RULES OF AVIATION

        WISE WORDS ON AVIATION

Should things go wrong, you ain't going to have much time to analyze your situation in this world, nevertheless you may have abundant in the other. (Captain Savas Uskent)

If you want to be a good and old pilot, you've got to know your limits. Push forward when necessary and back off as required. (Captain Savas Uskent)

In the worst case scenario that might happen, either fly the crippled bird or fly to Heaven. (Captain Savas Uskent)

Minimum Required Abilities for keen airmanship include some "sense of humor" ...
Let me start with some humorous but true stuff:

If you're ever faced with a forced landing at night, turn on the landing lights to see the landing area, if you don't like what you see, turn them back off.

Don't crash your aircraft in order to fly microphone. An airplane flies by the principle of Bernoulli, not Marconi.

The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

You know you've landed with the wheels up when it takes full power to taxi.

Pilots believe in clean living. They never drink scotch from a dirty glass.

Things which are no good in aviation: Altitude above, Runway behind , Fuel in truck, Half a second ago, Flashlight left in car, Airspeed you don't have.

If God meant men to fly, He'd have given them more money.

The difference between God and a fighter pilot is that God doesn't think he's a fighter pilot.
Flying is not dangerous unless it is unsafe...

A good simulator check ride is like successful surgery on a cadaver. It doesn't prove anything...

Trust your captain, keep your seats belt fastened.

Aviation is not so much a profession as it is a disease.

Passengers prefer old captains and young flight attendants.

The only thing worse than a captain who never flew as copilot is a copilot who once was a captain.

A thunderstorm is never as bad on the inside as it appears from the outside. Its worse...

It's easy to make a small fortune in aviation. You simply start with a large fortune.

Keep your landings equal to the number of takeoffs. Takeoffs are optional but landings are mandatory.

No airplane could have remained airborne forever so far...

Murphy's law and Standard lapse rate is science-fiction.

Time for some serious great quotes on aviation:

What is chiefly needed is skill rather than machinery.( Wilbur Wright, 1902)

From a safety standpoint, in my view one of the things that must be kept in mind in the basic design of commercial aircraft is that, a pilot must always have the ultimate control authority. There must be no computer on any commercial airplane that a pilot cannot override or turn off if necessity arises. (Captain Savas Uskent)

It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill. (Wilbur Wright)

Greater prudence is needed rather than greater skill.( Wilbur Wright, 1901)

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.( African proverb)

Any idiot can get an airplane off the ground, but an aviator earns his keep by bringing it back anytime, anywhere, under any circumstances that man and God can dream up.           ( Walter Cunningham)

In soloing, as in other activities, it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.           (Amelia Earhart, 1928)

It's all right if your automobile goes wrong while you are driving it. You can get out in the road and tinker with it. But if your airplane breaks down, you can't sit on a convenient cloud and tinker with that! (Katherine Stinson, American Magazine, 1917)

You'll be bothered from time to time by storms, fog, and snow. When you are, think of those who went through it before you, and say to yourself, 'What they could do, I can do.' (Antoine de Saint Exupéry, 'Wind, Sand, and Stars,' 1939)

The way I see it, you can either work for a living or you can fly airplanes. Me, I'd rather fly. (Len Morgan)

He moves not through distance, but through the ranges of satisfaction that come from hauling himself up into the air with complete and utter control; from knowing himself and knowing his airplane so well, that he can come somewhere close to touching perfection, in his own special and solitary way. (Richard Bach, 'A Gift of Wings')

A pilot lives in a world of perfection, or not at all. (Richard S. Drury, 'My Secret War')

Accuracy means something to me. It's vital to my sense of values. I've learned not to trust people who are inaccurate. Every aviator knows that if mechanics are inaccurate, they get lost -- sometimes killed. In my profession life itself depends on accuracy. (Charles A. Lindbergh)

An airplane might disappoint any pilot but it'll never surprise a good one. (Len Morgan)

Do not spin this aircraft. If the aircraft does enter a spin it will return to earth without further attention on the part of the aeronaut. (first handbook issued with the Curtis-Wright flyer)

Rule books are paper. They will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal.
(Ernest K. Gann, 'Fate is the Hunter.')

