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Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

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Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#21

Post by topspin »

I'm not a pilot. My father flew small planes for a time and obtained a commercial license. This is just me reminiscencing about two experiences I've had as a passenger in small aircraft.

I hopped on a six or eight passenger tour plane operating from the grass field at Grand Marais Airport in Michigan around 1993. I was in the first row behind the pilot. There were high, gusty winds off Lake Superior and the pilot had to really work the yoke and throttle. It was almost athletic; the pilot was reacting to strong wind gusts -- big deflections of every control surface every second or two -- and yet the plane felt rock stable; if you had closed your eyes you could not have known there was this amazing pilot working it that hard. This went on from the moment he cleared the trees till just before touchdown. Really astonishing.

Around 2003 I took another flight in a Schweizer sailplane out of Boulder Municipal Airport in Colorado. I was amused by how the pilot somehow knew exactly where to find lift. He would deliberately fly along ridge lift, entering and exiting like there were signs in the sky; never a doubt where to find it even though the foothills were so far below there was no obvious correlation between the contours and the lift.

I think piloting is far removed from just about everything else. Non-pilots don't even suspect things that experienced pilots take for granted.

Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#22

Post by airwebster »

this is a good compliment to Stick and Rudder: https://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Taildragger-Pilot-Harvey-Plo... if you are interested in getting into actual "stick and rudder" flying - tailwheel flying (while a bit of a dying art) is kind of key for all test, aerobatic, bush, and most "fun" types of flying where your "involved" with the machine

Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#23

Post by airwebster »

symfoniq wrote: post #12

Anybody here fly commercially? I always wanted to, then 9/11 happened in my 18th year and caused a lost decade for the aviation industry. Thinking about a mid-life career change now, but it’s going to be a very expensive endeavor.

don't rush - as someone who works commercially as a pilot, I can tell you this: important to keep the mix of the creative, curious and fold that into the flying - if you have an science engineering or creative background, find a way to make the flying thing interdisciplinary

Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#24

Post by airwebster »

travisjungroth wrote: post #10
JKCalhoun wrote: post #6

So happy to see a well-illustrated book endure the test of time. I still look for old texts on science, physics, chemistry ... even (especially?) electronics.

In the chapter on landing, there's a series of illustrations[1] of a giant building with white and gray horizontal stripes. They're used to show how you can tell how high you are when landing. During a ground lesson, I'd show the student the picture and say "of course, it's not like you'll have a building like that actually next to the runway!." They'd agree, then I'd point out the window at this building[2], right n…

is that a grass strip and where is it?

Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#25

Post by hyperpallium »

travisjungroth wrote: post #3

I have no idea how it ended up on the front page of HN, but this is an amazing book. Highly recommended for any pilot, especially those flying small airplanes. Don't let the date scare you, it holds up incredibly well. Wolfgang figured out how to describe things that good pilots do unconsciously in a way I've never seen matched. I'd like to share one passage that because of a small aside in the middle of a sentence h…

An example from hang gliding: the wings form a shallow "V", with you at the centre. If it tilts left, there's more lift area downwards on the left (and less on the right), so it tends to tilt back, righting itself.

I'm not sure what prevents oscillation; nor how pitch is stablized (pointing downwards vs pointing up), but I've found hang gliders very stable.

Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#26

Post by ChristianGeek »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #17

I don't recall ever reading this book, but as a student pilot, I was given a copy of "You have 178 seconds to live" and it had a tremendous impact on me. https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/field_offices/fsdo/fai/...

It’s a shame JFK Jr. didn’t read this.

Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#27

Post by danaliv »

symfoniq wrote: post #12

Anybody here fly commercially? I always wanted to, then 9/11 happened in my 18th year and caused a lost decade for the aviation industry. Thinking about a mid-life career change now, but it’s going to be a very expensive endeavor.

I don't but I'm a full-time CFI. It's a good time to be in aviation. There's a shortage of airline pilots, which leads to a shortage of instructors and other commercial pilots (banner towers, skydiving, etc.). Just don't do it for the money. :)

Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#28

Post by js2 »

Seems like this might be a good place to link to The Turn (1993):

> At the very heart of winged flight lies the banked turn, a procedure that by now seems so routine and familiar that airline passengers appreciate neither its elegance and mystery nor its dangerously delusive character. The author, a pilot, takes us up into the subject.

https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/unbound/langew/turn.ht...

Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#29

Post by mpweiher »

bronco21016 wrote: post #18
symfoniq wrote: post #12

Anybody here fly commercially? I always wanted to, then 9/11 happened in my 18th year and caused a lost decade for the aviation industry. Thinking about a mid-life career change now, but it’s going to be a very expensive endeavor.

It is definitely an expensive road but the regional level pay has gotten much better. The regional I just left was paying new pilots upwards of $55,000 first year. As a junior captain I left making around $120,000. Probably nothing among a crowd of software devs but far above the $23,000 I made my first year, 7 years ago. If you already have a 4 year degree and a relatively stable financial situation then I’d say go…

Great to hear that they solved the "mystery" of the lack of new pilots (paying a living wage helps...)

Re: Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (1944)

#30

Post by blendo »

airwebster wrote: post #22

this is a good compliment to Stick and Rudder: https://www.amazon.com/Compleat-Taildragger-Pilot-Harvey-Plo... if you are interested in getting into actual "stick and rudder" flying - tailwheel flying (while a bit of a dying art) is kind of key for all test, aerobatic, bush, and most "fun" types of flying where your "involved" with the machine

If you’re in the SF Bay Area, Palo Alto airport has several clubs offering primary flight training in the Citabria 7ECA (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Champion_Citabria). Student in the front, instructor in the back (and out of your line of sight), right hand on the stick between your knees, and left hand on the throttle. Tailwheel. 1120 lbs empty weight.

Thrilling.

An intro flight will cost about $200.

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