A Pilot’s Guide to Aircraft and Their Systems

Early aviators had to be both mechanic and pilot... early airplanes and engines were less than completely dependable. In a forced landing situation, they had to find and fix the problem themselves in order to get the airplane back in the air—fortunately their airplanes were not complex in their systems, nor complicated to fix. In the more than half a century since World War II, aircraft have become a vital component of our transportation system, developed and finely tuned to become the fast, efficient, dependable, and safe machines they are today. But technological advances have brought additional complexities that demand the aircraft be operated in exactly the way the designer intended. To do this, pilots must understand what each handle or knob controls and what he or she can expect from each system. A Pilot's Guide to Aircraft and Their Systems furnishes pilots and armchair aviators with explanation and insight into what the aircraft, powerplant, and each of the systems do, and does so in language they can identify with. Dale Crane covers everything, writing in an easy-to-grasp style, from single-engine pistons to multi-engine turbines, including:

• principles of flight, the forces acting on an airplane in flight
• control surfaces and their operation
• aircraft structures and materials
• systems—hydraulic, electrical, fuel, ice protection and instrument
• turbine and piston engine theory and operations
• propeller forces, construction and controls

Understanding their aircraft’s systems will help pilots enjoy their flying more, and make them safer and more efficient aviators.

A Pilot’s Guide to Aircraft and Their Systems may also serve as an introduction to the ASA’s
Aviation Mechanic Series, textbooks for in-depth study of exactly how aircraft systems work and how to maintain them.