The machine does not isolate man from the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them. (Antoine de Saint Exupéry, 'Wind, Sand, and Stars,' 1939)

I've never seen an airplane yet that can read the type ratings on your pilot's license.
(Chuck Boedecker)

No matter how important a man at sea may consider himself, unless he is fundamentally worthy the sea will some day find him out. (Felix Riesenberg)

Do not let yourself be forced into doing anything before you are ready. (Wilbur Wright)

Hours and hours passed, with nothing to do but keep the compass on its course and the plane on a level keel. This sounds easy enough, but its very simplicity becomes a danger when your head keeps nodding with weariness and utter boredom and your eyes everlastingly try to shut out the confusing rows of figures in front of you, which will insist on getting jumbled together. Tired of trying to sort them out, you relax for a second, then your head drops and you sit up with a jerk, Where are you? What are you doing here? Oh yes, of course, you are somewhere in the middle of the North Atlantic, with hungry waves below you like vultures impatiently waiting for the end. (Amy Johnson)

To be alone in the air at night is to be very much alone indeed. . . cut off from everything and everyone . . . nothing is 'familiar' any longer . . . . I think that unfamiliarity is the most difficult thing to face; one feels rather like Alice in Wonderland after she has nibbled the toadstool that made her grow smaller -- and like Alice, one hopes that the process will stop while there is still something left! (Pauline Gower)

A pilot who says he has never been frightened in an airplane is, I'm afraid, lying.
(Louise Thaden)

When anyone asks me how I can best describe my experiences of nearly forty years at sea, I merely say uneventful. I have never been in an accident of any sort worth speaking about....I never saw a wreck and have never been wrecked, nor was I ever in any predicament that threatened to end in disaster of any sort. (Captain Edward J. Smith, R.M.S. Titanic, an experienced 62 year old captain, this was to be his last voyage prior to retirement, 1912)

It is a good thing to learn caution from the misfortunes of others. (Publilius Syrus)

Mistakes are inevitable for human. In aviation, the trick is not to make a single vital mistake that would jeopardize your own life or other's. (Captain Savas Uskent)

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again. (Franklin P. Jones)

There's no such thing as a natural-born pilot. (Chuck Yeager)

Now listen, buddy, there are a few corny ideas you got to get out of your head if you're going to fly an airplane. Most things are just the reverse from what people think. The higher you are the safer you are. The Earth down there, that, that's your enemy because once you hit that, boy, you splatter. (Dalton Trumbo screenwriter. 1943)

Get rid at the outset of the idea that the airplane is only an air-going sort of automobile. It isn't. It may sound like one and smell like one and it may have been interior decorated to look like one; but the difference is -- it goes on wings. (Wolfgang Langewiesche, first words of 'Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying, 1944)

A pilot must have a memory developed to absolute perfection. But there are two higher qualities which he also must have. He must have good and quick judgment and decision, and a cool, calm courage that no peril can shake. (Mark Twain, speaking about Mississippi River pilots)

I think there is something exhilarating in flying amongst clouds, and always get a feeling of wanting to pit my aeroplane against them, charge at them, climb over them to show them you have them beat, circle round them, and generally play with them; but clouds can on occasion hold their own against the aviator, and many a pilot has found himself emerging from a cloud not on a level keel. Cloud-flying requires practice, even if you have every modern instrument, and unless you keep calm and collected you will get into trouble after you have been inside a really thick one for a few minutes. In the very early days of aviation, 1912 to be correct, I emerged from a cloud upside down, much to my discomfort, as I didn't know how to get right way up again. I found out somehow, or I wouldn't be writing this. (Charles Rumney Samson, "A Flight from Cairo to Cape Town and Back", 1931)

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)

Learning the secret of flight from a bird was a good deal like learning the secret of magic from a magician. After you know what to look for you see things that you did not notice when you did not know exactly what to look for. (Orville Wright)

It is not easy to be the best. You must have the courage to bear pain, disappointment, and heartbreak. You must learn how to face danger and understand fear, yet not be afraid. You establish your goal, and no matter what deters you along the way, in your every waking moment you must say to yourself, "I could do it." (Betty Skelton, first lady of aerobatics)

Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm. (Publius Syrus)

I hope you either take up parachute jumping or stay out of single motored airplanes at night. (Charles A. Lindbergh).

Never fly anything that doesn't have the paint worn off the rudder Pedals. (Harry Bill)

What kind of man would live where there is no daring? I don't believe in taking foolish chances, but nothing can be accomplished without taking any chance at all. (Charles A. Lindbergh)

Keep thy airspeed up, less the earth come from below and smite thee. (William Kershner)

Don't ever let an airplane take you someplace where your brain hasn't arrived earlier. (Anon)

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)

Flying is done largely with the imagination. (Wolfgang Langewiesch, Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying, 1944)

If you don't think you're the best pilot in the business, MAYBE you're in the wrong business. If you think you could never make a mistake, you are REALLY in the wrong business. (Randy Sohn)

There are two kinds of airplanes -- those you fly and those that fly you . . . You must have a distinct understanding at the very start as to who is the boss. (Ernest K. Gann)

And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight.( E. B. Jeppesen)

I don't want monitors here. I want pilots. . . . Our whole philosophy is that the pilot is in charge of the airplane. We're very anti automation here at this airline. (Greg Crum, System Chief Pilot Southwest Airlines, 1996)

