(from The New Yorker magazine.) SaveSave
Category: Airmanship Quotes
Nothing is More Dangerous Than …
“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have.” Emile Chartier Always have an out. And try to keep generating more ideas when things are going wrong. Are you fixing what’s really wrong?
Mindfulness Is …
Mindfulness is a word often used, well, mindlessly. But it’s a state that can be described with some precision. The most accepted definition is in Jon Kabat-Zinn’s 1994 book Wherever You Go, There You Are. And it makes the connection to flying very apparent: Here’s a good online article with 19 other definitions: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/what-is-mindfulness-definition/
A Button Pusher?
How to tell if you have a feel for your airplane, by Budd Davisson in EAA’s Sport Aviation magazine, September 2017 (paywall): Do you see the air? Or do you just push FMS buttons?
Safety is Number Three
#1 Don’t Panic. #2 #3 Safety. “Safety third. There’s not even a Rule Number Two. But even though there’s nothing in second place, safety is not getting promoted to number two.” Elon Musk’s family rules show a mature understanding of the fallacy of ‘safety first’. There’s lots of other good stuff in this long Rolling Stone interview 30 November 2017.
Life is Denied By …
If you don’t pay attention when you are flying, you miss the things you can do better next time, you miss the things you are doing good, and forget to enjoy the whole thing. Photo is by me, Dave English, on an LAX overnight. Quick Uber ride to Dockweiler Beach and the California home of hang gliding. Perfect geography for …
Anxiety is Caused By . . .
“Anxiety is caused by a lack of control, organization, preparation, and action.” So don’t be anxious flying— be cool. SaveSave
Let Your Mind Wander in Simplicity
Let your mind wander in simplicity, blend your spirit with the vastness. (circa 300 BC) Keep your situational awareness high, trim the plane. (2017)
I Never Mount My Machine Until
“Only a cautious person, man or woman, should fly. I never mount my machine until every wire and screw has been tested.” Harriet Quimby. First woman to gain a pilot’s license in the United States and first woman to fly across the English Channel. Good Housekeeping Magazine, September 1912. SaveSave SaveSaveSaveSave SaveSaveSaveSave SaveSave
Changing Not the World
This is what great pilots share with artists, and monks and mystics. The heightened perception, the fascination with flight, eventually turns into an aeronautical superpower. The great pilot sees things and corrects before the average pilot ever knows anything is amiss. The desire of monks and mystics is not unlike that of artists: to perceive the extraordinary within the ordinary …