Old Pilot Sayings... Rules of the Air
- Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.
- If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull
the stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the
stick back, then they get bigger again.
- Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is what's dangerous.
- The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.
- A 'good' landing is one you can walk away from. A 'great' landing is
one after which they can use the plane again.
- The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of
arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival and vice
- It's always better to be down here wishing you were up there than
up there wishing you were down here.
- The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to
keep the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot
- When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided
with the sky.
- Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to
make all of them yourself.
- You know you've landed with the wheels up if it takes full power
to taxi to the ramp.
- Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn't get to
five minutes earlier.
- Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking
about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction.
Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out
- Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the
number of take offs you've made.
- There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing.
Unfortunately no one knows what they are.
- You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience.
The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of
- Helicopters can't fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels
- If all you can see out of the window is ground that's going round
and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passenger
compartment, things are not at all as they should be.
- In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going
hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the
ground has yet to lose.
- Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the
experience usually comes from bad judgment.
- It's always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as
much as possible.
- Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed.
- Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law. And
it's not subject to repeal.
- The three most useless things to a pilot are the altitude above
you, runway behind you, and a tenth of a second ago.