The Pilot Shop

This manual is the first volume of the Radio Nav series published by Marques Aviation Ltd. The manual provides an overview of theoretical principles of the radio signal, the non-directional beacon (NDB) navaid and the automatic direction finder (ADF) avionics. This title contains an extensive collection of test questions and practical exercises designed for the user to attain proficiency in the use of ADF avionics, including the relative bearing indicator (RBI), rotatable-card and dual-pointer ADF indicators and radio magnetic indicator (RMI), for radio navigation.

NDB-ADF is one of the first radio navigation systems in use. The principle of the ADF is conceptually simple. However, the use of the RBI for navigation is complex. It requires correct interpretation  by the student pilot to attain proficiency and regular practice by the professional pilot to remain current. The questions and practical exercises in this manual enhance your understanding of direction finding navigation and have been designed for you to carry out mental arithmetic calculations as well as promote a sense of orientation and situational awareness so that you know where the aircraft is heading and its position relative to the NDB ground station.

  Attain proficiency in Radio Nav !!

No matter how long you have been a pilot and no matter what degree of skill you have attained, if you are to land perfectly you must exert 100% effort toward that task. Many pilots resign themselves to imperfect landings merely because they are unaware of the simple fact that even the pros must work at each landing.

The three skills needed to produce a perfect landing include:

• Recognizing the landing situation and understanding its true nature.
• The knowledge of how to meet and weigh each required task against personal skill and limitation.
• The ability to evaluate the airplane’s capacity to meet each challenge.

This book shows pilots how to develop a keen sense of awareness in each of the three stages of landing and to convert that awareness into perfect landings. Softcover, illustrated, 5.5" x 8.5", 144 pages.

This book is intended to make the typical private pilot an expert during one phase of flight: the takeoff. Detailed but easy-to-understand information gives pilots the knowledge they need to go beyond rote reactions and develop piloting excellence.

Fowler addresses the light-airplane departure as a series of steps requiring the pilot’s total awareness of situation, airplane, and self. Pilots learn to identify and assess circumstances and conditions and then to implement appropriate procedures.

Hardcover, jacket, illustrated, 5.5" x 8.5”, 156 pages.

What people are saying:

”Author Ron Fowler has assembled an excellent handbook. With just the right blend of fact and gentle humor, Fowler has lined up all the technicalities and made them understandable…With over 16,000 hours in my dusty log, I thought I would just browse through this book. Wrong! The reading awakened many memories and reminded me of a few mistakes I had foolishly made. Fowler’s work deserves more than a simple glance.”—Capt. Robert Welch, (Ret.), Former Airline Pilot, Eastern Airlines

“I wish I had had this book…when I started flying. Fowler emphasizes many important points about takeoffs that you usually don’t think about. Even after making takeoffs in everything from a C-47 to an F-4, I learned a lot about getting a plane into the air…Fowler knows takeoffs!”—Lt. Col. Donald H. Walter, (Ret.), U.S. Air Force

Ron Fowler accurately states, “our skills of flight either improve or slowly erode, but they rarely remain unchanged.” Speaking pilot to pilot, the author picks up where initial pilot training leaves off. Lessons from the Logbook is a collection of stories that began as articles written for Plane & Pilot magazine, and was previously published by Aviation Book Company.

The book is organized to reflect all the phases of flight: preflight, departure, en route, and arrival, and concludes with a section on recurrent training. It provides piloting techniques on such diverse topics as night flying; what to do when you get stuck above or below a cloud deck; how to handle in-flight emergencies; evaluating real-life takeoff performance; pursuing a path to perfect flying; and much, much more.

Ron Fowler is the ideal flight instructor—experienced, patient, entertaining, with excellent communication skills. Although readers may never have an opportunity to fly with him, his gentle guidance will stick with them: first when they read the pages that share the author’s expertise, to be recalled again when they have a similar experience. Lessons from the Logbook will inspire readers to improve their flying skills, and more importantly, motivate them to take to the sky.

245 pages, paperback

Written by an experienced instructor and pilot examiner, Cockpit Procedures provides a solid understanding of the underlying principles for, and detailed descriptions of the checklists and routines used in many flight schools. Readers will find it contains a practical definition of airmanship, and covers what good habits to develop, effective workload management, and even what you should have in your flight bag. Cockpit Procedures is about cockpit actions and thinking, giving readers the rationale behind common procedures that are standard practice in the training environment and in the airlines.

Both airplanes and helicopters are covered, delivering the essential aspects of effective training — technical knowledge, practical application and context learning. Cockpit Procedures targets the pilot just beginning his/her career, yet many of the philosophies and practical techniques taught here are so fundamental and powerful they will carry a pilot right through to retirement. While encouraging structure and discipline regarding procedures, the author does not merely check off lists of dry facts — Cockpit Procedures is also fun to read and Chris Burger keeps his readers focused with lively description and his knack for getting down to essentials in such a way that they stay with you.

Chris R. Burger is an instructor and pilot examiner, flies both airplanes and helicopters, was previously an Air Traffic Controller, and runs a flying school in South Africa. As a flight instructor whose academic background includes aviation psychology expertise, Chris works to promote a culture of safety and teach pilots how to stay out of trouble in the skies — a task well-served by more than 2,500 hours of instructor experience in over 80 different aircraft models.