Should I buy these books?

[FutureFly]

The airplane flying handbook.
Pilots handbook of Aeronautical knowledge.

Prospective pilot here, about to start online ground school. Hopefully flight training soon after that while waiting to hear back regarding medical.I understand you can virtually download them for free. But are they worth it to have the physical copies in hand? Are they reference materials someone would use throughout their various training and ratings?

 

[ArrowFlyer86]

I'd say there's no question the PHAK is mandatory, either digital or physical. Whether you need a physical copy is totally up to how you learn best. If you're like me and you love sticky notes, making notations, highlighting relevant sections, etc... Then I'd say get a physical copy.

I also would recommend this big boy. The FAR/AIM. It covers regulations and procedures for operating in the USA. You won't read it cover-to-cover but there's a lot of material in there you'll need for your PPL (like understanding airport markings). It'll also help you get an appreciation for where to go for what information.

Which online ground school are you using?

 

[FutureFly]

I'd say there's no question the PHAK is mandatory, either digital or physical. Whether you need a physical copy is totally up to how you learn best. If you're like me and you love sticky notes, making notations, highlighting relevant sections, etc... Then I'd say get a physical copy.

I also would recommend this big boy. The FAR/AIM. It covers regulations and procedures for operating in the USA. You won't read it cover-to-cover but there's a lot of material in there you'll need for your PPL (like understanding airport markings). It'll also help you get an appreciation for where to go for what information.

Which online ground school are you using?

Do any of those books ever really go out of date? Or it’s more of just rearranged information as most textbooks? I’ve been doin a lot of research and will be going with GoldSeal online ground training.
https://groundschool.com/

 

[SkyChaser]

I read the PHAK and the AFH for free from the FAA on my laptop because I was too cheap to pay for the actual books. I don't think they go out of date much, though they do get corrections and updates from time to time. Physics and aerodynamics haven't changed in quite a while!

The FAR/AIM gets a new version every year. I found that one online as a PDF as well, but bought a current physical copy for my checkride.

 

[ArrowFlyer86]

Do any of those books ever really go out of date? Or it’s more of just rearranged information as most textbooks? I’ve been doin a lot of research and will be going with GoldSeal online ground training.
https://groundschool.com/

Nah, as skychaser said, the PHAK and AFH don't really go out of date. The FAA isn't the fastest moving organization in the world

Personally I got very little value from the AFH, at least when it came to chapters about flying technique and how to manage the airplane. I beat myself up trying to retain the detailed book-knowledge about flying technique only to struggle in recalling it in-air. Some things are just better learned through experience. But that's just my view.

Good luck with your training!

 

[FutureFly]

Nah, as skychaser said, the PHAK and AFH don't really go out of date. The FAA isn't the fastest moving organization in the world

Personally I got very little value from the AFH, at least when it came to chapters about flying technique and how to manage the airplane. I beat myself up trying to retain the detailed book-knowledge about flying technique only to struggle in recalling it in-air. Some things are just better learned through experience. But that's just my view.

Good luck with your training!

so would you recommend I just get the PHAK and FAR books? Completely skip the AFH?

 

[brcase]

Do any of those books ever really go out of date? Or it’s more of just rearranged information as most textbooks? I’ve been doin a lot of research and will be going with GoldSeal online ground training.
https://groundschool.com/

Apparently they do, as my commercial student and I learned recently from an examiner that the 8's on Pylons maneuver had changed somewhere between the AFH I had and the current one.

As a topic for another thread the written description of the maneuver no longer matches the diagram in the book. I hope they fix that in the next revision.
Short version 3-5 second straight section is not possible to fly like the diagram with the allowable bank angles.

Brian
CFIIG/ASEL

 

[Jeff Oslick]

IMHO, also buy and read "Stick and Rudder", by Wolfgang Langewiesche.

 

[ArrowFlyer86]

so would you recommend I just get the PHAK and FAR books? Completely skip the AFH?

If it was me I'd get a physical copy of the PHAK/FAR and just use the digital copy of the AFH from the FAA (here).
To be clear: you should still plan to read the AFH... You just probably won't have as much stuff to memorize from that book because a lot of that knowledge will be reinforced experientially from actually flying it. If you're anything like me, actually flying it will ingrain the techniques in your memory much better than rote memorization from a book.

