ATPL study guides, competency and instrument-procedure books, and airline interview preparation, written by an airline training captain and examiner.
A working sheet covering the ICAO competencies as they are actually observed and graded — one page per competency, with the behavioural markers that separate a pass from a finding. Useful before an assessment, and useful when you're the one giving the debrief.
What the frameworks actually ask of you on a normal sector — and what an assessor is looking at while you fly it. The competencies you are graded against, set out in the terms they are observed in.
The application, the aptitude tests, the technical and competency interviews, the simulator assessment and the shape of the day itself — walked through as the assessors see it, from the other side of the table.
Over 400 original technical questions, each with a model answer short enough to speak, a note on what a good answer shows and the follow-up the interviewer is likely to ask next. Thirteen sections from principles of flight to mental arithmetic, type-neutral for jet, turboprop and light-aircraft candidates. The companion to The Airline Pilot Interview.
PANS-OPS, TERPS, RNP and the protection you fly inside. Why the same approach is built two different ways depending on who designed it, and what the area around you is actually protecting you from. Checked against the primary criteria documents throughout.
The instructor's companion to Flying Competent. Instructors and examiners are asked to assess competencies, and most were trained to assess manoeuvres. This book follows a single loop, from the first probe of what a pilot knows, through briefing, observation, grading and debrief, to a finding the next instructor can use: where each step goes wrong, and what an experienced instructor does instead.
Volume 2 of the Flying Competent series, written for student, new and club pilots. It takes the ideas that airline training built around threat and error management and the nine core competencies and puts them in the world you fly in: one pilot, light aeroplanes, mixed weather and mixed experience, with no first officer to catch a slip. Fuel, weather and airspace, personal minimums, turn-back points, currency and rust, using your instructor well, and eleven real general aviation incidents read from the pilot's side.
The whole PPL(A) theory course, one subject per book. Ten textbooks for the aeroplane private pilot licence, written by an airline training captain, examiner and chief flight instructor. Each one teaches a whole subject from first principles in plain language, with worked examples, original practice questions with explained answers and a full mock paper. Buy only the subject you are studying. Ebooks first, paperbacks to follow.
Find your subject: the PPL guide, subject by subject →
How you see, hear, think, tire and decide, and where each reaches its limit: oxygen, the senses, fatigue, stress and error.
Why the aeroplane flies: lift, drag, the stall and spin, stability and control, the propeller, and the forces in climb, glide and turn.
The atmosphere, wind, cloud and fog, fronts, thunderstorms and icing, and the reports and charts that describe the weather.
The structure and the non-engine systems of a light aeroplane, from first principles.
The fuel system, the piston engine, the propeller and the instruments of a light aeroplane.
The pilot-in-command's duties, noise, aerodrome markings and signals, fire, wind shear, wake turbulence, emergency landings and contaminated runways.
The law behind the aeroplane and the pilot: the rules of the air, airspace and air traffic services, aerodromes and aeronautical information.
The Earth and charts, directions and the compass, the wind triangle and dead reckoning, flight planning, and radio and satellite navigation.
Mass and balance, take-off and landing performance, climb, cruise and range, fuel planning and the planning of a complete flight.
Standard words and numbers, call signs, read-back, phraseology for a VFR flight, weather by radio, radio failure, distress and urgency, and VHF propagation.
A complete revision guide and question bank for every ATPL(A) theory subject, one book per paper. Each is built on the full published learning objectives, shows you where the marks are, and ends with a mock examination weighted exactly as the real one. Written by an airline training captain and Chief Flight Instructor. Kindle and paperback on Amazon; ebooks on Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and more through "Other stores".
Find your subject: the ATPL guide, subject by subject →
Rules of the air, ATS, licensing and the law, all 505 objectives.
Aircraft General Knowledge, part 1: structure, hydraulics, flight controls, pneumatics, fuel and fire.
Aircraft General Knowledge, part 2: electrics, piston and turbine engines.
Air data, gyroscopic and flight instruments, automatic flight and warning systems.
Loading, centre of gravity and the load sheet, worked on one aeroplane.
Take-off, climb, cruise and landing performance for Class A and B aeroplanes.
Navigation logs, charts, the fuel scheme and in-flight monitoring.
Physiology, psychology, CRM and threat and error management.
The atmosphere, weather systems, hazards and the met reports you will read every day.
The Earth, charts, dead reckoning and the navigation computer.
NDB, VOR, DME, ILS, radar, GNSS and performance-based navigation.
Operations manual, fuel, winter operations, emergencies and dangerous goods.
Lift, drag, stalls, high-speed flight, stability and control.
VFR and IFR radiotelephony, phraseology and emergency procedures.
Airline Transport Pilot Ground Knowledge. A three-book series for pilots in the United States, written in American English from the free FAA material: 14 CFR, advisory circular 61-138A, the Airman Certification Standards, the FAA handbooks and the NTSB reports. Each book explains the reasoning behind every rule and carries original questions with explained answers. These are study books, not approved by the FAA; the regulations and your operator's manuals always take precedence.
