Pilot books - These are the books every pilot should have. Find out more in these reviews

Top 3 pilot books you can’t live without! – Musthaves 2017

Some books will make your life so much easier. The same counts for pilots (in training) 😉 The article below is about some of those pilot books and I can’t wait to share them with you! They will help you understand aviation related topics, prepare you for checkrides and your first airline interview!

Ace The Technical Pilot Interview The ace of pilot books!

When I graduated I wondered how I could maintain the knowledge I gained during my education. People told me about a book which was supposed to be a tremendous help in achieving this goal. It ended up being one of  the best purchases ever. I created a schedule and tried to study at least 10 pages a week. This does not sound like a lot but when you have a 9 to 5 job while you are applying for different airlines in the meantime and want to have a little bit of a life left… you want to spend as little time as possible on studying. This book will help you to maintain and increase your knowledge in the quickest way possible. It contains a lot of questions. Questions that have been asked during technical airline interviews on numerous occasions. The answers are very detailed and easy to comprehend. If you decide to buy this book, make sure you buy the last version. Previous versions consisted of mistakes in some of the provided answers.

Handling the big jets, one of those musthave pilot books!Handling the Big Jets

If you want to know the differences between jet airplanes and piston-engine airplanes together with some other aspects of flying, then this book is an absolute must have! I have the book Big Jets at home and loved reading it. It gives you a good insight in different aspects of flying and the industry in general. If you are interested in flying, even when you are not a pilot yourself,  you will definitely love this book.

Oral Exam GuidesPrivate Pilot - Oral Exam Guide. One of the best pilot books.

These comprehensive guides prepare you for the FAA Oral Exams. They contain the most frequently asked questions during checkrides and provide you with detailed answers. During my flight training in Arizona almost every student had at least one of these books. There is a guide available for every phase of flight training. I bought three of them and started with the Instrument Pilot Oral Exam Guide the moment I entered the IFR phase of the flight training. This book really helped me and it enabled me to pass the oral phase of the checkride. I felt safe and I knew almost everything regarding instrument flying.
I bought the Commercial Pilot Oral Exam Guide when I entered the multi engine phase. As with the previous book, it helped me pass the commercial checkride. This is a very important checkride so I would absolutely recommend you to buy this book if you are going for a CPL(A).
Likewise I bought the Airline Transport Pilot Oral Exam Guide when I graduated. I wanted to have a small overview of all the information I gained during flight training. All these pilot books are around 12.00 dollar so it is definitely worth the money!

Want to continue reading? This article might be helpful before going to an airline interview. Not sure if you should use the ATPL Question Database to prepare yourself?  Find out more here.

Do you know pilot books that might be helpful for fellow aviators? Please mention them in the comments 🙂

19 thoughts on “Top 3 pilot books you can’t live without! – Musthaves 2017

  1. Hi Michelle,
    Hope you are doing well. I really need to say that your videos are amazing and the informations you share on your website they are really very helpful.
    When I was in grade 8 it was the time for me to think about my future and what do I want to become,but the thing is I didn’t have any idea what did I wanted. That’s why I went for all business subjects,as i thought it will be better for me and I will able to look after my dad’s business and help him in it.
    Now I am done with my IGCSE and I am doing my A levels on business subjects.But now I think this is not what actually I want. I really want to become a pilot now and I am always thinking about it, watching videos regarding this reading articles and what not.
    I really want to know what can I do now, as I need to have some sufficient knowledge on physics to get admitted in a flying school and to get through the courses which I don’t have but I have mathematics in course in fact it’s my favorite subject. I really want this and I am ready to work hard for it no matter what it take,but I am not understanding at all from where to start and what to do.So please if you can help me with this and suggest me something what to do and from where to start.And even if it is possible or not.

    Thank you
    Have a great day.
    Maria

  2. Hi.

    I need help. I want to be a pilot and I wanted to start reading books beforehand for my assessment scholarship.

    Can you help me what books should I buy? Like something about physics or math? I want to buy a book or books but I don’t know what.
    I have zero knowledge about being a pilot by the way. What do you recommend?
    Do not hesitate to recommend me dozens of book.

    I will pass the assessment scholarship no matter what

    Kent from Asia/Philippines

    1. You only need one book. How To Become An Airline Pilot: Achieve Your Dream Without Going Broke.
      I wrote it. My name is Robert Lawrence and I became an airline pilot at age 49. Whatever I have done, you can do too!

