Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying Hardcover – September 1, 1990

I received it sooner than I would have expected and it is of fine quality.

A comprehensive guide to the nuts and bolts of flying. Dispels a lot of myths and provides a ton of information about flying. I've read it three times and will read it again.

When I was taking my primary training I was pinching every penny to buy flight time and this book seemed out dated and expensive. I finally bought it and read it. If I had spent the few bucks back then I would have saved the price of its purchase many times over in wasted flight instruction hours.Often what Langewiesch describes is preambled with ( I'm paraphrasing here ) "A well behaved airplane should not do this but..."Present day trainers are much better behaved than when he wrote this book so the characteristics he goes on to explain are minimized, and as a result often misunderstood or simply ignored. They shouldn't be. Sooner or later all airplanes exhibit some or all of those traits and knowing what they are, why they occur, and how to react to them will greatly improve your skills.Often the "theory" as inadequately explained in a noisy cockpit by your CFI as you strive to perfect your skills is only part of the puzzle. At some point theory is overcome in the real world by practical application and the limitations of aircraft design. For a simple example: you have probably been taught that you do not need to hold any rudder once you have established in a steady turn, but no doubt you have also discovered that it is sometimes necessary to hold some rudder in some turns. What gives? This book will help you identify why and when these sorts of things should or should not happen, what to do about them, and especially important, what NOT to do about them.

I'm a german student pilot, currently in my initial practical flight training for my MPL/ATPL here in the US.When I arrived here and started flying, I soon felt that there were some things left out in training. Don't get me wrong, flight instructors here are great, but sometimes for some very basic questions, they didn't seem to understand even where my problem was and I did not understand what I did wrong and, for example, why my turns always felt a little different to the ones that my instructor did and so on. My flight school emphasizes very much the use of procedures and they sometimes seemed to expect that you learn the very basics of how to control an airplane somewhere besides doing all the procedures.Eventually, I decided to answer some of my questions by reading and I found "stick and rudder". When I received the package at the desk, I opened it in our briefing area and looked through the contents of the package and every instructor that came along and said things like "Oh, I know that book, it's a classic!". I started reading and after three or four days, I began to do some of the things that are taught in the book when I was flying. I can just say it definitely changed the way that I am controlling the airplane and improved my understanding for how the airplane reacts to inputs, especially when you take it near or into a stall.Yes, the book may be from the 30s or 40s and yes, the language used seems sometimes a little bit strange, but I learned a lot from this book and I will definitely read it some more times to get everything that I can out of it.

At VAF (Van’s Air Force), this book kept getting mentioned as one of their favorites. I couldn’t imagine what would be so great about it, especially when the content in it was so old. But, like many others, it’s probably one of my favorite aviation books now, and is loaded with good information that I’m convinced will make you a safer pilot. I know it has made me more self aware, and flying experimental planes, we need to do more to improve our safety record. Understanding the concepts more clearly in this book, is as good a start as any. I can’t really add anything that others haven’t already done, but do want to stress one point.Wolfgang says that pilots are quite apt at recovering from stalls, when they expect them. But the real problem, is, pilots when not practicing it, most don’t realize they have got themselves in a stall when in the pattern, so instead of pushing down on the stick (or yoke) to regain airspeed back, they are pulling back, not ever knowing they were in a stall before it is too late. That still seems like the major problem today too; particularly when turning left base and left downwind. Steeper turns while turning don’t help the situation since it increases the stall speed as well, and worst case scenario you’ve fooled around and got yourself into a spin.I can't imagine no one benefiting from this book.

I read this book in preparation to begin teaching as a CFI. There are some parts of this book, particularly in aerodynamics that are outdated ideas that are just wrong according to modern research. This is not to say that it is a bad book, but quite the opposite. There are pages full of analogies to relate better to a new student pilot that I will undoubtedly use in the future.

It will make even the most experienced pilots understand flight at a level that is simply not possible in todays training environment. It goes back to the basics, no G1000 of fly by auto pilot here. Fully recommend this read.

Best understanding of flight and yet written in 1944. Should be required reading for every student pilot and pilot for that matter. A must read.