If you want to grow old as a
pilot, you’ve got to know when to push it, and when to back off.
Flying at night is the same
as flying in the day, except you can't see.
The most beautiful dream
that has haunted
the heart of man since Icarus is today reality.
— Louis Bleriot
Flying is the second
greatest thrill known to man.... Landing is the first!
More than anything else the
sensation is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every
nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination.
— Wilbur Wright
My soul is in the sky.
— William Shakespeare, 'A Midsummer Night's Dream,' Act V. Scene I.
Believe your instruments.
I owned the world that hour
as I rode over it…. free of the earth, free of the mountains, free of the
clouds, but how inseparably I was bound to them. --Charles A. Lindbergh
There I was, fog was so
thick I couldn't see the instruments. Only way I knew I was Inverted was my
flying medals were in my eyes. But I knew I was really in trouble when the
tower called me and told me to climb and maintain field elevation. — cliché
A commercial aircraft is a
vehicle capable of supporting itself aerodynamically and economically at the
same time.
To the IFR cognoscente, it's
a serious misunderstanding of instrument flying to think of an approach plate
as a mere map for dropping out of the clouds in search of a runway, at the very
least, a plate is a work of art and for the true zealot, it's a symbol of man's
continuing struggle against the forces of nature.
The airport runway is the
most important main street in any town.
The way I see it, you can
either work for a living or you can fly airplanes. Me, I'd rather fly.
Experience is that marvelous
thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.
Takeoff's are optional.
Landings are mandatory.
True north, strong and free!
Think ahead of your
airplane.
Don't drop the aircraft in
order
to fly the microphone.
Great pilots are made not
born. . . . A man may possess good eyesight, sensitive hands, and perfect
coordination, but the end result is only fashioned by steady coaching, much
practice, and experience.
Oh! I have slipped the surly
bonds of Earth.
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;