I would only get the Trevor Thom books if you like extra reading. They have a lot of information in there that is not in the PPL syllabus but they are still good books.

Have had good reports from the Pooleys ones and the OAA ones but the OAA ones are twice as expensive so its up to you really.

Nick

Books for PPL
 

Hi MARCOFLY,

First of all, I assume you will be doing a European JAA (EASA) PPL, rather than the American FAA PPL.

(I believe the FAA PPL course may only require one book that covers all subjects, for which you can choose between two publishers, Gleim or ASA, but I don't have the FAA PPL so I'm not sure. The FAA also produce excellent publications of their own, which are also well worth consideration).

Assuming you will be doing the European JAA PPL, however, then you will be doing about six subjects for each of which you will need a seperate book.

I don't think you can say that any particular book range per se is any better than any other. It's very much a question of personal preferance, which one you feel most comfortable with.

Some flying schools/clubs routinely persuade their students to buy a whole kit of Trevor Thom books, complete with whizz wheel, rulers and protractors in a natty pilot bag for over £200. This means you have to fork out a large sum when the expenditure could so easily be spread over a period of months. Furthermore, you are stuck with one book range and the saving for buying bulk, if any, is very small. Personally, I do not favour this approach. I think it is just a money-making wheeze.

I feel it is much better to buy all items of kit, including books, individually as you need them. Go to a pilot shop and spend time looking at them all. Compare the various books available and choose, for each subject, the one you feel you can best work with. For Navigation, you might find the Jeremy Pratt better than Trevor Thom, but for Aviation Law the Trevor Thom might be better than the Jeremy Pratt. Another student might find the reverse to be true. It's entirely personal preference. With my old eyes, I tended to prefer Jeremy Pratt stuff purely because the typeface used in the Thom books, I found, was harder for me to read.

Turning to whizz wheels, rules and protractors, first of all you may be able to pick a whizz wheel up cheap by watching your club notice board. Other members often sell these off when they have passed the PPL as they are then allowed to use a hand-held electronic navigation computer instead and don't need the whizz wheel any more. This can save you money.

Rulers and protractors too are a matter for personal choice. The traditional nav protractor is the square 'Douglas' protractor but many, including myself, prefer a circular protractor. You can also buy a Pierre Cardin pilot bag at Argos for under £20 that is every bit as good as bags costing 50% more at the pilot shops.

Well that's my two penneth.

Good luck with your flying MARCOFLY,

Broomstick.

For Learning To Fly...any of those...I did AFE Book...

But for the Beaurocratic exam...Then Get the PPL Confuser...

1st Air Law Exam = Fail - Because I learnt everything about Aerodromes, Collision avoidence etc.

2nd Air Law with Confuser = Pass - Because all the CAA cared to put in their exam was about The Taxation of Oil...that was about 80% of the 2 seperate exam sheets I did...

They seem to test you on tax more than anything...But the Confuser Explains the types of questions they test you on...

9

:ok:thanks all for your advice!

Bye bye


MARCO

It will not be the only literature one needs, but as a second book I would highly recommend the Privot Pilot Handbook, from Jeppesen's Guided Flight Discovery series. It is nicely written, pleasant to read, and has lots of very high quality illustrations that add greatly to one's understanding.

It is also very good at making the theory practical, and illustrate how to apply it in actual flying. I particularly like the great job it does at explaining a tricky topic like the effect of slip-roll coupling on lateral stability, in a brilliantly simple yet perfectly correct manner.

There are just a couple chapters that are only applicable to the US, and those are easily skipped over.

Having used both I would second Edward Hawkins comments above. I feel the jeremy pratt books are a little more concise and also worked out to be a little cheaper (or certainly used to).

I am also a big fan of the confuser books for the final push and polish a few days before the exam.

If your a tight skate like me then you can pick them up second hand off ebay, club board etc. The only book in the series that you really need to buy brand new is the air law one. The others don't really change that much from one edition to the other.

Why not speak to a few people where you fly from and see if you can borrow an edition of each for a few days and see which you prefer?

I have the Trevor Thomm Books and find them perfect. :ok:

could always ask for someone to help with the ground school :E

Nick

The AFE books i used for my PPL were fantastic.. very well written and explained.

