--- title: Learning to Fly (Private Pilot) description: A private pilot licence lets you fly light aircraft. You will learn aerodynamics, regulations, navigation and weather for ground school, the written and checkride process and how training works. category: trades-crafts subcategory: automotive difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced url: /subject/private-pilot-license --- # Learning to Fly (Private Pilot) A private pilot licence lets you fly light aircraft. You will learn aerodynamics, regulations, navigation and weather for ground school, the written and checkride process and how training works. ## Available Resources 2 Books • 1 Courses • 4 Websites • 1 Papers ## Websites ### 1. AOPA Air Safety Institute Accident Case Studies **Author:** AOPA Air Safety Institute Free reconstructions of real general aviation accidents built from NTSB reports and actual ATC audio, animated minute by minute. Shows how competent pilots reach fatal decisions - the judgment half of flying that handbooks cannot teach. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.aopa.org/training-and-safety/online-learning/accident-case-studies **Tags:** aviation-accident-analysis, aeronautical-decision-making, ntsb-reports, general-aviation-safety, pilot-judgment ### 2. Aviation Weather Handbook (FAA-H-8083-28B) **Author:** Federal Aviation Administration FAA handbook consolidating former advisory circulars on aviation weather: atmospheric physics, hazards such as icing, turbulence and thunderstorms, and decoding METARs, TAFs, prognostic charts and other briefing products. Pilots learn to interpret forecasts and make informed go or no-go decisions. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.faa.gov/regulationspolicies/handbooksmanuals/aviation/faa-h-8083-28b-aviation-weather-handbook **Tags:** aviation-weather, metar-taf-decoding, aircraft-icing, thunderstorm-hazards, weather-briefing ### 3. Airplane Flying Handbook (FAA-H-8083-3C) **Author:** Federal Aviation Administration The FAA's companion to the PHAK, covering what you actually do with the controls: takeoffs and landings, ground reference maneuvers, slow flight, stalls, spins, emergencies and night flight. Read each chapter before the matching lesson. The PHAK teaches knowledge, this teaches technique - they are complements. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/airplane_handbook **Tags:** flight-maneuvers, takeoffs-and-landings, stall-and-spin-training, ground-reference-maneuvers, emergency-procedures ### 4. Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-25C) **Author:** Federal Aviation Administration The FAA's core ground-school text, and the document the private pilot written exam is drawn from. Seventeen chapters cover aerodynamics, aircraft systems, flight instruments, weight and balance, performance, weather, airspace, navigation and aeromedical factors. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/phak **Tags:** aeronautical-knowledge, faa-knowledge-test, aircraft-systems, weight-and-balance, airspace, aeromedical-factors ## Books ### 1. Say Again, Please: Guide to Radio Communications (7th Edition) **Author:** Bob Gardner How the air traffic control system works and exactly what to say on the radio, with scripted transmissions and simulated flights through each class of airspace. Radio communication is the most commonly cited stumbling block for student pilots and it is the clearest hole in the FAA canon - the AIM covers the rules but not what to actually say, and the PHAK barely touches it. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1644252937?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** aviation-radio-communications, air-traffic-control, atc-phraseology, airspace-classes, student-pilot ### 2. Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying **Author:** Wolfgang Langewiesche The one resource that changes how you think rather than what you know. Langewiesche's 1944 argument that angle of attack, not airspeed, is what a pilot is really controlling. Explains stalls, the elevator-as-speed-control idea and the landing approach in physical terms rather than procedural ones. Caveat: it predates modern avionics, ATC and airspace, so it complements the FAA canon, never substitutes for it. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid **Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/0070362408?tag=edmonddante07-20 **Tags:** angle-of-attack, stall-awareness, flight-controls, landing-approach, aerodynamics-for-pilots ## Courses ### 1. Private Pilot Ground School (MIT 16.687) **Author:** Philip Greenspun, Tina Srivastava Three-day intensive preparing students for the FAA Private Pilot Knowledge Test, covering aerodynamics, aircraft systems, navigation, meteorology, performance, ownership and maintenance, plus multi-engine and jet flying. Provides 25 lecture videos with slides; learners can study for the written exam, cross-checking regulations against FAA handbooks. **Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/16-687-private-pilot-ground-school-january-iap-2019/ **Tags:** private-pilot-ground-school, faa-knowledge-test, aviation-meteorology, air-navigation, aircraft-systems ## Papers ### 1. Private Pilot - Airplane Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C) **Author:** Federal Aviation Administration The examiner's grading rubric. Every task on the checkride with its required knowledge, risk management and skill elements, plus numeric tolerances for altitude, heading and airspeed. Treat it as the syllabus your training must satisfy. Reading the ACS early is the highest-leverage move a student pilot can make: it converts a vague multi-month process into a finite checklist with published tolerances. **Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free **Link:** https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/acs/private_airplane_acs_6.pdf **Tags:** airman-certification-standards, private-pilot-checkride, practical-test-standards, flight-training-syllabus, risk-management --- *This content is part of Dantes.io - Your Treasure Map to Knowledge* *Curated by humans at Dantes.io. Personal study use welcome; republishing this curation requires permission (team@dantes.io).* View this page online: https://dantes.io/subject/private-pilot-license