What is inside each book: the US ATP-CTP guides →
Why the airplane you will fly at an airline does things your first airplane never did. High-altitude aerodynamics, stall and upset recovery, thunderstorms, windshear, icing and low-visibility operations, with the reasoning behind every rule. 102 original figures and 150 original questions with explained answers.
How an airline flight is actually run: the dispatch release, the minimum equipment list, runway safety, turbine engines and thrust reversers, performance and weight and balance, automation and warning systems. 97 original figures and 150 original questions with explained answers.
The people and the rules around the airplane: leadership, crew resource management, threat and error management, safety programs, Parts 119, 121 and 117, and ATP eligibility. 60 original figures, 150 original questions with explained answers and a 60-question mock test.
The same revision-guide-and-question-bank approach, written to other authorities' own syllabi and rules instead of the EASA ones. Each book teaches the paper that authority actually sets, with its regulations cited by paragraph.
Find your authority: the India, Canada and UAE guides →
Written to the DGCA ATPL(A) syllabus, CAR Section 7 Series B Part VI, and the current AIP India.
Navigation, mass and balance, performance and flight planning in one volume, to Appendix A.
Appendix B with a full chapter on Indian climatology: fog, the monsoon and the cyclone months.
Appendix C, with GAGAN, PBN and the Indian equipment requirements.
Written to the Transport Canada ATPL(A) study guide TP 690, in Canadian English, products and units.
Air law, aeroplane operation and navigation: the first Transport Canada ATPL examination.
Meteorology, radio aids and flight planning, in Canadian products and units.
Written to the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) syllabus for Air Law (010) and Operational Procedures (070).
Both papers in one book, with UAE rules and procedures cited by paragraph.
These are revision guides, not approved by any regulator. The regulations, the aeronautical information publications and your operator's manuals always take precedence.
Gifts and kit for pilots and the people who love them, designed by a working training captain: real ICAO codes, proper runway layouts and the in-jokes you only get once you've done a checkride. Everything is printed to order in Europe.
Every aircraft you have flown, drawn side-on, to scale and in the right colours, in career order with your name on top. A retirement, type-rating or first-command gift. A4, A3 or A2.
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Twelve airports, one per month, drawn to scale from map data: Heathrow, JFK, Schiphol and more. A spiral-bound desk calendar for the pilot or plane-spotter in your life. Free shipping to the EU and UK; order by 10 December for Christmas.
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Twelve airliners from the DC-3 to the A350, one per month, each drawn as a blueprint with a side view and a plan view. A spiral-bound desk calendar for pilots and aviation fans. Free shipping to the EU and UK; order by 10 December for Christmas.
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Aircraft in the Sky: twelve photographs, from jets on final to a vintage propliner and wings above the clouds. A spiral-bound desk calendar for plane spotters and pilots. Free shipping to the EU and UK; order by 10 December for Christmas.
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Tough cases for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy with cockpit art: a flight display, a compass HSI and the runway approach lights. Free shipping to the EU and UK.
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Nineteen aircraft, from the Spitfire and Concorde to the A380, drawn as technical blueprints with a side view and a plan view. A4, A3 or A2.
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Twenty hubs, each drawn from map data: the IATA code on the chest, the full runway and taxiway layout across the back. Light and dark shirts.
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Your airfield's ICAO code and a weather report in plain English. “It'll clear by lunchtime” and other things every pilot has said.
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Wake turbulence as Hokusai's great wave, a METAR in Hiroshige's rain. Tees and A3 prints from the “Thirty-six Views of the Circuit” series.
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Paris, London, Buenos Aires, Mumbai, Buffalo, Lancashire and Okinawa: distressed vintage badges, each a different shape, with a small flag on the chest.
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One character in ink-brush calligraphy, a red hanko seal and two words. A quiet, minimalist front print in white, cream or black.
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“All I want for Christmas is CAVOK” and other festive weather reports. Order by 10 December for delivery before the 25th.
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Printable PPL cheat sheets written by an instructor: METAR and TAF decoder, airspace and circuit, radio phraseology and kneeboard pages. White print and dark tablet versions, instant download.
View in the shopCaptain Matt Aviation is independent and is not affiliated with any airline, aircraft manufacturer or employer.
I'm Matthew Dowell — a training captain and examiner. Most of my working life is spent in competency-based and evidence-based training, and in the standardisation of the instructors and examiners who deliver it.
The material that governs a professional pilot's career is scattered across documents most pilots never read.
The competencies you are graded against, the protection built into the approach you're flying, the structure of the assessment day that decides whether you get the job — all of it is published, and almost none of it is explained. So these books explain it.
They're written for pilots at different points in the same career: the candidate preparing for selection, the line pilot who wants to understand what is protecting him, and the instructor being asked to teach it.
Everything here is written in a personal capacity and draws only on publicly available regulation and my own professional experience. Nothing in it represents any employer, past or present.