Stick and Rudder

[Lister Noble]

I've just bought the above book written by Wolfgang Langewiesche in 1944 ,it is an absolute gem.
The descriptions of events,causes and how it happens in different situations is brilliant.
I'm still a very low hours PPL, and in a way wish I had bought when I was having my PPL lessons.
Going back to read a bit more now:)

I keep Wind in the Willows by my bedside and think this will join it.

Lister

[stiknruda]

Lister,

I, very obviously, am a great fan, too!

Understand that your Cub is undergoing annual or 50hr check currently. The Eagle is at mine if you want to go flying.

Stik

[High Wing Drifter]

It is a fantastic book. To demonstrate my admiration I will now start referring to elevators as "flippers" and tri-cycle aircraft as "safety aeroplanes"

[Lister Noble]

Stik,
Thanks for that,I'm away doing car racing stuff this weekend but will have a chat next week.
lister

[tmmorris]

I would totally agree. It taught me a lot about the old 'pitch for airspeed, throttle for height' on finals argument.

I would nominate 'VOR, ADF and RMI' as my no. 2 most useful book ever. It actually got me to understand ADF intercept and tracking, and that is no mean feat.

Tim

[FlyingForFun]

I agree with HWD. In fact, I removed the rudder from my aircraft, because Langeweische said I don't need it!

Seriously, he had some fairly wrong ideas about the future of aviation, but aside from that it's one of the most informative reads there is.

(And wasn't it the boss of IBM who said, back in the 70's, that by the turn of the century computers would be so powerful that it would only take one computer to satisfy the computing needs of the whole world? IBM haven't done badly since then, so there's nothing so bad with being a bit wrong now and then!)

FFF
----------------

[stiknruda]

FFF - to show my familiarity with said book, I believe that your IBM chappie was being "abstruse"!

[SkyHawk-N]

FFF - to show my familiarity with said book, I believe that your IBM chappie was being "abstruse"!

For those of us with a Comprehensive education....

ab·struse [abstroos]
–adjective 1. hard to understand; recondite; esoteric: abstruse theories.
2. Obsolete. secret; hidden.

[Origin: 1590–1600; < L abstrūsus thrust away, concealed (ptp. of abstrūdere), equiv. to abs- abs- + trūd- thrust + -tus ptp. suffix]

—Related forms
ab·struse·ly, adverb
ab·struse·ness, noun


—Synonyms 1. incomprehensible, unfathomable, arcane.
—Antonyms 1. clear, uncomplicated, simple; obvious.

[stiknruda]

And to show my familiarity with SkyHawk-N, I really don't believe that your education was at all comprehensive, if you need to refer to a dictionary to decipher a word that Langeswiesche uses freely in his text!

Stik

[eharding]

I keep Wind in the Willows by my bedside.


Also an excellent text. I particularly like the bit where Toad complains loudly to Rat, Mole and Badger about the trouble he's having flick-rolling his 172...he moans that he just seems to bury it every time.....at which juncture, the other three beat the cr@p out of him.

[FREDAcheck]

I read Langewiesche cover to cover when I got it years ago, and have dipped in many times since. Worth the read, if slightly plodding and preachy at times. Well, if you are as good as he seems to be I guess you're allowed to preach. I'll bet most people learn something from it.

PS - I thought Toad flew a Piper?

[POBJOY]

Mike Reily wrote a concorde handling book,and called that
Concorde stick and rudder!!!
full of a common sense approach to operating the worlds fastest passenger airliner (as it was)
I suspect that getting it started and lined up was a bit more complicated than a chipmunk!!

[Gipsy Queen]

"Also an excellent text. I particularly like the bit where Toad complains loudly to Rat, Mole and Badger about the trouble he's having flick-rolling his 172...he moans that he just seems to bury it every time.....at which juncture, the other three beat the cr@p out of him."

Oh, how I wish I had thought of this! Brilliant! :D

GQ.

[Andy_RR]

I bought Langewiesche's book with high expectations and was a little disappointed. Oh well...

[sternone]

I bought Langewiesche's book with high expectations and was a little disappointed. Oh well...

I just bought it, let's see what it gives...

[BroomstickPilot]

I too baught a copy of this book, (having heard everybody raving about it), but must admit I just couldn't get along with it at all.

Probably having had a scientific education, I just didn't trust Langewiesche's self-taught empiricalist approach. Empiricalism is perfectly good when there is nothing else available, as in the early years of a new science, (up until about 1920 in the case of aviation). But I'm sure there would have been better texts even in 1944.

