Flying The Aeronca Books For Sale

[Zero6echo]

Flying The Aeronca Books: Tips, phrases, and many never-written-down rules of the air that every Aeronca pilot will enjoy. Written by Bob Livingston, this re-print is bound like a manual for easy reference. Send $19.95 check or Money Order (Pay Pal accepted) to Dave Livingston, 6113 Trappers Ridge Circle, Louisville, KY 40216 or contact notsginivil40@yahoo.com. Price includes shipping to 48 contiguous states in US and to Canada. Contact Dave for shipping cost to other locations.

Here's a look at the Foreword, About the Author, and Table of Contents.

Foreword
By Dave Livingston, one of Bob Livingston’s four children.
I distinctly remember many things about my father, most notably of which was his love of aviation. He spent many nights on a Smith Corona® typewriter pounding out the knowledge he so desperately wanted to share with the flying public. My room was next to his make-shift office and I wondered if he would ever finish.
To say that he was a natural flyer would be a gross understatement. During the endless number of weekends we spent hopping from airport to airport, I saw him do things with an airplane that, at the time, just didn’t seem possible. Having a feel for flying was second nature. That feel, as you will find out in this book, is the thing that he taught so well. It was a dying art then and it continues to be to this day.
My father specifically told me, “Son, whatever you decide to do for a living, don’t get into aviation”. Like many kids I didn’t listen. I was bitten by the bug at a very young age and there was no turning back. So much so that I dropped out of college after one semester of Engineering studies and found a job at a small repair station. The rest is history and I don’t regret one minute.
Initially this book sold fairly well. Once a quarter a small check would arrive in the mail and regardless of the amount, I feel certain he received greater satisfaction out of knowing someone wanted to read it versus any monetary gains. In fact, that satisfaction was born out in another book he wrote titled, “Recollections by a Broken-Nosed Pilot”. It sold even fewer copies but is my personal favorite. Both books eventually dropped out of circulation.
30 years now after initial publication, I felt it was my duty to give the world another chance to share in his experience. The words that follow were written just the same way he spoke. That’s one of the things that make this such an enjoyable, easy read. As I transcribed the original text with the aid of modern technology, his voice was ringing in the back of my head with every keystroke. All of the artwork is of his creation. Every effort was made to keep it intact as I cleaned it up for re-print.
Sit back and enjoy! When finished you will hear his voice as well the next time you take flight. Remember; Rudder, Rudder, Rudder!

About the Author
Bob Livingston (April 27, 1936 – February 27, 1993)
The reader may have some interest in the author of this manual. So, at the risk of exposure to charges of excess vanity, here are a few points about myself.
Throughout my life, aviation has been the central theme. I began actual flying when I was 14, out of a genuine cow-type pasture in Oklahoma. But, even before that, I was a true Airport kid. I was always there, whenever the pressures of society or parental demands did not dictate I be in school, church, in bed or with my feet under the dining table.
I must report that had a hard time with flight. The learning did not come easy to me. To put it mildly, I was “slow”, if not downright dense about much of it. The little fine points that others seemed to grasp so quickly were revealed to me with no small amount of trouble. To this day I can recall with vivid memories the agonies of trying to keep that Aeronca I learned in rolling in a simple straight line on takeoff! That and the many other memories of troubles I had has, I hope, served me and my many students well in the 22 years I have held an instructor’s rating. When I fly with a student, I keep all those recollections in the front of my brain. I hope 1 never forget them.
I went from “Airport Kid” to qualified “Airport Bum” via the route of instructor, charter pilot, crop-duster, aerobatic teacher, airshow performer, fixed base flight department operator, and then corporate pilot. Finally, after six years of intense flying for several companies, I sickened of life out of a suitcase on a hurry-up-and-wait basis and sought work in more settled climes.
But, after seven years of management work for a large factory here in Louisville, Kentucky, conditions turned me away from those endeavors and confirmed again to me I shall never be at peace unless I’m using the skills of flight which I have been fortunate to acquire. At this writing I am returning to the world of aviation and thus have come full circle back to my home in the sky. I hope I may never leave it again.
I still hold all my ratings and give much dual in taildraggers of all sorts, ranging from my Air-Knocker to a Stearman I give flip-flop lessons in. Also, I promote and perform in airshows every summer, in and around Kentucky. My specialty is the comedy act in my Aeronca where in I loop, roll, and spin, all maneuvers below 400 feet above the ground. I’ve been doing that for about fifteen years. It is lots of fun.
Over the more than thirty years I have been flying, I have been exposed to some wonderful flight instruction. I wish with great longing that I could recall and get down on paper all of the many little tips, phrases and never-written down rules of the air I have been fortunate enough to receive from numerous “old-timers”, but I fear many of them are lost to memory. Nonetheless, in this manual, I’ll attempt to relay at least some of them to the readers.

Table of Contents
Introduction
History of Design
Aircraft Characterization
Procedures
Flight Instruction
Weight and Balance
Pre-Flight
Checklists
Fuel Gauge
Engine Start
Taxiing
Engine Run-up and Preparation for Take-off
Getting It Up
Look, Listen and Some Other Goodies
Rudder, Rudder, Rudder and Stick-Stirring
Time to Land
Heel Brakes . . . and the Dread Thereof
Shutdown and Tie Down
Short-Field Operations
Aerobatics
Dos and Don’ts
Livingston’s Laws

[pablo]

I am delighted that Dave have decided to continue the distribution of his fathers's book.
No matter how experienced you are in a Champ, you will learn from "Flying the Aeronca".
Pablo

[Zero6echo]

Pablo,

Thanks for the kind words. I hope everyone at least has a chance to read someone's copy if they are unable to buy one.

Dave Livingston

[pablo]

Dave:

Most of us avoid anything that has to do with "Insurance and Paper Work". I suggest you to change the location of your offering to sell "Flying the Aeronca" to another place, maybe like "Aeronca General Information". Consult with Joea, who is the master of this wonderful website. If you do that, I will be happy to be a buyer. My "Fourth Printing October 1987" is pretty worn out.

Pablo

[joea]

Pablo,

Good idea and its now moved! Lots more traffic there anyway.

Joe A

[pablo]

Dave:
I just received today my new Flying the Aeronca. Thank you very much for your nice note and autograph. I will continue to use my worn out original, mainly for the wannabees tail dragger pilots instruction. As I said before, if you fly a Champ, this book is must. I wish you a lot of success.

Pablo

[Zero6echo]

Pablo,

I'm glad you received it ok and are using it the way my dad always hoped it would be. I'll bet it puts a smile on his face.

Dave

[Kif]

Dave, I got one a while back and gave it to my dad, who is 78, to read first. He thought it was the best. He learned to fly in a Champ. I have yet to read it and will have my daughters read it first before they start flying. Thanks.

[Zero6echo]

Keith,

That's a great story. I was given "Stick and Rudder" as my introduction to flying theory. It's one of a few books I can say I read cover to cover. I soloed on my 16th Birthday. Then dad wrote Flying the Aeronca and it all came together for me. I still go back and read te other book he wrote and his Stearman poems and stories.

Dave