What's Your Favourite Aviation-related Quote?

777236ER · Mon Aug 20, 2001 8:40 pm

What are people's favourite aviation related quote? Let's have one humourous one, and one profound one.

For humourous, Herb Kelleher, "If the Wright brother were alive today Wilbur would have to fire Orville to reduce costs"

For profound, "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." -- Leonardo da Vinci

ivailo · Mon Aug 20, 2001 9:02 pm

If god wanted us to fly, he would have given us wings.

-- Mel Brooks

FBU 4EVER! · Mon Aug 20, 2001 9:17 pm

"Luck and superstition wins every time!"

My instructor!

cedarjet · Mon Aug 20, 2001 9:22 pm

"If god wanted jets to fly, he would have given them propellers."

--------------------------------------------

Posted these last week, quotes from O'Hare ATC. These are the highlights for those who missed out last time.

"Climb like your life depends on it...because it does."

"Listen up, gentlemen, or something's gonna happen that none of us wants to see.”

"We were told Rwy 9...we'll take out the 14R approach plate."
"Captain you got sixty miles to take it out...have a ball."

"Approach, SWA436, you want us to turn right to 090?"
"No, I want your brother to turn. Just do it and don't argue."

"The first officer says he's got you in sight."
"Roger, the first officer's cleared for a visual approach runway 27 Right...you continue on that 180 heading and descend to three thousand."

"How far behind traffic are we?"
"Three miles."
"That doesn't look like three miles to us!"
"You're a mile and a half from him, he's a mile and a half from you...that's three miles."

Stretch 8 · Mon Aug 20, 2001 9:23 pm

"Any landing you can walk away from is a good one." Unknown.

hkgspotter1 · Mon Aug 20, 2001 9:31 pm

(In Mandarin)

What does pull up mean ????..................SMASH !!!!!!

One dead China Northern MD-82.

catpac · Mon Aug 20, 2001 9:44 pm

Cathay Pacific Airways is experiencing pilot shortage,
yet they have thousands of aplicants....? Nuts

I am not experienced enough as a commercial pilot to fly a light aircraft in freight operations, yet I can easily get a job teaching others how to fly....? Nuts

L-188 · Mon Aug 20, 2001 9:54 pm

"Anytime you see one of my airplanes in the air, it is overloaded!", Lineous Mac McGee. Founder of McGee Airways which later became Alaska Airlines. He was in the middle of chewing out the first CAA inspector in Alaska for fining him $200 dollars for overloading aircraft.

777236ER · Mon Aug 20, 2001 10:14 pm

One more from me,

The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.

— Mark Russell

miller22 · Tue Aug 21, 2001 12:43 am

How to fly:
Push forward to make the houses get bigger...
Pull back to make the houses get smaller...

The propeller is nothing but a big fan to keep the pilot cool. Don't believe me? shut it off and watch him sweat.

It wasn't his fault, it wasn't my fault, it was the asphault.

klmfan · Tue Aug 21, 2001 2:20 am

Last Year on a flight from Tampa/FL to Memphis/TN on a NWA A320 the captain said:
"Hi, folks! This is the flight to paradise with continuing service to Los Angeles."
He had a Southern drawl...
Smile/happy/getting dizzy

toady · Tue Aug 21, 2001 2:29 am

OK, this is out of context but it has an aptness, all the same.

James Thurber:
"Man is flying too fast for a world that is round. Soon he will catch up with himself in a great rear-end collision and Man will never know that what hit him from behind was Man."

Superfly · Tue Aug 21, 2001 2:35 am

"THE PLANE, THE PLANE !"

Tatoo, from the Fantisy Island. (1978)

sfointern · Tue Aug 21, 2001 4:44 am

1) "This is a nasty, rotten business."

2) "[The airline industry] is the closest thing to legalized warfare."

- Robert Crandall

Guest · Tue Aug 21, 2001 6:21 am

*Whoop, whoop* Pull up! Pull up!
"Ah, shaddup Gringo!"
... sound of impact

Avianca B747 outside Madrid

heavymetal · Tue Aug 21, 2001 8:44 am

"If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going."

BH346 · Tue Aug 21, 2001 8:55 am

"A mile of highway takes you one mile. A mile of runway can take you anywhere".

BH346

AA7771stClass · Tue Aug 21, 2001 10:55 am

"Flying isn't dangerous, crashing is!"

airbus_330_340 · Tue Aug 21, 2001 11:43 am

"Some People Just Know How To Fly" -Northwest Airlines

UA_727 · Tue Aug 21, 2001 12:18 pm

FUNNY: "Flying is like sex--I've never had all I wanted but occasionally I've had all I could stand..."
--Stephen Coonts, The Cannibal Queen

PROFOUND: "I decided that if I could fly for ten years before I was killed in a crash, it would be a worthwhile trade for an ordinary life time..."
--Charles A. Lindbergh, The Spirit of St. Louis

"As soon as we left the ground I knew I myself had to fly!"
--Amelia Earhart

"Flying without feathers is not easy; my wings have no feathers."
--Titus Maccius Plautus

and my alltime favorite,

"To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home."
--Anon.