Langewiesche struck me as one of those people who will learn the basics of something (with difficulty) and then write a book about it, including in it a lot of his own ideas that probably would not stand up to close scrutiny.

Hence, I feared that somewhere in this book would be some aviation equivalents of 'Phlogiston', the non-existent substance that 18th Century scientists believed was released when any combustible matter was burned, but which was later proved not to exist.

Now about 'Wind in the Willows' I am in total agreement. Splendid text! Everyone should read it!

Broomstick.

[Runaway Gun]

"Langewiesche struck me as one of those people who will learn the basics of something (with difficulty) and then write a book about it, including in it a lot of his own ideas that probably would not stand up to close scrutiny."

Are you knocking us Ppruners ?? ;)

[sternone]

I have these fine books already:


Flying IFR Richard L.Collins
The killing Zone - Paul.A.Craig
Trevor Thom: Air naviation (3), radio naviation and instrument flying (5), flying training (1)
Be a better Pilot - Alain Bramson
Make better landings - Alain Bramson
Some other dutch study flying books...


And i have ordered today these at amazon.co.uk


"Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying"
Wolfgang Langewiesche;
"101 Things To Do After You Get Your Private Pilot's License"
LeRoy Cook
"Owning and Operating Your Own Aircraft"
Rod Simpson
"VOR, ADF and RMI"
Martin Cass


'Wind in the Willows' give me many different things on amazon.co.uk, what is the author please ?

which are you favorites that i don't have yet ?? Please post them, i hate watching television, i stopped doing that many years ago (the only thing i watch is 'Midsommer murders' haha, so i read alot at night!! Thank you for your advise!!

[BroomstickPilot]

Hi Runaway Gun,

No, I'm not knocking Ppruners in any shape or form, only Langewiesche.

Broomstick.

[Andy_RR]

I think Broom has hit the nail on the head. I found it lacking in basic physical science, much of which was available at the time it was authored.

I guess it has it's place, even on my bookshelf, but it won't be one of those books I thumb through incessantly.

I bought Fate is the Hunter at the same time and devoured it in only a couple of sittings. I would love to re-read it, but it was carelessly loaned to someone who has yet to return it. :(

[Humaround]

Wind in the Willows is a delightful book written for children by Kenneth Grahame about 100 years ago. Despite the texts above, it will tell you nothing about flying, but quite a bit about Life.

(this information for the enlightenment of anyone not fortunate enough to be born British ;)

[BroomstickPilot]

If anybody would like to purchase my copy, which is new and unread (beyond page 53) please PM me.

I will accept half what I paid plus P&P.

Broomstick.

[sternone]

Brittish people are strange...

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Brittish people are strange...
Er, no, British people are British. Everybody else is Foreign and therefore de facto "strange".

(That's being somewhat eccentric, mind, including the Scots and Welsh as not-Foreign - normally one would talk about the "English" not the "British". See http://www.englandsportal.com/englishinsong.html for a discussion of the differences.)

[sternone]

Er, no, British people are British. Everybody else is Foreign and therefore de facto "strange".


I can understand that, in fact, most European countries or regions feel different and historically, i myself live in a fake happend by accident country called Belgium, but i'm Flemish and Flemish people are different than anybody around them. Luckely Belgium will stop to exist in a few years (max 10), if democracy can speak. More than 70% of the Flemish voters voted this year for more independancy, now it's already 4 months after the elections and the goverment is still not formed and no end is in sight. The lazy part of Belgium (French speaking) keeps saying NO to democracy. The marriage has come to an end, we need to talk about alimony now. (and yes we will pay our ass off to them, like we have allways done in the past, even in the year 1900)

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Stick & Rudder is so good precisely because it doesn't resort to formulae to explain how an aeroplane flies, and why it some times doesn't.

If you want to know how to design aeroplanes, it won't help you much.

If you want to know how to fly one - it's the bible.

If you read and understand S&R, you understand flight. Not many PPLs do. It should be required reading for every PPL, but is irrelevant to any college of aeronautics.

SSD

[High Wing Drifter]

Totally agree Shaggy. I know it is unlikely to ever find its way into an official syllabus, but I think schools should sell it and display it in those glass cabinets that they have full of Thom books and clipboards.

[Andy_RR]

Stick & Rudder is so good precisely because it doesn't resort to formulae to explain how an aeroplane flies, and why it some times doesn't.


You don't have to resort to formulae to give a scientifically accurate explanation of why an aeroplane flies (or does not).

A