Military Aviation
Wisdom
'It is generally inadvisable
to eject over the area you just bombed'
- U.S. Air Force Manual
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'Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate.
The bombs are guaranteed always to hit the ground.'
- USAF Ammo Troop
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'You've never been lost until
you've been lost! at Mach 3.'
- Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot)
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'The only time you have too much fuel is when you're
on fire.'
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'Blue water Navy truism: There are more planes
in the ocean than submarines in the sky.'
- From an old carrier sailor
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'If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage,
it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe.'
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'When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane, you
always have enough power left to get you to the scene
of the crash.'
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'Without ammunition, the USAF would be just another
expensive flying club.'
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'What is the similarity between air traffic controllers
and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If
ATC screws up.... The pilot dies.'
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'Never trade luck for skill.'
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The three most common expressions (or famous last words)
in aviation are: 'Why is it doing that?', 'Where are
we?' And 'Oh S...!'
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'Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.'
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'Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed
to complete the flight successfully.'
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'Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never
left one up there!'
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'Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a
flight bag to store dead batteries.'
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'Flying the airplane is more important than radioing
your plight to a person on the ground who is incapable
of understanding or doing anything about it.'
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'The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world;
it can just barely kill you.'
- Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)
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'A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying
his plane to its maximum.'
- Jon McBride, astronaut
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'If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing
as far into the crash as possible.'
- Bob Hoover (renowned aerobatic and test pilot )
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'A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade launcher
fire when you least expect it. That would make you quite
unpopular in what's left ! of your unit.'
- Army's magazine of preventive maintenance.
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'Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than
you.'
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'There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in
peacetime.'
- Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB,
AZ, 1970
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'If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's
about to.'
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Basic Flying Rules: 'Try to stay in the middle of the
air. Do not go near the edges of it 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.'
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'You know that your landing gear is up and locked when
it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.'
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As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft,
having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing,
the crash truck arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied
pilot and asks, 'What happened?' The pilot's reply,
'I don't know, I just got here myself!'
- Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)
