Aviation Quotes

The higher we soar the smaller we appear to those who cannot fly.

The Americans cannot build aeroplanes. They are very good at refrigerators and razor blades.

You've got to expect things are going to go wrong. And we always need to prepare ourselves for handling the unexpected.

I want to be remembered for only one thing: my contribution to aviation.

As soon as we left the ground, I knew I had to fly.

If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible.

I refused to take no for an answer.

See, decide, attack, reverse.

If you want to grow old as a pilot, you've got to know when to push it, and when to back off.

Aviation is proof that given, the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.

There are pilots and there are pilots; with the good ones, it is inborn. You can't teach it. If you are a fighter pilot, you have to be willing to take risks.

It is as though we have grown wings, which thanks to Providence, we have learnt to control.

I am going to have a cup of tea, like any good Englishman.

I was sold on flying as soon as I had a taste for it.

I put the sweat of my life into this project, and if it's a failure, I'll leave the country and never come back.

A modern, autonomous, and thoroughly trained Air Force in being at all times will not alone be sufficient, but without it there can be no national security.

If he is superior then I would go home, for another day that is better.

I ask people who don't fly, "How can you not fly when you live in a time in history when you can fly?"

Keep thy airspeed up, less the earth come from below and smit thee.

Go in close, and when you think you are too close, go in closer.

Can the magic of flight ever be carried by words? I think not.

If we lose the war in the air we lose the war and lose it quickly.

The helicopter appeared so reluctant to fly forward that we even considered turning the pilot's seat around and letting it fly backward.

It was my view that no kill was worth the life of a wingman. . . . Pilots in my unit who lost wingmen on this basis were prohibited from leading a [section]. The were made to fly as wingman, instead.

Anyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps.