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Air Pilot's Manual Southern Africa Series: Vol. 4 The Aeroplane General Knowledge Book

Pooleys stock code: BTT040SA

CURRENT EDITION: First Edition May 2022

Reference material for SACAA PPL Syllabus and includes practice questions.

APM Southern African Series, Volume 4 – The Aeroplane General Knowledge (Principles of Flight, Aircraft General) and Practice Questions

– A Condensed History of the Air Pilot Manuals –

For over 30 years the Air Pilot Manuals have led the academic training of pilots in the United Kingdom and in many countries around the world.

I first met Trevor Thom, a professional pilot and natural teacher, in Melbourne during a visit to Australia in January 1985. He already had his series of PPL Manuals for the Australian market and I asked him to produce a series for the New Zealand market where we had a small aviation business. Having completed this task, Trevor immediately began writing the first of the Air Pilot Manuals for the United Kingdom market and this project began in earnest on 5^thDecember 1985.

Both Trevor Thom and Robert Johnson commenced the task in my office at Felden, Hertfordshire. By the end of the following year, all four volumes were completed and were published in February 1987. By the end of that year, we estimated that 95% of all the UK Flying Schools were using our manuals. Volumes 5, 6 and 7 followed, so completing the full series which also now includes the Question & Answer Exam Books Volumes 1-9 and the Air Presentations series of PowerPoint Teaching Aids.

Unfortunately, Trevor Thom had a serious accident at home which prevented him from continuing with the editing of the manuals. His rights were eventually sold to David Robson, another experienced pilot and natural teacher, who progressively improved the drawings and brought colour into the manuals for the first time.

Over the years there have been many assistant editors, in particular Peter Godwin, whose help I first asked for in the very early days with Trevor Thom and which continued until quite recently. The rights in the Air Pilot Manuals are now vested with the Pooley family and they continue to be edited by Dorothy Saul-Pooley, with the assistance of Daljeet Gill who is responsible for the design and layout, and are published from our offices at Cranfield.

The APM series of manuals are used in many countries around the world and have been used for many years in South Africa. We are delighted to have now published this new series of APMs specifically for the Southern African market and we are indebted to Louise Hahn for editing them.

The Air Pilot Manuals have an outstanding reputation for accuracy and are continuously updated. They are SACAA recommended reading material.

Robert Pooley

MBE CStJ FRIN FRAeS

Preface to the First Edition

Keeping up to date with legal changes is challenging because the law is changing all the time. Please be aware that there are almost daily changes to some aspects of aviation law, so you must check the www.caa.co.za website frequently.