The Complete Foundation Course

Comprising of 3 titles

You, Yourself and Aviation has four aims to help you to:

1. Understand the various options available if you want a career as a professional pilot.
2. Understand the realities of each type of career.
3. Discover whether professional aviation is right for you and whether you are right for professional aviation.
4. Choose the right pathway to becoming a professional pilot.

This is the most critical of the three books comprising the Foundation Course. There are many individuals who are attracted to the idea of life as a professional pilot but have no idea what the realities of this type of career are. In truth, learning to be a professional pilot is very hard work. There are intense periods of theoretical study, combined with very demanding, stressful practical flying training. We strongly advise you not to overlook our recommendation to invest in a trial lesson. Flying a small aircraft is vastly different from being a passenger on a commercial flight.

The second title in our Pilot Foundation Course. ‘STEM-A’ is a phrase created by Padpilot in 2015 to describe the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) applicable to aviation. This book has two aims:

1. To improve your basic maths skills.
2. To lay down the foundation knowledge which underpins much of aviation theory.

This STEM-A book explains in very simple terms the underlying maths and physics you need for aviation studies. As such the book is slanted towards aviation applications rather than general science knowledge. However, because it assumes no previous knowledge, and because it describes very general principles and mathematical skills, it is a very useful primer and refresher for anyone interested in improving their STEM knowledge. For those of you about to begin theoretical studies for a pilot qualification you must read and understand the material included.

The third title in our Pilot Foundation Course. Basic Aviation Theory has three aims to help you to:

1. Understand whether you enjoy learning about aviation.
2. Get back into the pattern of study required for a pilot licence qualification.
3. Lay down a base of knowledge fundamental to your understanding of aviation.

The first aim is by the most important. If you don’t enjoy reading the content of this book, then you will struggle with the intense amount of study required to pass the professional pilot theoretical examinations.

Furthermore, if you don’t enjoy reading about aviation subjects then a career as a professional pilot is probably not right for you. Throughout their careers, commercial pilots constantly study, and then apply, theory. There are always new things to learn and old areas of knowledge that need to be regularly refreshed.