Rod Machado's Instrument Pilot's Handbook  
624 pages in full color!

$59.95

This book allows you to learn everything you need for:

The FAA instrument knowledge exam
Your instrument proficiency check
Updating and refreshing your knowledge 

This handbook contains the information necessary to:

Fly instruments as a knowledgeable and competent pilot.

Prepare for the FAA instrument pilot knowledge exam.

Prepare for the instrument pilot practical oral exam.

Refresh for your instrument proficiency check.

Remain an up-to-date confident instrument pilot.

As a comprehensive information source book, these pages include:

  • Simplification of the FAA’s instrument scan concepts/procedures and a cockpit-practical, step-by-step instrument scan technique.
  • The latest information on aviation decision making for instrument pilots.
  • Detailed understanding of analog and glass (PFD) flight instruments.
  • Step-by-step procedures for planning an IFR cross-country flight.
  • Easy to apply navigation methods for VOR, GPS and ADF.
  • Clear, down-to-earth explanations of pertinent FARs, including
    instrument currency, lost comm, alternate requirements, etc.
  • Step-by-step explanation of how instrument approach charts are
    constructed, including MDAs, DAs, procedure turns, etc.
  • Practical understanding of the IFR system, GPS procedures, icing
    and thunderstorm avoidance, NEXRAD, radar, and more    .

     

How to order
View excerpts of this book (Adobe PDF format)
Return to Home Page
 

Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook
NEW! "Second Edition"

A serious text written in a fun and witty style. More than 1,200 original illustrations and photos in a hardbound, full color, 624 page book. This book is a one-of-a-kind manual. You can learn or review by just looking at the pictures. However, the text is laced with Machado;s humor and practical training insights, so you will want to read every last word on each page. Written in the first person, it's as if Rod is sitting next to you, personally explaining all the necessary aspects of flying to make you an informed, confident and competent pilot. It is the first book of its kind completely written and illustrated by one instructor--a CFI with more than three decades of teaching experience, 8,000 hours as a flight instructor and literally hundreds and hundreds of aviation seminars under his belt. Flight instructors will love using the great illustrations with their students. It will also be a favorite for its readability. It's perfect to refresh for a flight review, catch up on new rules or for student pilots to pass their FAA knowledge and oral exams. 

Here's Some of What's Inside:

  • Alphabet airspace made E-Z with 3-D color illustrations
  • Easy to understand analogies and examples for technical subjects such as aerodynamics, engines, flight instruments, primary flight displays, etc.
  • The airplane's electrical system described using the water analogy of electricity
  • Step-by-step procedures for planning X-country flights and using cross country flight planning software and internet weather briefing software
  • Clear, down-to-earth explanations of the latest/relevant FARs-Part 61 & 91
  • Easy to apply navigation methods for VOR, GPS and ADF
  • Aviation decision making tools, skills and techniques
  • Practical tips and techniques for ensuring a safe and enjoyable flight.

$64.95

How to order
Read comments about this book
View excerpts of this book
Return to Home Page

Click here to go to audiobook information page.

 

Rod Machado's Private Pilot Workbook
Welcome to Rod Machado's Private Pilot Workbook. This book is intended to be used in conjunction with Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook.  The questions are organized to follow the presentation of material, section for section, as found in the Handbook. Not only will this book prepare you for the Private Pilot Knowledge Exam, it will help you understand and absorb the knowledge necessary for you to fly safely. 
   Begin by reading a particular section from the Handbook. Then, open this Workbook and answer the questions relevant to the section you just studied. Compare your answers with those found  in this book. If you answer a question incorrectly or would just like more information on the subject, you'll be directed to the precise page, column and paragraph in the Handbook where that information can be found. This form of programmed learning not only makes learning fun, it makes it more efficient, too.
Good news if you're an instructor teaching a Part 141 FAA approved ground school. Included is an FAA approved, Part 141 ground school syllabus. Using this syllabus in conjunction with Rod Machado's Private Pilot Handbook meets FAA requirements for an approved Part 141 ground school. $24.95

How to order
View excerpts of this book (Adobe PDF format)
Return to Home Page


 

Second Edition
Rod Machado's Instrument 
Pilot's Survival Manual

This unique book contains a wealth of interesting and exciting information on instrument flying. Rod's 34 years of flying experience makes this an important resource. 

Here's Some of What's Inside:

  • Scanning, Ice, Thunderstorm Avoidance
  • Jep & NACO (Government) Chart Usage
  • Pro thinking Skills
  • IFR Departure Skills
  • Cockpit Management
  • GPS Chart Construction
  • Flying GPS approaches & Much More. 

