Best Quotes

[PTAirco]

"Were it not for the noise, relentless hurricane-force wind sometimes mixed with bullets of rain in the face, occasional bug in the mouth, near impossibility of communication, danger of hypothermia, unshielded exposure to the sun's deadly gamma rays, nonexistent baggage space, low-pressure airflow over the cockpits that can suck out cigarettes and charts, dismal forward visibility and its otherwise shameless impracticality, an open-cockpit biplane might just be the most ideal aircraft ever conceived -- surely, the most wondrous of all man's wondrous machines."

Which is on building one.

 

[Daleandee]

"Don't practice until you get it right ... practice until you don't get it wrong."

Dale
N319WF

 

[SVSUSteve]

Seen on Tee shirts at Oshkosh, “If you don’t fly a taildragger, you aren’t a real pilot.”

Seen the following year, “If you don’t fly a Pitts, you aren’t s#%t.”


BJC

My favorite from up there is the one that is covered in fake oil spots and it says "Why, yes, my plane does have a radial engine. How did you know that?"

 

[N804RV]

"There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing: Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

 

[Daleandee]

I like what William Wynne had printed on his tee-shirts:

"My ex wanted me to quit flying."

That prompted us to make tee-shirts for our fly-in that read:

"She said it was me or the airplane ... clear the prop!"

Dale
N319WF

 

[Victor Bravo]

"Smile son, never disconcert the masses"
Axel Olsson

"In the air, I was Ernst Kessler, and no one could touch me. On the ground...?"
Ernst Kessler

"Well, as long as he's up there...!"
Newton Potts

 

[John wadman]

I like what William Wynne had printed on his tee-shirts:

"My ex wanted me to quit flying."

That prompted us to make tee-shirts for our fly-in that read:

"She said it was me or the airplane ... clear the prop!"

Dale
N319WF

Good one Daleandee

 

[delta]

“Some of our freighter companies are asking us for [single pilot airliners]. We are quite confident, technologically, that the toolkit is filled. With respect to commercial airplanes, there is no doubt in our minds that we can solve the problem of autonomous flight.” — John Tracy, Chief Technology Officer, Boeing.

“Never fly the A model of anything.” — Edward Thompson, World War II Pilot

There's a few more jems in here... https://www.skygod.com/quotes/

 

[skier]

I'll run my hand gently over the wing of a small airplane and say to him, "This plane can teach you more things and give you more gifts than I ever could. It won't get you a better job, a faster car, or a bigger house. But if you treat it with respect and keep your eyes open, it may remind you of some things you used to know – that life is in the moment, joy matters more than money, the world is a beautiful place, and that dreams really, truly are possible." And then, because airplanes speak in a language beyond words, I'll take him up in the evening summer sky and let the airplane show him what I mean.
- Lane Wallace

I've never known an industry that can get into people's blood the way aviation does.
- Robert Six

Any young boy can nowadays explain human flight — mechanistically: " . . . and to climb you shove the throttle all the way forward and pull back just a little on the stick. . . . " One might as well explain music by saying that the further over to the right you hit the piano the higher it will sound. The makings of a flight are not in the levers, wheels, and pedals but in the nervous system of the pilot: physical sensations, bits of textbook, deep-rooted instincts, burnt-child memories of trouble aloft, hangar talk.
-Wolfgang Langewiesche

 

[pictsidhe]

I haven't been to Osh yet. But, judging by some of the T-shirt comments, perhaps I need:
"It doesn't matter what you fly, my 'plane is better!"

 

[litespeed]

Passenger....."why do you call that thing out front a fan?"

Me....." Watch how fast I sweat if it stops"

 

[AdrianS]

Helicopters don't actually fly - they're so ugly the ground repels them.

 

[RSD]

“We have a perfect record in aviation; we have never yet left anyone up there.”

Slightly off topic quote that is somewhat similar - seen in the final report of a 10 year study of scuba diving accidents - "100% of the divers that failed to surface died"

 

[Bill-Higdon]

My favorite from up there is the one that is covered in fake oil spots and it says "Why, yes, my plane does have a radial engine. How did you know that?"

 

[jedi]

A navy pilot in United airlines new hire school to his flight instructor while on short final for his first landing in a jet transport (stretch DC8).

"Watch me close now. I have never flaired before. "

Or dedicated to BJC:

Interviewer to the older gray haired pilot. "What was your most stressful moment in aviation?"
Pilot: "Watching my only son's first solo in my only Pitts."

 

[MadProfessor8138]

Navy pilot quote.........
Flare to land,Squat to pee !!!

Kevin

 

[MadProfessor8138]

I think it was in the movie High Road To China where Tom Selleck says......
"I'm never lost,I just dont know where I'm at sometimes ".

Kevin

 

[MadProfessor8138]

Mel Gibson in Air America......"Dont worry,I crash better than anyone I know".

Kevin

 

[Tony Spezio]

Saw a T shirt at Oshkosh,
Friends don't let friends fly kit planes.

 

[Rockiedog2]

Oh s**t