"Keep the aeroplane in such an attitude that the air pressure is directly
in the pilot's face."
- Horatio C. Barber, 1916
"When a flight is proceeding incredibly well, something was forgotten."
- Robert Livingston, "Flying The Aeronca"
"The only time an aircraft has too much fuel on board is when it is
on fire."
- Sir Charles Kingsford Smith, sometime before his death in the
1920's
"Flexible is much too rigid, in aviation you have to be fluid."
- Verne Jobst
"If you can't afford to do something right, then be darn sure you can
afford to do it wrong."
- Charlie Nelson
"Just remember, if you crash because of weather your funeral will be
held on a sunny day."
- Layton A. Bennett
"I hope you either take up parachute jumping or stay out of single motored
airplanes at night."
- Charles A. Lindbergh, to Wiley Post, 1931
"Never fly the 'A' model of anything."
- Ed Thompson
"Never fly anything that doesn't have the paint worn off the rudder
pedals."
- Harry Bill
"Keep thy airspeed up, lest the earth come from below and smite thee."
- William Kershner
"When a prang seems inevitable, endeavour to strike the softest, cheapest
object in the vicinity, as slowly and gently as possible."
- advice given to RAF pilots during W.W.II.
"Instrument flying is when your mind gets a grip on the fact that there
is vision beyond sight."
- U.S. Navy "Approach" magazine circa W.W.II.
"Always keep an 'out' in your hip pocket."
- Bevo Howard
"The Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill
you."
- attributed to Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot
"A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to
its maximum."
- Jon McBride, astronaut
"If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the
crash as possible."
- Bob Hoover
"It occurred to me that if I did not handle the crash correctly, there
would be no survivors."
- Richard Leakey, after engine failure in a single engine, Nairobi,
Africa, 1993.
"If an airplane is still in one piece, don't cheat on it. Ride the bastard
down."
- Ernest K. Gann, advice from the "Old Pelican"
"Though I Fly Through The Valley Of Death I Shall Fear No Evil, For
I Am At 80,000 feet And Climbing."
- sign over the entrance to the SR-71 operating location on Kadena
AB, Okinawa
"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3."
- Paul F. Crickmore
"The emergencies you train for almost never happen. It's the one you
can't train for that kills you."
- Ernest K. Gann, advice from the "Old Pelican"
"If you want to grow old as a pilot you've got to know when to push
it, and when to back off."
- Chuck Yeager
"Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you."
- Richard Herman Jr, in "Firebreak"
"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime."
- Sign over Squadron Ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970.
"An airplane might disappoint any pilot but it'll never surprise a good
one."
- Len Morgan
"To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the
sky is home."
- author unkown
"Life is simple. Eat, Sleep, Fly."
- heard at the Coloma LZ