About Flying . . . .
Never trade luck for skill. The three most common expressions in aviation are, "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" and "NO!" Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers. Airspeed, altitude or brains: two are always needed to successfully complete the flight. A smooth landing is mostly luck; two in a row is all luck; three in a row is prevarication. We have a perfect record in aviation: we never left one up there! Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the purpose of storing dead batteries. Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding it. When a flight is proceeding incredibly well, something was forgotten. Layton A. Bennett: Never fly the 'A' model of anything. The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you. Jon McBride, astronaut: If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible. Bob Hoover: If an airplane is still in one piece, don't cheat on it; ride the sonofagun down. Two signs over the entrance to the SR-71 pilot ready room on Kadena AB Japan: Paul F Crickmore: Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you. Without ammunition the USAF would be just another expensive flying club. Basic Flying Rules:
1. Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death I Shall Fear No Evil For I Am At 80,000 Feet and Climbing.
2. You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3.
1. Try to stay in the middle of the air.
2. Do not go near the edges of it.
3. 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.
Originally published November 14, 2002.