  3. Hello Michelle! I am B738 pilot from Russia ( Russian and FAA ATP holder) . I am in the process for upgrade to captain and a lot of books EASA and FAA in the past and now I need some serious books. My preference to brush up my knowledge is Meteorology ( USAF ) , Aircrfat Performance ( Swatton) and AIM USA or Canada by the way very good source . It will be nice to hear your point of view as a professional and get your advice very interesting to know deferent meaning.
    What do you advice ?

    EASA Professional Pilot Licence ( Croucher ) i used it in the past great source.

  4. Hi! Thank you for the reccomendations, I already ordered the Ace the Technical Pilot Interview 🙂 I wonder if Oral Exam Guides are also worth getting since they are written for the exams under FAA, are there many differences in procedures, law etc. compared to European ones?

    1. Hi Joanna,

      Thank you for your comment, I am certain you will find Ace the Technical Pilot Interview helpful. As far as I am aware there are almost no differences regarding air law between EASA and FAA. Have a nice day!

  5. Can you suggest some good books for a PPL ground school exam? I am a beginner with no prior flying experience. Thank you!

      1. Hi IP, can you tell us where to get this book? I can only find it for sale on an Italian version of Amazon.

        Hi Anusha, Your instructor(s) should be able to help you with that. Did you already start your training?

  6. Hello Michelle

    What would you recommend for someone who has no flying experience and is looking to get into an airline cadet program (Indigo Cadet Program – India)? In the interview, they do ask questions based on aviation and maybe some questions on the A320 as they only operate A320’s. The school that i would be applying to is FTA Australia.

    Regards,
    Ashish

    1. I’m not Michelle, but I can give you some advice. If your aviation knowledge is at a quite low level now, the FAA book – Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge is quite a good Idea. In my opinion it is presents the knowledge in a pretty good way. You probably might even find this book for free on FAA website.
      Wish you luck with your training 🙂

    2. Hi Ashish, So they will ask you questions about aviation related subjects and the Airbus 320 during the interview? That is a bit weird given you have no experience as a pilot yet. Can you give some examples of questions they are known to ask? Perhaps I can give you some advise then. Otherwise it is always a good idea to brush up your math skills and knowledge about physics. Try to learn as much as possible about their company, fleet, goals and values.

      Good luck and have a nice weekend!

  7. Michelle,

    I stumbled on your videos/blog and it’s good to see the new generation of pilots enjoying the job. It’s great that you are passing along book recommendations to interested newcomers to an aviation career. I have one for you that I think is a fun look back into the history for commercial aviation and also instructive for new (and old) pilots alike. It’s written like the story of one pilot but is a mix of his experiences and experiences of others around him during most of his aviation career.

    The book is “Fate is the Hunter” and the title is part of the lesson throughout the book. I have found many lessons in the telling of these stories in the book that I would like to think have kept me out of trouble in my flying. Ernest K. Gann is the author and is much more complicated/interesting a person than just the one book so if like the book there is more of his work to explore. He has an autobiography as well as many books and movies (don’t watch the movie Fate is the Hunter as he sold the rights to it and the movie has nothing to do with the book, I think this was a one of his life regrets).

    Fate is the Hunter

    Don’t let fate hunt you. Fly safe,

    Greg

    1. Thanks for the feedback Greg! I will have a look at it, sounds like an interesting book.

      In case you have more recommendations please feel free to mention them here 🙂 All the best!

  8. Hi Michelle!
    I’m thinking about buying the book you mentioned in this article – Ace The Technical Pilot Interview. As you’ve said and as I’ve read in many comments on some forums, the book contains lots of mistakes. And people advise against buying this book. But you’ve said that the latest version is worth buying. Does it still contain some very clear mistakes? Have you noticed lots of them? Or maybe none.

    Thank you for your answer and good luck with what you’re doing 🙂
    Stay safe!

    1. Hey Bartosz! Ace The Technical Pilot Interview is a great book to maintain your knowledge. Unfortunately the newer version also has some mistakes in it. But I guess 95% of its content is correct and well explained. It is a lot better than its previous version. I would definitely advise you to buy the book since even the previous version was a great help 😉 You can easily spot most of the mistakes! Keep the wings level.

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