“You did not get ‘into’ a fighter, you strapped it onto your ass and it became an extension of your physical body.” Ed Dwight.NY Times article 16 July 2019. Amazing life story of Ed Dwight, almost the first Black astronaut, who could have walked on the Moon: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/ed-dwight-was-set-to-be-the-first-black-astronaut-heres-why-that-never-happened.html
Category: Airmanship Quotes
It Can Happen to You
In 2013 FAA Safety Briefing magazine published a seemingly unremarkable story about a mindless runway incursion in a light piston twin. Human error. Could have been bad, but like most incidents, no big deal. What’s interesting is the author. He was a master pilot. The byline is Gene Cernan, fighter pilot, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, astronaut, Moonwalker, and general aviation …
Where to Focus
From this week’s James Clear newsletter:
Not the Hardest Part
Found a new flying podcast, what a great way to start 2021! Will be listening on the way to BOS Logan today. It’s called When Women Fly, and here’s a direct link to the Patty Wagstaff episode. “Flying is not the hardest part of it at all, it’s the mental aspects – so you learn a lot about yourself in …
Think of Something Else
Reread the classic 1942 aviation adventure book West With The Night by Beryl Markham. Beautiful writing distilling life. And quotes like this, using airmanship to turn and climb in better air rather than just full power into mountain downdrafts:
How Much You Don’t Know
Beginners Mind met Perpetual Pursuit! Always learning. Sometimes embarrassingly large amounts of stuff I was blind about!
Judge Yourself
From the excellent 2019 book The Passion Paradox.
Robin Olds on Flying
Fighter pilot legend. Triple Ace. Multiple combat victories against Messerschmitts and MiGs. Married to a Hollywood actress. Son of a General, who became a General himself. College football star. Best Wing Commander in Vietnam. Hard-drinking mustached maverick, who eventually was Commandant of the Air Force Academy. Robin Olds had an amazing career. But let’s look here at some of his …
Stunts?
Autopilot babies and paint-by-numbers piloting are not new ideas. Back in 1942 a Marine Corps Major wrote about it. People were calling anything past a gentle bank a stunt. We needed pilots to know the full envelope of flight then — and now. You can’t learn this type of flying out of textbooks … It seems rather silly to be …
Greatest Gift of Life
“Challenge and perfection is the greatest gift of life. Embrace it and use it well. To turn your back on the challenge of perfection is to close the door on your spirit, your freedom … your very existence.” Betty Skelton Betty quoted in 2011 book Betty Skelton First Lady of Firsts by Henry Holden. An amazing aerobatic pilot, she also …