Ask Captain Lim - Could you recommend me a book on how to fly a commercial jet?

I have a real passion for airplanes in general, and more specifically for piloting them. Since my job (I am an expatriate Civil Engineer) does not allow me a lot of free time, I can only, for the moment, learn the techniques and practice them on a flight simulator until I can finally offer myself real lessons. Even if it is easy to find information on how to fly a small plane due to the availability of several books that teach you the basics, it becomes more difficult when it comes learning how to fly commercial jets.

I would like to know if you could recommend me a book or a method on how to pilot such aircraft as the flight simulator software does not go that far.

Thank you,

Denis Smakulski.

Hi Denis,

I am sure you have heard of this many times in the past - learn to walk before you fly :-) The flight simulator seems to make flying the jets like a piece of cake. In reality, it is not so. What I am trying to say is, you must know the basic of flying a small plane well first before you should progress to touch the flight controls of a real jet plane. I hope I am not pouring cold water over your enthusiasm of wanting to fly a commercial jet now.

Advanced flying cannot be taught effectively by reading all the best books in the world. It must be a hand-on exercise when you want to learn the intricacies of jet operations. At the moment, I thought the Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the best aid to introduce one to some serious basic flying procedures before one actually fly a real plane.

If you really want to get a feel of jet operations, try the PSS 777 on the MSFS 2002/2004 (though not very realistic in manual mode but good on autopilot). I don't know if you have these same softwares, if not, they are available from Amazon.com below. Go to 'Help' if you have problems - it provides a lot of useful tips on flying the plane. You can also try reading the MSFS 2004 book below too. The MSFS 2002/2004 is better than any manuals I can think of for the flying enthusiasts although this other book "Flying the Big Jet: Flying the Boeing 777"

If you are not from the USA or within the 30 countries in the Amazon.com list, you may have difficulty buying the books or softwares unless you can find them in your local book store. (I have problems purchasing books from Amazon.com as I live outside the USA)