Recommended books
 

Hi

I'm planning on doing my PPL the summer after next but before then I would like to try and get the theory done before and then some simulator time. I wondered what peoples opinions were on the different books available, do you all recommend the study packs you can get? Which series would you all recommend and also which flight simulator do you all like?

Thanks

An off the wall answer you won't get from anyone else ...

... I found "The Design of the Aeroplane", Darrol Stinton, interesting and helpful. (Mentioned this to one of my instructors, "ah yes, good bloke, mate of mine" was the response.)

Check out Trevor Thom's books, he's highly rated.

Flight Without Formula - A.C. Kermode.

and read Fate is the Hunter, Ernest K. Gann. Then you'll really be inspired to learn to fly.

Trevor or Jeremy
 

Hi Miniman12,

There are two ranges of books covering the PPL/NPPL syllabuses. The 'Trevor Thom' and the 'Jeremy Pratt' series books. Some people prefer the one, some the other.

I should say don't buy any of the study packs. Choose your books one by one as you go. The reason is simple; for some subjects you may find the Trevor Thom best, for another subject you might prefer the Jeremy Pratt.

Furthermore, why pay about £200 up front for books you may not need to use for some time, especially when you may be able to buy individual books second hand from other club members or off the Internet. (If you buy off the Internet, make sure you get the latest edition).

I am assuming, of course, that you have a pilot shop within reasonable reach so that you can go in there and thumb through the books and choose the one you prefer.

If you are living in some remote place and cannot go and choose a book off the shelf, then I would suggest asking to see other people's books at your flying club/school.

Don't be tempted either by the natty pilot bag the study packs are supplied in. You can get just as good a bag (Pierre Cardin pilot bag) from Argos for £19.99.

The whizz wheel in the study packs too can often be purchased second hand from other club members. Many people buy electronic flight planners once they have their licences.

You don't say whether you intend 'going professional'. If you are, then why pay for the 'Crap 1' whizz wheel in the study packs and then have to pay out another £65 or so only months later for the 'Crap 5' you will need for your ATPL course?

Regards,

Broomstick.

Well, that's correct for Air Law, but I'm currently doing an IMCR course with a twenty year old book. The instruments haven't changed, all that's different in the latest edition of the book is that the pictures are in colour.

hmmm
 

Thank you for all your responses!

I'm a UAV engineer hoping to learn to fly primarily for leisure, although after the PPL I would love to go in to aero displays, however thats still a long way off!

I already have quite a passion for flying and aircraft so the books I want are ones that cover the PPL syllabus, not too bothered for flight planners as yet just the course materail. In my experience I have always kept with the same author to keep a consistent learning style.

I think I will look to the Thom or Pratt books and try and dedide between them. Is there any difference other than just style? Ie is the information the same just presented differently?

Thanks Again

Text book authorship
 

Hi miniman12,

Trevor Thom has been dead for years. And I think you will find both ranges of books have been written by a whole team of authors, who will inevitably have different writing styles and levels of explaining skill among themselves.

So choosing one range to stay with the same author just won't work.

Broomstick.

ppl exam
 

dear sir
i live i sweden and i want to mack the ppl exam on line so can i ? and i have the ppl oxford books do you think its good to mack the exam . hear in sweden so hard the exam
thanks and best regards to all

Salahn67, you can't do the exams on-line. You have to sit them at the school you're training - assuming you're training at a UK school or one of the schools in the US that operate under the oversight of the UK CAA.

If you intend to do your flight training in Sweden, including the final skills test, then you also need to sit the theory exams in Sweden.

Oh, and the topics to be covered in the PPL exams are essentially all decided upon by ICAO, and are further narrowed down by JAR-FCL, so I would not expect there's a lot of difference in difficulty across the JAA member states.

Judging by your English, you'd be best off doing the Swedish exams anyway...:ok:

The confuser will do it. However, you will not have much fun making the training in the USA without the ability to understand your CFI (step one) and flight control (step two). You can start to hear flight controls via internet in order to get an impression.
Good luck
mroczny (JAA PPL made 2007 in Florida)