“The control of fear is a necessary part of the inner work of flight.” William Langewiesche Breathe. Relax. Do the ‘what-if’ work ahead of time. All these are part of the Inner Work of Flight. Quote is from Langewiesche’s 2010 book Aloft: Thoughts on the Experience of Flight. And yes, his Dad wrote the book Stick and Rudder.
Category: Airmanship Quotes
I’m Just a Bird
“I used to think, I’m just a bird. The glider is the shell, the body of the bird. You become part of it. If you can get to that stage, you can manoeuvre the glider anywhere you want to. Rather than thinking about how to control the machine you’re sitting in, you think, this is all a part of me.” …
Mountains Are
“Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous.” Reinhold Messner, All Fourteen 8,000ers, 1999. Wikipedia says this about Messner: He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, doing so without supplementary oxygen. Messner was …
I Just Like to Be
“I just like to be up in the air, and the feeling of being a part of the plane.” John Coward John started in Tiger Moths, flew for the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm, and then British Airways, ending his career going around the world in B707s. On retirement, he flew gliders in Wales. Quoted in the wonderful 2018 book …
Relax
This was the first book in the Teach Yourself series. It was so good that in World War II the British Air Ministry recommended pilots to buy a copy, and Tangye was asked to train prospective RAF pilots. The funny little book series rapidly expanded, the yellow and blue Teach Yourself books covered all kinds of subjects, selling millions of …
I Just Went Where I was Sent
A wonderful story from Neil Gaiman: Some years ago, I was lucky enough invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things. And I felt that at any moment they would realise that I didn’t qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things. On my second or third …
Mae Jemison
Engineer, physician, and astronaut Mae Jemison on thinking for yourself: “Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations. If you adopt their attitudes, then the possibility won’t exist because you’ll have already shut it out… You can hear other people’s wisdom, but you’ve got to re-evaluate the world for yourself.” Mae Jemison Source: Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, …
Taste Every Moment
“When you are a young person, you are like a young creek, and you meet many rocks, many obstacles and difficulties on your way. You hurry to get past these obstacles and get to the ocean. But as the creek moves down through the fields, it becomes larges and calmer and it can enjoy the reflection of the sky. It’s …
Seneca on Sailing
2,000 years ago, Seneca was writing about seamanship. Remember, “never stop flying it . . . ” ANother translation has it so: A great pilot can sail even when his canvas is rent; if his ship be dismantled, he can yet put in trim what remains of her hull and hold her to her course. Seneca, circa 65.
Ludvig on Practicing Art
Flying feels like making music! And note the forced hard work of digging deep, it’s not enough to just practice the fun simple bits a couple times. “Fahre fort, übe nicht allein die Kunst, sondern dringe auch in ihr Inneres; sie verdient es, denn nur die Kunst und die Wissenschaft erhöhen den Menschen bis zur Gottheit.” Beethoven in letter to …