Warbird Information Exchange

Wisdom of those who fly

1. There is no problem so complex that it cannot simply be blamed on the pilot. ~ Dr Earl Weiner

2. To invent an airplane is nothing. To build one is something. To fly is everything. ~ Otto Lilienthal

3. Safety second is my motto. ~ Locklear

4. Speed is life, altitude is life insurance.

5. The man who flies an airplane ... must believe in the unseen. ~ Richard Bach

6. There is no excuse for an airplane unless it will fly fast! ~ Roscoe Turner

7. The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t. ~ Douglas Adams

8. Aviation is proof, that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible. ~ Rickenbacker

9. Flying is like sex —I’ve never had all I wanted but occasionally I’ve had all I could stand. ~ Stephen Coonts

10. The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise. ~ Cornelius Tactitus (circa AD 56)

11. Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.

12. Lady, you want me to answer you if this old airplane is safe to fly? Just how in the world do you think it got to be this old? ~ Jim Tavenner

13. If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds; but if you really wish to learn, you must mount a machine and become acquainted with its tricks by actual trial. ~ Wilbur Wright, 1901.

14. The highest art form of all is a human being in control of himself and his airplane in flight, urging the spirit of a machine to match his own. ~Richard Bach, ‘A Gift Of Wings’

15. The greatest danger in flying is starving to death. ~ Earl C. Reed of the T-L-R Flying Circus

16. When the weight of the paper equals the weight of the airplane, only then you can go flying. ~ Donald Douglas

17. In flying I have learned that carelessness and overconfidence are usually far more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks. ~ Wilbur Wright, September 1900.

18. I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things. ~ Antoine de St-Exupéry

19. Any damned fool can criticize, but it takes a genius to design it in the first place. ~ Edgar Schmued

20. When asked by someone how much money flying takes: Why, all of it! ~ Gordon Baxter

21. The important thing in aeroplanes is that they shall be speedy. ~ Baron Manfred Von Richthofen

22.. The aeroplane will never fly. ~ Lord haldane, Minister of War, Britain, 1907

23. What freedom lies in flying, what Godlike power it gives to men… I lose all consciousness in this strong unmortal space crowded with beauty, pierced with danger. ~ Charles A. Lindbergh

24. It is hard enough for anyone to map out a course of action and stick to it, particularly in the face of the desires of one’s friends; but it is doubly hard for an aviator to stay on the ground waiting for just the right moment to go into the air. ~ Glenn Curtiss, 1909.

25. To put your life in danger from time to time... breeds a saneness in dealing with day-to-day trivialities. ~ Nevil Shute

26. Aviation records don’t fall until someone is willing to mortgage the present for the future. ~ Amelia Earhart

27. Real planes use only a single stick to fly. This is why bulldozers & helicopters—in that order —need two. ~ Paul Slattery

28. Airplanes are near perfect, all they lack is the ability to forgive ~ Richard Collins

29. The exhilaration of flying is too keen, the pleasure too great, for it to be neglected as a sport ~ Orville Wright

30. The Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you. ~ Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot

31. The bulk of mankind is as well equipped for flying as thinking. ~ Jonathon Swift