Aircraft Systems: Really Knowing Your Airplane (The Command Decisions Series, Volume 3), 1991, 1991

Document Type: Textbook (Technical). Purpose: Training & Education. Authority: Author Expertise.

Series: The Command Decisions series, Volume 3.

Scope: Textbook written for General Aviation pilots, owners and mechanics. Written by Richard Taylor, "who has been writing about, and teaching, flying for more than 40 years."

From the dust jacket: "Really Knowing Your Airplane: In its basic design, the modern light-plane hasn't changed much since the 1930s, a decade which many consider to be the golden era of the piston-powered aircraft. To be sure, avionics have come a long way since the day of the vacuum tube, but the basic mechanical systems engines, fuel and electrical systems and the flight controls-remain much as they were 50 years ago.

Although these systems have been with us for a long time, pilots continue to get themselves into trouble because they've forgotten (or never knew) the fundamental operating principles of the machines they fly. More than a few accidents have been the result of a profound misunderstanding of aircraft systems.

In this, the third volume in the Command Decision Series, noted aviation author Richard Taylor explores how deficiencies in aircraft systems have led to accidents that could have been avoided if the pilot had simply conducted a more careful preflight or heeded the subtle warning signs from a rough engine or an inconsistent cockpit instrument reading.

Using accident reports from Aviation Safety, Taylor explores engine systems and their potential problems with exacting insight. He shows that aircraft engines are not a mysterious collection of unrelated parts, but a logical arrangement of easily understandable components. If a pilot knows what to look for, argues Taylor, many engine problems can be detected and corrected before they become catastrophic.

With equal thoroughness, he treats fuel, electrical, propeller and flight instrument systems. The final two sections cover the airframe, controls, landing gear and flaps, systems often considered so simple pilots take them for granted.

It's often said that aviation accidents are caused not by a single event but by a chain of events that eventually overwhelms both pilot and machine. As in the other books in the Command Decision Series, Taylor has drawn upon real-world experience to show how pilots can learn to recognize when the elements of an accident are present. By doing so, they reduce the chances of learning about flying the hard way."

Contents (from the Table of Contents): "Preface Part 1. Engine Systems Part 2. Fuel Systems Part 3. Propellers Part 4. Electrical Systems Part 5. Avionics and Flight Instruments Part 6. Airframe and Control Systems Part 7. Landing Gear and Wing Flap Systems"