Overwhelmed by reading materials for PPL - Suggested study order?

[YTO]

So I just picked up my student kit for PPL from my local flight school, and let me tell you the number of pages in that literature is a confronting prospect! AIM, Flight Training Manual, CARS, POH, Charts, Learn to Fly, From the Ground Up, PSTAR Study Guide etc.

All reasonable content, but does anyone have a recommendation on where to start? What order would you read/learn things in so the next thing makes sense?

[RegionalPilot]

Best advise is to talk to your instructor. He will give you a “pathway to success”. It’s also good to get some ground school first so you can get a feel for what kind of information is important vs what can be learned at the later stages.

[fliter]

Your instructor should give you some guidance on what to read up when. As a very general overview, I would suggest something like this:

BEFORE OR JUST AFTER YOUR FIRST FLIGHT
The first section of the FTM (before the exercises)

BEFORE EVERY FLIGHT LESSON
- Read up in the FTM on the new exercises to be covered in the flight lesson
- Read appropriate section of the POH before related lessons (e.g., climb performance for climbs etc.)
- Review appropriate navigation chart and/or CFS pages (VTA/VNC of the practice area, CFS for home airport/aerodrome and later for airports/aerodromes you'll be visiting)

BEFORE A GROUND SCHOOL SESSION
Skim relevant chapters of From the Ground Up, AIM and/or CARs. You don't need to memorize or even understand everything, but reading through will give you a general idea so you're not seeing it during the ground school presentation for the first time

WELL BEFORE FIRST SOLO
- PSTAR study guide, so you can write the PSTAR
- Study Guide for Restricted Operator Certificate - to write the radio license exam
- POH emergency procedures: KNOW THEM BY HEART!!

WHILE PREPARING FOR THE WRITTEN
Write practice tests and review weak knowledge areas using ground school notes, FTGU, AIM, CARs

[PilotDAR]

I agree with the foregoing advice.

In addition, generally make yourself aware of where to find certain information (which book). There will be some overlap, though generally, each different book contains its own information, which you'll need at some point. Knowing where to look is important. I was once required to write a TC open book exam (not pilot). I had about 5" of books put down in front of me, as well as the exam. If I had not known where to look for the answer, it would have been hopeless.

Repeated review; each time you go through the books, you'll become more familiar with where information is found, and its significance.

Is it relevant to what you're doing now/next? If you have the flight manual for a Piper, but you're about to fly a Cessna, you'd better get the right FM for the plane. You don't need everything all the time. Some books are study in the evening, others are must be carried during your flight. Some of whats in the must carry during flight must be memorized, so sort out which from which in your mind.

And... What is written is probably an answer to a question which you have/should have/will have. It'll be easier to absorb the answer (what's in the book) when you've formulated the question. Your mind is a sponge, it'll absorb water, though if its saturated at the time, pouring more water in won't result in more absorption. Allow the questions to grow in your mind as you attempt to fill your mind with the answers. When you're reading through everything for the first time, don't try to remember it all, but rather familiarize yourself with what and where it is.

If you think that PPL study has a lot of written material, you should see the rest of aviation! Take it a step at a time....

[RoAF-Mig21]

Congrats on starting your flight training. I agree with the lads above. I'll add this short thing:

Going from ZERO to PPL is the hardest part of your learning curve. Any license or rating you achieve after you PPL is just knowledge on top of your PPL days.

Work hard, pay attention, take it seriously but also enjoy it. I loved my PPL days. I couldn't wait for the weekend to come and go flying.

RoAF-Mig21

[photofly]

Given that you're just starting training, most of the reading material can wait.

AIM- for reference, or dip in and out. Makes great reading on the john, as the narrative is terrible but there's always something learn
Flight Training Manual: good reference for lessons. Everyone tells you to read it before you fly, but reading it *after* you've worked on an exercise is waaaay more valuable. Ideally do, both.

CARS: for reference and exam preparation, unless you really wanted to be a lawyer
POH: for reference, in the early stages. Your instructor will direct you to it when necessary.
Charts: your instructor will direct you. For use a little way into the flying, when you finally have some brain capacity to work on "where are we and where are we going"
Learn to Fly: never heard of it
From the Ground Up: Ground school text book: use it to support your ground school
PSTAR Study Guide: you can work through this gradually during your first few lessons. No need to panic.

Two mistakes you could make are, firstly, to try to read too much before you have any flight experience; nothing will make any sense and everything will overwhelm you, and secondly, not to read enough when you reach the stage of feeling a bit more comfortable in front of the flight controls.

[Bede]

I would start by skimming through the books and getting familiar with where to find different information. That way when a question comes up, you know where to look.

[digits_]

Two mistakes you could make are, firstly, to try to read too much before you have any flight experience; nothing will make any sense and everything will overwhelm you, and secondly, not to read enough when you reach the stage of feeling a bit more comfortable in front of the flight controls.

You should make a youtube movie to drag out this piece of advise to over 10 minutes.

[photofly]

Better to leave that to people trying to raise their own profile.