Mon Mar 30, 2020 3:45 pm
#1757179
Since we're all grounded, let me entice you into a bit of useful home-schooling. Some of you will have heard of a book called Stick and Rudder written by someone named Wolfgang Langeweische in the 1940s. Some of you will also have read it already, of course, in which case you can collect a Merit and ignore this thread.
For those who haven't, may I recommend it to you. It is full of some very clearly articulated points of learning about the theory of flight. It focusses especially upon the absolute importance to pilots of the Angle of Attack (the angle at which the airflow meets the wing) and laments the fact that even today so much theoretical and practical instruction skates over this critically important piece of knowledge. It explains much more clearly than I've seen elsewhere about things like Adverse Yaw and so on. I've been flying for quite a long time, but I found it genuinely thought-provoking and it has made me reconsider and re-evaluate some aspects of how I teach my students, when I eventually get to do so again.
To be fair, you do have to wade through quite a lot of odd language and terminology because it was written in the 40s and is in a strange dialect which I assume is the American version of Olde English. There are also one or two slightly dubious departures into the land of the hobby-horse which you have to kind of nod to and move on. But once you get through that it's a really thought-provoking read. I'd go so far as to say that it's a book that all pilots ought to have read.
So, if you are bored by not being able to fly and yet are still intrigued by how in the hell we are able to fly in any case, get a copy and give it a read. I guarantee you'll learn something useful.
For those who haven't, may I recommend it to you. It is full of some very clearly articulated points of learning about the theory of flight. It focusses especially upon the absolute importance to pilots of the Angle of Attack (the angle at which the airflow meets the wing) and laments the fact that even today so much theoretical and practical instruction skates over this critically important piece of knowledge. It explains much more clearly than I've seen elsewhere about things like Adverse Yaw and so on. I've been flying for quite a long time, but I found it genuinely thought-provoking and it has made me reconsider and re-evaluate some aspects of how I teach my students, when I eventually get to do so again.
To be fair, you do have to wade through quite a lot of odd language and terminology because it was written in the 40s and is in a strange dialect which I assume is the American version of Olde English. There are also one or two slightly dubious departures into the land of the hobby-horse which you have to kind of nod to and move on. But once you get through that it's a really thought-provoking read. I'd go so far as to say that it's a book that all pilots ought to have read.
So, if you are bored by not being able to fly and yet are still intrigued by how in the hell we are able to fly in any case, get a copy and give it a read. I guarantee you'll learn something useful.
lobstaboy liked this