US A333 PIT · Tue Aug 21, 2001 12:27 pm

This trialogue is from a couple weeks ago flying out of ATL. It involved a Delta Jet (DJ) a Northwest Jet(NJ) and a popular ground controller(C) at ATL. I was riding jumpseat in the DJ and listening in:

DJ: Atlanta Ground, Delta 1565 ready to push

C: (The voice of a hip sounding black dude with a ghetto slang) DL One figh six figh, push approved, push tail nouth...How you doin'?

DJ: Uhh, Atlanta Ground, DL 1565, We be jammin'!

NJ: Atlanta Ground, Northwest 635 out of ramp 4, requesting push back.

C: Nordwest six tree figh, push approved tail South...How you doin'?

NJ: We be jammin' too.

C: Good. I likes it when everybody be jammin'!

(I guess you had to be there.)

delta-flyer · Tue Aug 21, 2001 1:02 pm

"It's better to be down here wishing you were up there, than to be up there wishing you were down here."

- posted in a mess hall at an air training base.

penguinflies · Tue Aug 21, 2001 1:02 pm

Jetlag is finding you wallet in the refridgerator and not remebering where you put the milk.

God is my copilot but the devil is my bombardier.

the other one:
(from AvWeb)

ATL ATC:
Delta xxx fly heading 180 for noise abatement.

Delta XXX:
What kind of noise can we make at 30000ft?

ATL:
Ever hear the noise a 727 makes when it hits an MD-80?

airlinelover · Tue Aug 21, 2001 1:17 pm

From Sugar Ray:
"I just wanna fly"

From ME!::

"Fly Long, Fly Far, Fly FOREVER!"

Chris

We're Nuts · Tue Aug 21, 2001 1:21 pm

"Victory, defeat - the words are meaningless. Life lies behind these symbols and life is ever bringing new symbols into being. One nation is weakened by a victory, another finds new forces in defeat. The work in progress is all that matters."

--Night Flight

Yossarian · Tue Aug 21, 2001 3:08 pm

"What's this mountain goat doing up in the cloud?"

mandargb · Wed Aug 22, 2001 1:20 am

"When once you have tasted flight [food], you will forever fly the sky with your eyes turned homeward, for there you have seen the semblance of real food and there you will always long to return."

mandargb · Wed Aug 22, 2001 1:40 am

Have you noticed something interesting? That almost all pilots flying single props, prefer the tabel fan model while chopper pilots have a thing for ceiling fans. They are a curious breed - the pilots - aren't they!

UALPHLCS · Wed Aug 22, 2001 3:04 am

Whats the difference between God and a pilot? God doesn't think he's a pilot.

Poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.

I let you all figure out which is humorous and which is profound

OO-VEG · Wed Aug 22, 2001 4:20 am

"No matter what happens in the air. You will always reach the ground."

klmfan · Thu Aug 23, 2001 5:22 pm

Where did you get these funny ATC quotes from? Do you have more of them?
I really enjoy reading them over and over. Smile

L-188 · Thu Aug 23, 2001 5:34 pm

I hope I remember this one correctly.

"They may be able to manufacture Refridgerators and Washing machines but they don't know how to make airplanes."

Herman Goering, on the American Aircraft manufacturers. 1941

jwenting · Thu Aug 23, 2001 6:08 pm

What goes up, must come down
Takeoffs are optional, landings are mandatory

777236ER · Thu Aug 23, 2001 6:56 pm

There's loads of quotes/sayings/cliches at www.skygod.com. It's a really cool site! Smile

VapourTrails · Thu Aug 23, 2001 8:54 pm

A very good topic! The few quotes I know have already been posted but I have found some other really good (profound) ones, and some funny, humourous ones here too. Thanks for the website link as well Smile/happy/getting dizzy

L-188 · Thu Aug 23, 2001 9:07 pm

And who could forget Adolf Gallands comment to Goering, "I would like a squadron of Spitfires"

slawko · Thu Aug 23, 2001 10:50 pm

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with you eyes turned skyward, for there you have been and there you will always long to return."

eg777er · Thu Aug 23, 2001 11:10 pm

Love this one:

Ladies and gentleman, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. I trust you are not in too much distress.

— Captain Eric Moody, British Airways, after flying through volcanic ash in a B-747.

Purdue Arrow · Fri Aug 24, 2001 10:57 am

From a statue on the Terazzo of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO:

"Man's flight through life is sustained by the power of his knowledge."

airbus380 · Fri Aug 24, 2001 12:41 pm

"United 2135H turn left on hotel, "we can't", left on oscar, "we can't", left on pappa, "we can't!". United 2135H take a left on Guadeloupe and circle back on 405 to the airport.

DouglasDC8 · Fri Aug 24, 2001 1:21 pm

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

BNE · Fri Aug 24, 2001 8:11 pm

Its not the fall that will hurt you but the sudden stop at the end.

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