This book is unlike any other book on instrument flying you have encountered. It's based on Rod's popular IFR refresher course and contains answers to questions that concern the neophyte and the professional instrument pilot. Questions like: 

  • How do you know if a cloud contains a thunderstorm?
  • How can you use Center & ASR-9 radar to avoid ice and convective activity?
  • Is there a good way to estimate visibility while at DH or MDA?
  • Can I increase the efficiency of my scan and reduce my cockpit workload?
  • How do I interpret and use all those symbols on approach charts?
  • How do I interpret GPS approach charts?
  • How do I fly GPS approaches?
  • And much, much more
  

Note: The Instrument Pilot's Survival Manual is intended primarily as a book to learn IFR flying skills. The Instrument Flying Handbook is intended to provide the broad based knowledge necessarily to fly IFR safely and competently.

Illustrated with humorous drawings and containing some of the most spectacular reports of pilots gripped by the problems of instrument flight, it's sure to educate and entertain you. Written in a humorous style this 424 page (50 pages in color) book will prepare you to be a more educated and proficient pilot. Excellent for any IFR student, experienced professional pilot or as an IFR refresher. $34.95

How to order
View excerpts of this book (Adobe PDF format)
Return to Home Page

Rod Machado's Plane Talk
The Mental Art of Flying an Airplane
Welcome to a collection of Rod Machado's most popular aviation articles and stories from the last 15 years. Rod Machado's Plane Talk contains nearly 100 articles covering flights of fun and knowledge that will stimulate your aviation brain and tickle your funny bone. In addition to the educational topics listed below, this 456 page book contains article on topics such as higher aviation learning, the value of aviation history, aviation literature, aviation art and how an artist's perspective can help you better understand weather. You'll also find more than a few articles written just to make you laugh.
Here's What's Inside

How to Assess and Manage Aviation Risks
Learn how safe pilots think, how to apply the safety strategy used by General Jimmy Doolittle (known as the master of the calculated risk), how famed gunfighter Wyatt Earp can help you cope with aviation's risks, how misleading aviation statistics can be and why flying isn't as dangerous as some folks say it is.

Several Techniques for Making Better Cockpit Decisions
Discover how to use your inner copilot in the cockpit and the value of one good question asked upside down.

New Ways to Help You Cope With Temptation
Fly safer by developing an aviation code of ethics, understand how human nature can trick you into flying beyond your limits, why good pilots are prejudiced and how a concept like honor will protect you while aloft.

How to Use Your Brain for a Change
You can learn faster by understanding how the learning curve--the brain's performance chart--is affected by the little lies we tell ourselves, the mistakes we need to make, our need to please our instructors, and simulator and memory training.

The Truth About Flying, Anxiety and Fear
Learn why it's often the safest of pilots that make excuses instead of flights, why anxiety should be treated as a normal part of flying, and a three-step process to avoiding panic in the cockpit.

How to Handle First Time Flyers and Anxious Passengers
Discover how to behave around new passengers, how to avoid most common mistakes that scare passengers in airplanes and how to reduce the cockpit stress between pilot and spouse.

Favorite Skills Used By Good Pilots
Learn why good pilots scan behind an airplane as well as ahead of it, are sometimes rough and bully-like on the flight controls, occasionally fly without using any of the airplane's electronic navigation equipment, don't worry about turbulence breaking their airplanes, master airspeed control as a means of making better landings and much more

$29.95
Available Now!
How to order
View table of contents and read the foreword by Barry Schiff
View a few pages of Plane Talk (PDF File)
Return to Home Page
Speaking of Flying

Produced by Diane Titterington of The Aviation Speakers Bureau

This wonderful 448 page hardbound book was written by 44 pilots who are speakers with The Aviation Speakers Bureau. These funny, dramatic, and inspiring stories are some of aviation's finest tales. You would expect nothing less from aviation's celebrities, experts and specialists. Our flight plan sees us barnstorming in the U.S., flying aerial combat missions in World War II and Vietnam, test piloting new aircraft, performing air rescue, winging to exotic places, and flying to historically important aviation places from Kitty Hawk to the moon. You will go along as history is being made and hear the pilot's perspective on some of these aviation firsts. You will find ACES and true heroes within these pages. 

Speaking of Flying is your ticket to adventure. Step aboard, and be prepared to laugh, cry, and feel the excitement. $29.95

How to order
Return to Home Page