Many pilots plod through their aeronautical lives never really knowing what they or their airplanes are capable of, and, more importantly, not capable of. Fear of weather and its effects is perhaps the most restricting factor holding pilots back. This book, now in its second edition, challenges you to venture outside the narrow channels of your training days and get more out of your airplane and the time you spend in the air.

High-time pilot and author Richard L. Taylor shows the VFR pilot and student how to 'bite off chewable-size chunks of progressively more demanding situations' until you are flying with confidence and have expanded your comfort zone to include situations into which you previously would not have ventured. You'll learn to handle a little more crosswind, a little more turbulence, a bit less visibility and cloud ceiling, and a little less runway, which will help you increase your aircraft utilization and make you a better overall pilot.

Each chapter of this invaluable handbook guides you through possible flight problems and sample flight situations that include:

• The 'bug on the windshield' technique of maintaining a precise glidepath to the runway.
• Hidden uses of VOR and ADF for VFR pilots.
• Tips for handling turbulence (the more you know about it, the better you can handle it).
• Density altitude: the least understand altitude term, the most ignored by pilots, and the most important of them all.
• Night flying tips and techniques for making your eyes work more effectively and making you and your passengers feel more comfortable.
• Tight patterns, power-off approaches, intersection takeoffs, busy airports, and more.

Chapters: 1. Fuel Conservation Techniques; 2. An Advanced Technique for Crosswind Takeoffs and Landings; 3. Electronic Navigation; 4. Modern Airport Manners; 5. Leaning Techniques; 6. Toward Better Communications; 7. Cabin Pressurization; 8. Night Flying; 9. Flying in Turbulent Air; 10. How to Overcome 'Get Home-itis'; 11. Basics of ADF Navigation; 12. Twelve Ways to Drive Tower Controllers Up Their Glass Walls; 13. Back to Basics: Pilotage and Dead Reckoning; 14. And Then There Were Two: Multi-Engine Flying; 15. On Getting Stopped (Rainy Days and Runways); 16. CIFFTRS and GUMPS...The Universal Checklists; 17. Wing Flaps...When and How to Use Them; 18. Density Altitude and Aircraft Performance; 19. Engine Operation; 20. Glide Path Control...Using the Bugs On Your Windshield; 21. Sell Aviation on Every Trip; Glossary of Aviation Jargon and Terminology.

Author: Richard L. Taylor, award-winning author of many articles and 14 aviation books, writes from a background of continuous pilot activity since 1955, when he entered USAF pilot training. He retired from the Air Force Reserve as a major in 1979, having earned Command Pilot status. Taylor was for 22 years a member of the aviation faculty at the Ohio State University (now associate professor emeritus), where he was director of flight operations and training and taught at all levels of the flight curriculum. He is the founder and editor of The Pilot's Audio Update, a monthly audio tape cassette service published continuously since 1978. Taylor has accumulated nearly 13,000 hours of pilot time in a wide variety of aircraft including gliders, helicopters, amphibians, turboprops, jets, and most general aviation light airplanes. He remains active as a pilot and an aviation consultant in Dublin, Ohio.

Format: 2nd edition, March 1993, 333 pages, hard cover, glossary, indexed.