Weather radar IQ
Navigating Weather: A Pilot’s Guide to Airborne and Datalink Weather Radar
Weather radar is a powerful in-flight tool—when it’s used correctly. Now you can learn how with David Ison’s new book, Navigating Weather: A Pilot’s Guide to Airborne and Datalink Weather Radar. Starting with a brief history of radar, and flowing into how the technology works, Ison gives the reader a solid foundation by which to understand increasingly more complex topics. We learn what radar shows us, what it doesn’t, and the capabilities and limitations of modern systems. Ison even dives into the specific operation of certain units, and essential features such as tilt. Using radar effectively can significantly increase the safety of a flight, just like using it poorly or improperly can put a flight in jeopardy. The key is knowing how the system works and effectively applying that knowledge. That’s usually “on the job” training gained over hundreds of flight hours. Now pilots can get a jump start with everything they need to know in Navigating Weather, published by ASA. —IJT
Price: $39.95
Risky business
Flying with a Dragon On Our Tail
Two 40-something married lawyers from Fresno, California—Jim Bell and Judy Lund-Bell—responded to an advertisement in an aviation magazine to join 16 other pilots in the 1987 Paris-Pékin-Paris Air Race. The couple, who had never flown outside the United States, chronicle their adventures—and mis-adventures—in Flying with a Dragon On Our Tail. The month-long flying adventure takes them across the world, taking risks, and sees them making history: Judy was the first female American private pilot to land an aircraft in the People’s Republic of China. —JSW
Price: $15.99
A Waco’s career
As the Prop Turns: The Soul of an Old Airplane
Author John Wood, an airline transport pilot and CFI, tells the tales of a Waco UPF–7. With escapades involving a tax evader, a missionary dentist, a prominent sculptor, and a drug smuggler, NC29923 has had an adventurous life. The aircraft’s history spans nearly 80 years. It was wrecked and rebuilt, and changed careers many times—from carrying freight to crop dusting and sightseeing. There are more than 134 photographs, drawings, and maps in this charming book. —JSW
Price: $15