Electronics were rascals, and they lay awake nights trying to find some way to screw you during the day. You could not reason with them. They had a brain and intestines, but no heart. ( Ernest K. Gann, 'The Black Watch,' 1989)

The successful pilot must have a quick eye and steady nerves. (W. J. Abbot)

The airman must possess absolutely untroubled nerves. (Fancis Collins)

There's a lot of Hollywood bullshit about flying. I mean, look at the movies about test pilots or fighter pilots who face imminent death. The controls are jammed or something really important has fallen off the plane, and these guys are talking like magpies; their lives are flashing past their eyes, and they're flailing around in the cockpit. It just doesn't happen. You don't have time to talk. You're too damn busy trying to get out of the problem you're in to talk or ricochet around the cockpit. Or think about what happened the night after your senior prom. (Robin Olds)

I enjoyed my service flying very much. That is where I learned the discipline of flying In order to have the freedom of flight you must have the discipline. Discipline prevents crashes. (Captain John Cook)

Chi Vola Vale, Chi Non Vola non Vale, Chi Vale e Non Vola è un Vile (whoever flies is worthy, whoever doesn't fly is unworthy, whoever is worthy and doesn't fly is a coward)

It occurred to me that if I did not handle the crash correctly, there would be no survivors. (Richard Leakey)

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,' 'The Black Watch,' 1989)

Remember, you fly an airplane with your head, not your hands and feet. (Bevo Howard)

This thing we call luck is merely professionalism and attention to detail, it's your awareness of everything that is going on around you, it's how well you know and understand your airplane and your own limitations. Luck is the sum total of your of abilities as an aviator. If you think your luck is running low, you'd better get busy and make some more. Work harder, Pay more attention. Study your NATOPS more. Do better preflights. (Stephen Coonts, 'The Intruders.')

The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests. (Epictetus)

The winds and the waves are always on the side of the ablest navigators. (Edward Gibbon)

Map reading was not required. There were no maps. I got from place to place with the help of three things. One was the seat of my pants. If it left that of the plane, when the visibility was at a minimum, I was in trouble and could even be upside down. Another was the ability to recognize every town, river, railroad, farm, and, yes, outhouse along the route. The third? I had a few drops of homing pigeon in my veins. (Ken McGregor, Early U.S. Air Mail pilot)

Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death I Shall Fear No Evil For I am 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, 'Lockheed SR-71: The Secret Missions Exposed,' 1993)

I sometimes still go out hunting for bad weather, flying low in simple airplanes to explore the inner reaches of the clouds. Less experienced pilots occasionally join me, not to learn formal lessons about weather flying, but with a more advanced purpose in mind -- to accompany me in the slow accumulation of experience through circumstances that never repeat in a place that defies mastery. (William Langeweische, 'Inside the Sky: A Meditation on Flight)

And he supposed it might not be the best of days. But then, he was flying the mails and was not expected to squat on the ground like a frightened canary every time there was a cloud in the sky. If a pilot showed an obvious preference for flying only in the best conditions he soon found himself looking for work. This was the way of his life and he had always ascended when others had found excuse to keep their feet on the ground. (Ernest K. Gann, 'Fate is the Hunter.')

Oh, pilot! 'Tis a fearful night, There's danger on the deep. (Thomas Haynes Bayly, 'The Pilot.')

I suddenly get a feeling -- perhaps only a hint -- of the ALONENESS of a 1930s transport pilot way up on the beak of this ancient pelican. This tiny cupola was not a "flight deck," all indirect lighting and softly chiming "systems," triply redundant captains murmuring their checklist incantations. This was one man stuck about as far out on the bowsprit of his ark as he could be without having his toes in the wind.
(Stephan Wilkinson, 'Flying' magazine, 50th Anniversary Issue, September 1977)

There is only one rule - Rule One - TNB - Trust No Bastard - they are all trying to kill you. (Captain Rick Davies, advice to new captains)

It's when things are going just right that you'd better be suspicious. There you are, fat as can be. The whole world is yours and you're the answer to the Wright brothers' prayers. You say to yourself, nothing can go wrong ... all my trespasses are forgiven. Best you not believe it. (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)

If you want to be a good and old pilot, you've got to know your limits. Push forward when necessary and back off as required. Captain Savas Uskent (Flying Thru Nature).

There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.
(Attributed to W. W. Windstaff, an alleged pseudonym of an American pilot flying with the British RFC)

Navigating by the compass in a sea of clouds over Spain is all very well, it is very dashing, but -- you want to remember that below the sea of clouds lies eternity.
(Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, 'Wind, Sand, and Stars,' 1939)

CAPTAIN'S HOME