Flying Aeroplanes and Helicopters: Beyond the PPL

This book is the second volume of Helen’s proposed series of four. The first looked at learning to fly aeroplanes and helicopters and has already been published. The next book will concentrate of helicopter flying, since this is Helen’s speciality, and the final volume will talk about her personal experiences as a helicopter instructor. All of them are taken from Helen’s column in Flight Training News, and were originally published between 2006 and 2011

This second book starts by discussing what sort of flights a new pilot should do after gaining the coveted PPL. It then tells the story of one of Helen’s longer trips, when she took off alone for France. The next two articles – Aeroplanes and Helicopters: Rules for Safe Coexistence and The Dangers of Helicopter Downwash are concerned with important safety issues. We then take a look at flying microlights as well as fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, followed by gaining some hints on dealing with the CAA Medical department. The final four chapters should be useful to those considering a commercial aviation career, although also of general interest. They discuss how to question an apparently unfair exam result, what to do with your commercial licence, the place of women in commercial aviation, and fixed-wing versus rotary flying careers.

Helen Krasner has been flying for many years, and holds a Commercial Helicopter Pilot's Licence and Instructor's Rating. She also has a Private Pilot’s Licence for Aeroplanes, and well over 1000 hours flying time in total. Until recently she worked as a freelance helicopter instructor, flying mainly R22s and R44s.

Helen writes about helicopters and other aviation-related subjects for a number of publications and websites, and she is also the former Newsletter Editor for the BWPA (British Women Pilots’ Association). She was nominated for one of the Aerospace Journalist of the Year Awards in 2004, for an article about Flying Helicopters in Russia. She has published two books about helicopter flying apart from her Kindle ebooks – The Helicopter Pilot’s Companion (Crowood Press 2008), and Flying Helicopters: A Companion to the PPL(H) (Crowood Press 2011). Helen has also written and published a book about a five thousand mile walk around Britain which she undertook some years ago (Midges, Maps, and Muesli).