Flying Truisms

[Matt Barrow]

"Yea though I fly through the Valley of Death I shall fear no evil,
for I am at 80,000 feet and climbing."
- At the entrance to the old SR-71 operating base Kadena, Japan
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"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3.."
- Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot)
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"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."
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Blue water Navy truism: "There are more planes in the ocean than
submarines in the sky."
- From an old carrier sailor
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"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a
helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe."
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"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you still have enough
power left to get you to the scene of the crash."
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"Without ammunition, the USAF would be just another expensive flying
club."
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"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots?
If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, ..... the pilot
dies."
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"Never trade luck for skill."
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The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation
are:
"Why is it doing that?"
"Where are we?" and

"O H S H I T!"
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"Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers."
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"Progress in airline flying: now a flight attendant can get a pilot
pregnant."
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"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully
complete the flight."
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"A smooth landing is mostly luck; two in a row is all luck; three in a
row is prevarication."
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"I remember when sex was safe and flying was dangerous."
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"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we've never left one up
there!"
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"Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag used
for storing dead batteries."

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"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a
person on the ground who is incapable of understanding it or doing anything
about it."
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"When a flight is proceeding incredibly well, something was
forgotten."
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"Just remember, if you crash because of weather, your funeral will be
held on a sunny day."
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Advice given to RAF pilots during WWII:

"When a prang (crash) seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the
softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slowly and gently as possible."
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"The Piper Cub is probably the safest airplane in the world; it can
just barely kill you."
- Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)
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"A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to
its maximum."
- Jon McBride, astronaut
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"If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the
crash as possible."
- Bob Hoover (renowned aerobatic and test pilot)
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"Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you."
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"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime."
- Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

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"If something isn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."
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Basic Flying Rule:

"Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of
it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground,
buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space. It is much more difficult to
fly there."
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"You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full
power to taxi to the terminal."
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As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn
off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives.

The rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks "What happened?"

The pilot replies, "I don't know, I just got here myself!"

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[Victor J. Osborne, Jr.]

Thanks, Matt. Made my day.

--

Thx, {|;-)

Victor J. (Jim) Osborne, Jr.

[Jay Honeck]

Excellent stuff, Matt!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[[email protected]]

Here are some more - plagarized from rec.aviation.military.naval


Nov 9, 7:32 pm show options

Newsgroups: rec.aviation.military.naval
From: Greasy Rider @ invalid.com - Find messages by this author
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:32:48 GMT
Local: Wed, Nov 9 2005 7:32 pm
Subject: Old sayings
Reply | Reply to Author | Forward | Print | Individual Message | Show
original | Report Abuse

Been around before, I hope it's worth a repeat.


Courage is doing what you are afraid to do. There can be no courage
unless you are scared. Eddie Rickenbacker


I would never fly an airplane that had as many emergencies as you guys
practice for. - Jay Beasley


Keep the aeroplane in such an attitude that the air pressure is
directly in the pilot's face. - Horatio C. Barber, 1916


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


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.


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 aircraft. Nairobi, Africa, 1993.


If an airplane is still in one piece, don't cheat on it. Ride the
******* down. - Ernest K. Gann,


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'


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.


A DC-9 captain trainee attempting to check out on the "glass cockpit"
of an A-320. "Now I know what a dog feels like watching TV."


It only takes two things to fly -- airspeed and money.


It's better to break ground and head into the wind than to break wind
and head into the ground.


A copilot is a knot-head until he spots opposite direction traffic at
12 o'clock, after which he's a goof-off for not seeing it sooner.


I give that landing a 9 . . . on the Richter scale.


Unknown landing signal officer to carrier pilot after his 6th
unsuccessful landing attempt: "You've got to land here son, this is
where the food is."



David Johnson

[John Gaquin]

"Matt Barrow" > wrote in message news:RR8ef.39

> "Yea though I fly through


Two most useless things in aviation: altitude above you, and runway behind
you.

[Paul Tomblin]

In a previous article, "John Gaquin" > said:
>Two most useless things in aviation: altitude above you, and runway behind
>you.

Fuel in the truck.
Money belonging to somebody else.


--
Paul Tomblin > http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
"There is always a way."
-- Rick Grant (quoting RCAF pilot training)

[Bob Noel]

In article >,
(Paul Tomblin) wrote:

> In a previous article, "John Gaquin" > said:
> >Two most useless things in aviation: altitude above you, and runway behind
> >you.
>
> Fuel in the truck.
> Money belonging to somebody else.

Money belonging to somebody else can be very useful - I know
a few people who let their mechanics fly their airplanes for a
very reasonable arrangement.

--
Bob Noel
no one likes an educated mule