Aerobatics - Reading recommendations?
 

Hello all,

I'm relatively new to flying (200h) with everything still to learn, so I'm signing up to do some twirly stuff in a Cap 10 in the hope it will help to make me a safer, more confident pilot. Just one drawback: it's going to cost mucho dinero :{ so I'd like to make the most of every lesson. I'd be grateful for reading recommendations so I can get started before I head off to the airfield for lesson one. Or any other tips? :ok:

Next on my list will be gliding (or maybe I should do that first?)

Thanks!

Alan Cassidys book Better aerobatics.

Better Aerobatics Book by Alan Cassidy

Its good for a beginner, but progresses to more advanced stuff so is still useful as you gain experience.

I bought it 6 yrs ago and still refer to it.

As a beginner, you can also consider David Robsons book "Aerobatics; Principles and Practice".

I find Cassidies book very thorough and technical, but it assumes a bit of practical experience and focuses heavily on competition aerobatics. I'm glad I did not start with Cassidies book, as it might have put me off of aerobatics straight away. Robson is a far more gentle introduction.

You can do aerobatics in a glider, though obviously you would have to learn to fly one first.

"Basic Aerobatics" by Geza Szurovy and Mike Goulian would IMHO be worth a look as well.

Neil Williams Aerobatics

You are learning in France in a Cap Dix.

Patrick Gigot at the Aeroclube de Caen, Carpiquet has written a really good book about aeros in the Cap.

It is in French but worth a read - good diagrams, too.

Stik

Really useful suggestions, thank you all very much for pointing me in the right direction, I'll definitely get a couple of those. The book looks like a very enjoyable read, although perhaps not a tutorial for beginners in the traditional sense (?)

Merci to stiknruda for the tip about Patrick Gigot. Hadn't heard of him, I'm afraid, but I found his notes on the Internet, and they do look good. I see the Cap 10 x-wind limit for a student twirler is just 5 kts! :eek:

I know PG quite well!

Good guy, good instructor and an interesting character!


My other fave is Flight Unlimited 95 by Annette Carson and Eric Muller. The late Muller passed away the way that all good aeros pilots should go - of old age!!

Stik

The early Duane Cole series are quite good at an embryonic level, too....

Or combine them:

Or gliding is exciting enough without aerobatics, e.g.
which is, like most of the videos by Balleka, worth watching in HD

Wow, who is the rather pretty lady pilot in the first vid?

Glad I posted asking for advice, there's a lot of inspiration here :D

Cats Five and TGGZZZ, good point about combining gliding and aerobatics. Seems to me that aerobatics and gliding would both be good ways to improve on basic PPL handling skills? Thanks for posting the fun clips, really enjoyed the cliff-gliding vidjo!

Ok, it's going on my try-before-I-die list :ok:

FL, if you have a Public library near to you why not see if they can obtain the books for you to look at before you decide which one suits you best?

Go the full hog and buy Xavier De Lapparent's book, The 4 Minute Freestyle!!! :E