 

[Jaminky]

IMHO, also buy and read "Stick and Rudder", by Wolfgang Langewiesche.

I just finished Stick and Rudder on audible.From what I’ve found,a lot of the ground school books do a poor job of actually teaching how the airplane flies and behaves.I just started flight training and it’s really cool seeing how some of the examples in the book(Stick and rudder) actually work in the airplane.Having said that,there’s a lot of info that you do need out of the other books to pass the tests

 

[schmookeeg]

when you're done enjoying stick and rudder, and you've stopped using the antiquated term 'flippers', I can recommend Say Again, Please to supplement Langeweische with some modern radio techniques.

Buy the PHAK/AFH if you have 30 bucks you're tired of. I read on a PC/iPad just fine, so I didn't. Everyone is different though.

 

[BrianNC]

The airplane flying handbook.
Pilots handbook of Aeronautical knowledge.

Prospective pilot here, about to start online ground school. Hopefully flight training soon after that while waiting to hear back regarding medical.I understand you can virtually download them for free. But are they worth it to have the physical copies in hand? Are they reference materials someone would use throughout their various training and ratings?

Here are the online PDFs from the FAA.

https://www.faa.gov/aviation/phak/pilots-handbook-aeronautical-knowledge-faa-h-8083-25b

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/airplane_handbook

 

[asicer]

If you're like me and you love sticky notes, making notations, highlighting relevant sections, etc... Then I'd say get a physical copy.

If you're like me and you love sticky notes, making notations, highlighting relevant sections, etc... Then I'd say get the digital copy (along with an app that does sticky notes, notations and highlighting).

 

[Jaminky]

when you're done enjoying stick and rudder, and you've stopped using the antiquated term 'flippers', I can recommend Say Again, Please to supplement Langeweische with some modern radio techniques.

Buy the PHAK/AFH if you have 30 bucks you're tired of. I read on a PC/iPad just fine, so I didn't. Everyone is different though.

Lol I was going to say something about the dated terminology but the content is still great

 

[Gilbert Buettner]

How do you like to learn? I am old, so physical books are appreciated. Our students usually buy the Airplane Flying Handbook, the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, the FAR/AIM, and the weather textbooks as well as the Airman Certification Standards. Our syllabus gives reading assignments in all of these texts. You can access them online or have one sitting on your desk, your choice. They all contain information you need to understand to meet the requirements for a private pilot certificate.

 

[ArrowFlyer86]

If you're like me and you love sticky notes, making notations, highlighting relevant sections, etc... Then I'd say get the digital copy (along with an app that does sticky notes, notations and highlighting).

You know... I tried that, it's just not the same. My brain just really commits things to memory better when I physically write things down. I can't explain why, but it's how the mushy stuff in my head works.

 

[asicer]

You know... I tried that, it's just not the same. My brain just really commits things to memory better when I physically write things down. I can't explain why, but it's how the mushy stuff in my head works.

Yeah, I was funnin' ya a bit. But also making the (same) point that it's not necessarily the features that make the difference but sometimes the physicality of it.

 

[dmspilot]

I don't recommend skipping the Airplane Flying Handbook. Otherwise we end up with CFIs who think they can teach students turns around a point by putting tape on the wingtip.

 

[DesertNomad]

I don't recommend skipping the Airplane Flying Handbook. Otherwise we end up with CFIs who think they can teach students turns around a point by putting tape on the wingtip.

I have not run into a CFI like that fortunately. When doing turns around a point, I emphasize the ground path that we are trying to trace, and don't worry about where the wing is pointing...we will get to that when we get to 8s on Pylons during commercial training. The AFH will teach you where the wind is supposed to be for these type of maneuvers.

I think one needs physical copies of the AFH, PHAK, and FAR/AIM, but then I am 50 and not your typical 300-hour CFI.

 

[mandm]

Here are the online PDFs from the FAA.

https://www.faa.gov/aviation/phak/pilots-handbook-aeronautical-knowledge-faa-h-8083-25b

https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/airplane_handbook

Most of the material is available online for free so you don’t really need to buy any books, I would get a copy of the checklist and start to memorize those items or at least review them to gain an understanding of process, especially the emergency procedures.