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Title: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying
ISBN: 0070362408
Author:
Wolfgang Langewiesche
Publicate Date: 1990-09-01
Publish: 1990-09-01
List Price: $26.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $14.63
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $12.87
Amazon Merchant Price: $21.56
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| Customer Review: |
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1: Fantastic!
This book is simply fantastic. Yes, there are some old or simplified opinions, but as for tool for explaining how the airplane flies, invaluable.
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2: My first and still favorite text on piloting a plane
I remember reading and re-reading this text as a young boy--fascinated by everything and anything related to airplanes--flying imaginary airplanes in my head with the admonition to always 'watch my angle of attack'. When I finally got my pilot's license years later, I credit this book with doing the most to make me a safe and confident pilot (second only to my great instructor.) It dispels the popular belief in the general public that the rudder turns the plane and the throttle makes it go faster, and explains to pilots the reality of flight: the elevator controls angle of attack and hence airspeed, the ailerons control the turn, and the rudder is primarily a means of correcting for physical phenomenon such as adverse yaw. Even today the largest killer of pilots is the stall/spin, the result of hoping that pulling back on the stick will make the ground go away, or that more inside rudder will fix that overshoot on final. Yes, Mr. Langewiesche repeats the point again and again, but it's worth repeating: the stick controls the angle of attack, and if you don't exceed the critical angle of attack, the plane won't stall. If the plane doesn't stall, it doesn't spin either. It's that simple, and that profound.
Yes, the physics and writing style are outdated (read Smith's "Illustrated Guide to Aerodynamics" for a more complete yet still readable explanation of the physics of lift, and why Bernoulli's 'suction' and Langewiesche's 'downwash' are just two different ways of looking at the same phenomenon.) And if you're flying a modern unstable fighter or fly-by-wire jumbo jet Langewiesche's simple concepts break down. For today's modern GA aircraft, however, this is still the most readable text there is for explaining not how an airplane flies, but how to fly them.
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3: Beyond Informative!
To begin, the entire Amazon experience was great. The product itself was the icing on the cake. Any aspiring pilots, or veterans, should consider this a "must read" publication. It clarifies many misled bits of advice, about flight, and makes knowledge of aircraft easily understood.
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4: Stick and Rudder
This is a wonderful book, it's written for the Student pilot. But, it's a great read for all pilots. It covers the big picture and the little things that you may not think of, or may have forgotten. This book may help the new CFI to teach different techniques to the student pilot.
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5: Entertaining. Useful. You Don't Need It But Fun to Own!
This book is entertaining in many ways: like, if you consider some of the olde-worlde wisdom quaintly phrased, and the author's convictions, sometimes quite erroneous, confidently stated.
It is somewhat useful, as it does give some solid pointers about what to look out for (avoid) and what to do (technique) and what common pilot errors are, including some home-grown practical remedies and prevention.
When the author is writing based on his experience he is insightful, and you will gain a lot from his experience. When the author is trying to educate you on theory he evidently does not understand, he is not dangerous, but may leave you with the wrong idea about how things fly. For example, his vigorous dismissal of the fact that pressure differential between top and bottom surfaces wing causes lift, and his counter assertion that the wing stays up because it pushes the air down, is plain bull. The wings would then need to be at 45 degrees to the plane's longitudinal axis, and the airspeed would need to be humongous if that were true. Also, such a plane would never stall except at low speeds, and would be impossible to stall at high speed :)
The book is cheap. So, as long as you know enough physics to determine that the author does not, you will find value in anecdotal and experienced wisdom.
And, after all, you will own a classic that has fooled generations of pilots into buying it. I did.
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