercial.. I have both of these for school and they have plenty of in-depth information and tips. Also, you can find plenty of free FAA publications such as AIMs and other guides to learn.
I always recommend this book to new pilots, The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die (Amazon Link).
It really dives into this from a data driven perspective from aircraft mishaps. It shows that pilots from 50-350 hours are at the highest risk of mishap, attributed to some of the things noted in this thread.
"A special chapter in this book will point out that the elevator is actually the airplane's Angle of Attack control, and that its up-and down control is the throttle. The airplane in a normal glide is going down neither "because" the pilot is holding the stick back, nor "although" he is holding the stick back. It is going down because the throttle is closed! The position of the stick, the upward deflection of the flippers merely fixes the Angle of Attack and the air speed at which the airplane flies as it descends. Because the stick is held back-and the flippers are deflected upward-the airplane flies rather slowly and at rather large Angle of Attack." -Wolfgang Langewiesch, Stick And Rudder, 1944.
I've never seen an explanation of flight control manipulation dictate that one control should be ignored, while relying solely on another. The above paragraph (and chapter) has been the generally accepted proper method of manipulating flight controls in a coordinated manner. Which resource is directing pilots to do otherwise?
I would recommended starting with the private pilot handbook and reading up on different stuff
The faa has a lot of free recources
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak/
There are also text books you can buy. The jeppesen ones are very good
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0884876608/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_J1FNR9C6VY6G56487GBA
Also most of this at least for private will be studying you do at home to get ready for your flight lesson. With part 61 your flight instructor will lead you through most of the process and tell you what you need to study and what you are weak on.
So i would not focus too much on trying to find the right ground school. Focus more on finding a good flight instuctor you work well with and they will be able to point you in the right direction and give you the recources you need as you need them.
Have you read Stick and Rudder? I'm about 2/3 through it and can't recommend it enough. It has an extensive explanation of AoA and why it's so important in the first few chapters. Highly recommend reading this book.
https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0070362408/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_t1_gBZcGb86B82B5
Stick and Rudder
I’ve had it on my shelf for a year while waiting for COVID to settle down so I can start my lessons. Started reading it this weekend and now can’t put it down. I’m maybe 1/3 through it and just constantly impressed with how it clears up so many questions I’ve had about what’s actually happening when you fly. I definitely think I’ll reread it the month I start my lessons up again.
https://smile.amazon.com/Stick-Rudder-Explanation-Art-Flying/dp/0070362408
"The Killing Zone" is a good book for student pilots in General Aviation. The tagline of the book is "how and why pilots die." Here is an amazon link. https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Zone-Second-How-Pilots/dp/0071798404
It's $20, and if you use Amazon Smile donations, please consider Candler Field Museum. Our founder, Ron Alexander, recently died in a Jenny crash here in town and the museum can use all the help we can get.
100% this! I used the ASA guide by Mike Hayes. Link to amazon here. Go through that whole thing cover to cover. Get someone else to ask you the questions if you can.
Michael D Hayes wrote an oral test prep guide for pretty much all ratings, they’re super helpful and usually not too expensive. Biggest thing is to try not to over think your answers. Good Luck!
Edit: Here’s the book. Private Pilot Oral Exam Guide: The comprehensive guide to prepare you for the FAA checkride (Oral Exam Guide Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1619544598/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fab_sV-AFbDKCVATK
Don’t stop there. Do IFR immediately after. It’ll tighten up your tolerances and a lot of the stuff that’s not clear to you now will be after that. Makes you a much safer pilot. Also, read some incident reports and study some crashes. It’ll teach you a lot. Read this also. Know the reasons for and effects of wing sweep and dihedral/anhedral angles. I’m sure your instructor will tell you, but always know what’s in the logbooks of your check ride plane and never ever offer more info to a DPE than they asked for. Many a student have failed the ride because they talked themselves into more questions than they were asked.
For my Instrument rating I went all the way out to Michigan. Had my written scheduled for Thursday, checkride Friday, hotel checkout and airline tickets home booked for Saturday.
Use the ASA Oral Exam book for studying for the oral. I wrote an article on how I used this book to study for all my tests, and it seemed to work well for me.
Sporty's is good, but expensive. If you're willing to read a book and take notes, this is all that you'll need for ground school to prepare you for the written test: Rob Machado's Private Pilot Handbook
I started with this
https://www.amazon.com/Jeppesen-Private-Pilot-Textbook-10001360-006/dp/0884876608
Maybe you can find a free one, maybe not. It’s worth it. Lots of good basics to get you started.
Just make sure you plan, prep your charts, get the weather, check the weather x 2, have a plan b just in case, file flight plan, enough fuel, some snacks, drinks, camera, and don't forget to close your flight plan when you land :)
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I always recommend a book for newer pilots, stick and rudder, good book.
Excuse the expression but you're speaking out your ass. The weather was not good AND he knew it. He was doing his IR but not complete which is one of the most dangerous times in your training. I believe this "accident" is covered in The Killing Zone.
If you can find a copy of Stick and Rudder it has much better descriptions of how you can get into these sorts of spins and how to get out of them than I can type out here.
One way you might get into such a spin in a dogfight would be if you got really slow, especially when not in level flight. You end up with one wing stalled and dropping, another wing getting more lift, and you're right into autorotation/spin. Trying to recover from that is tricky since it's so easy to over-recover and just flip over to spinning the other direction.
Read the Bible of Flying - Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche. And try some videos like these. Stick to tail draggers, you will thank yourself -
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Fly Low, Take Chances...
This plus sportys sample tests were my favorite:
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https://www.amazon.com/Private-Pilot-Test-Prep-2021/dp/1619549654
The topics and sample questions are all covered in this book. There are a few glider specific questions but most questions are for both categories (airplane and glider).
http://www.exams4pilots.org/ has actual questions from the exam.
There are some newer online resources so keep looking.
FWIW... I started with the Gleim PPL course and ended up switching to Ron Machado's video course because I found I was spending a lot of time supplementing the Gleim content with YouTube videos and Google searches. It really depends on how you learn. I found the Machado videos really helpful, even though they were basically primitive animations accompanying the text from his book, read verbatim by the 'host'.
Ironically, when it came time to take practice tests I found the Gleim Exam Prep (which I had purchased with the PPL course) to be really great, and superior to Machado's in that regard.
The other indispensable thing to get is the FAA Private Pilot Test Prep which contains every possible question along with the answers.
If you study using the available resources you'll have no problem passing the written exam.
We live in a YouTube world now so there are a ton of resources out there. There is some solid advice above so the only things I would add are:
1) You can literally do ground school online with courses put on by places like Sporty’s. When you pass all their testing they will provide you with a certificate to take your ground test.
2) 30 years ago when I was a teenager in love with aviation an old pilot down the road gifted me with a book that I read in one sitting. It is a very old book but the fundamentals of flight are covered. So, if you don’t mind reading a book Stick and Rudder is something worth picking up.
https://www.amazon.com/Stick-Rudder-Explanation-Art-Flying/dp/0070362408/ref=nodl_
GA is far more dangerous than driving and that is an incredible statistic given just how dangerous driving is.
OP should read this book:
The Killing Zone, Second Edition: How & Why Pilots Die https://www.amazon.com/dp/0071798404/
I’m not sure wtf that $60 “geospatial institute 2021” one is but it has some other publisher. This one is far far less: Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge: FAA-H-8083-25B (ASA FAA Handbook Series) https://smile.amazon.com/dp/1619544733/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_TNEPF7CG663WDNQN2MN2