AVIATION QUOTES
quotations about aviation
It's easy to forget one of the reasons I became an airline pilot in this age of aviation technology that includes FMS, RVSM, ADS-B, RNAV/RNP, ACARS, VNAV and CAT III, plus the effects of 9/11, bankruptcy, retirement plan terminations, contentious contract negotiations and the normal stresses of a professional aviation career.
LES ABEND
"Jumpseat: A Reminder of Why I Chose My Career", Flying Magazine, March 4, 2016
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
PSALMS 18:10
I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things.
ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY
attributed, Empires of the Sky
My soul is in the sky.
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
A Midsummer Night's Dream
An airplane stands for freedom, for joy, for the power to understand, and to demonstrate that understanding.
RICHARD BACH
Nothing by Chance
Flying is liberating. I can fly anywhere and everywhere I want... There is no restriction and hurdle in the air.
MARK JEFFRIES
"Ruler of the Sky", The New Indian Express, March 19, 2016
I hate to wake up and find my co-pilot asleep.
MICHAEL TREACY
attributed, Frequent Flyer Humor and One-Upmanship
In some quarters [aviation is] still seen as a luxury good. In Europe it's almost like a sin tax imposed on airlines, because it's such a naughty thing to do, like smoking and drinking. This is nonsense, of course. Aviation is a huge economic enabler for growth -- not only economic growth but also social development. The fact that Europe has such a competitive and comprehensive aviation system now has helped shrink Europe. Now it's not unusual for people from Spain to visit Scandinavia for the weekend. The level of understanding, of cultural comprehension that's being driven by aviation is massive.
TONY TYLER
"IATA CEO Interview: Aviation Is a Huge Enabler for Social Development", Skift, March 30, 2016
We've come to view flying as yet another impressive but ultimately uninspiring technological realm.... Aren't we forfeiting something important when we sneer indifferently at the sight of an airplane--the sheer impressiveness of being able to throw down a few hundred dollars and travel halfway around the world at nearly the speed of sound?
PATRICK SMITH
Cockpit Confidential
Aviation is seen by many as a luxury. The industry misses the point when it complains it is taxed like the "sin" industries of alcohol and tobacco. It is being taxed as a (perceived) luxury product that is convenient to tax. The heavy taxation of aviation in India, for example, was one major reason that China surpassed its neighbor in traffic some time ago after initially being far behind. It is easy to convince the populace to tax aviation because of the perceived luxury nature of the business ("you have to eat but you do not have to fly").
ADAM M PILARSKI
Why Can't We Make Money in Aviation?
Success. Four flights Thursday morning. All against twenty-one mile wind. Started from level with engine power alone. Average speed through air thirty-one miles. Longest fifty-nine seconds. Inform press. Home Christmas.
WILBUR & ORVILLE WRIGHT
telegram to Milton Wright from Kitty Hawk, N.C., Dec. 17, 1903
O to speed where there is space enough and air enough at last!
WALT WHITMAN
"One Hour to Madness and Joy", Leaves of Grass
There are airmen and there are pilots: the first being part bird whose view from aloft is normal and comfortable, a creature whose brain and muscles frequently originate movements which suggest flight; and then there are pilots who regardless of their airborne time remain earth-loving bipeds forever. When these latter unfortunates, because of one urge or another, actually make an ascension, they neither anticipate nor relish the event and they drive their machines with the same graceless labor they inflict upon the family vehicle.
ERNEST K. GANN
Ernest K. Gann's Flying Circus
Just go for a ride. Get into an airplane. Take off from the ground. See the world from a different perspective. See if you have the flying gene.
TOM STILLWELL
"Flying doctor, storyteller extraordinaire", Moose Lake Star Gazette, March 17, 2016
The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods. More than any other thing that pertains to the body it partakes of the nature of the divine.
PLATO
Phaedrus
Life is simple. Eat, sleep, fly.
ANONYMOUS
What truly bothered me, though, was how many other people readily confessed to the same fear [of flying]. People I respected, people free of pervasive neurosis, would admit to anxiety attacks upon takeoff, fatal thoughts upon the first sign of turbulence. They, too, took trains. And then there are the celebrities: Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Whoopi Goldberg. Colin Farrell is afraid of flying, and he doesn't look like he's afraid of anything.
ALEXANDER NAZARYAN
"Move Over, Angels: Flying Is Our Everyday Miracle", Newsweek, November 8, 2015
Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of takeoffs.
ANONYMOUS
The list of flying indignities is by now as annoying as it is familiar. Shrinking seats. Bloated fees. Battles for overhead bin space. Peanuts in place of meals. The airlines' business model increasingly centers on getting customers to pay their way out of misery.
NICHOLAS CALIO
"Call to airlines to make experiences better", News-Press, March 27, 2016
One of the beautiful things about a single-piloted aircraft is the quality of the social experience.
RICHARD S. DRURY
attributed, Frequent Flyer Humor and One-Upmanship