Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying

The author made many very correct observations on flight and how it works at a time when so little was understood. It is clearly a classic text. Reading the book will give you a very thorough understanding of many of the nuances and characteristics of flight that any pilot should want to know. It's very difficult not to recommend this book for that reason.

However, this is where I'd have to advise people to look elsewhere. This book is old, it's not the content which is out of date but the style of writing is archaic and difficult to follow. It may also lose some clarity, or be drawn out in some examples due to what may be translation problems too.

The author takes an awful long time, many many pages to describe the same principles over and over again. It does reinforce, it does give a thorough understanding...yet it is hard to follow because it drones on long after you got the point and can be boring. I had a great amount of trouble finishing the book for this reason.

A more modern book can get to the point much quicker, with more straightforward text, formatting and diagrams. To me, this is more educational as points are less easily lost.

This book is cheap. If you have the cash around then buy it and judge for yourself. Combined with some of the other pilot study courses you will find this helps to reinforce many points and details, in some cases offering a much deeper understanding. This book is not a bad purchase by any means.

However, you don't _need_ this book. I saw all the reviews and really felt that I did need it, that I should own it. If you personally need to be more selective about your purchasing then choose a great flying instructor who can speak to the additional details and questions you need answered and have a browse through other titles in the bookshop to find which is best for you. Select the right study guide, such as Jeppesen. Choose the books more specific to the topics that you feel weaker on, such as weather flying or aviation safety books.

There are indeed many good aviation books, but unfortunately I have not been able to find a more modern text which is a direct equivalent to this book. There is definately a gap which a modernized version of this text could fill. The closest I know, are actually gliding/soaring books by the author Pigott - great texts on aerodynamics and the art of flying.


Be patient and you will learn   July 19, 2006
M. Lee (Orange County, CA USA)
16 out of 16 found this review helpful

Let's start with a fact: I am a pilot.

This book changed how I approached flying and changed how I fly. Let's get the obvious out of the way to assuage the ninnies in the group: Yes it's dated. Elevators are no longer called "flippers" and we don't really call our airplanes "ships." The language is right out of the 1930's. Airplanes today have flaps and tricycle gear. It moves slower than, say, Machado's book. It repeats things. It's basic.

Now the best part: It is an excellent and pure book on the ART of flying. I am amazed by the reviewers here with the 2-second attention span that didn't see this. I'll say it again, this book changed the way I fly and made me a better pilot. It emphasizes safety and it explains in pure form what is safe and what is not. The fundamentals are true and the repetition drives the points home. I took notes as I read this because I wanted to apply what I learned in the cockpit. It works, pure and simple. It teaches you basics that you didn't know you didn't know. Really it does.

Get the book, be patient, absorb what it says. Savor Wolfgang's humor. Read the book thoroughly and don't apply your media-addled, PDA-addicted, 0-attention-span, 2006 mind. Instead read it for what it is; an instructional manual purely about how to handle the stick and rudder to keep you from getting killed. It's not meant to be anything more and you shouldn't expect it to be. I, frankly, loved it. This should be required reading by the FAA. You want to glide shallower?, push the nose down! What? Amazing. It imparts information that will make you a safer pilot. It's an art form, not "Top Gun." Enough said.




Required reading   August 7, 1998
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

I'm a student pilot with only a few hours under my belt. There is a lot of information to absorb while learning: Simple operation of the craft, radio communications, navigation, even just becoming familiar enough with the instruments to be able to read them at a glance.

Stick and Rudder provided me with a clear understanding of what would happen - and why - when I manipulated the controls, before I ever left the ground. Best of all, it's written in a concise format, easy to read and understand.

My CFI uses the FAA Flight Training Handbook as a text. Stick and Rudder helped me interpret the required FAA text and in fact the latter seems to have cribbed material from the former.

Definitely get this book. Learning to fly is complex enough and the more tools you have to simplify the process, the better. This is one of the best.


A classic read for any pilot.   April 22, 2002
Dave English (Arizona, USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful

"Get rid at the outset of the idea that the airplane is only an air-going sort of automobile. It isn't. It may sound like one and smell like one, and it may have been interior decorated to look like one; but the difference is -- it goes on wings."

Still the best way to get the fundamentals straight. In the 1930's test pilot Wolfgang noticed that the words and the realities of piloting did not seem to agree. After careful thought, he published a series of articles for Air Facts magazine that analyzed the true actions of stick and rudder. The book was released in 1944 and has been in print ever since. Some of the writing shows its age -- I don't think any flight instructor will talk about the airplane's flippers -- but the actual actions of the flight controls has not changed. If you are a pilot and you don't have this book, you need to add it to your professional bookshelf.