Now for something a little different

No photos this time out, I thought I would just throw out some of my favorite quotes. Not too many, but a few.

Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. But to an even greater degree than the sea, it is terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect.

— Captain A. G. Lamplugh, British Aviation Insurance Group, London. Circa early 1930's. This famous phrase has been reproduced on posters and plaques many times, with the attribution of 'anonymous'. I was told at a book signing that André Priester (one of the first Pan Am employee's) may have said it, and decided to check this with R. E. G. Davis who is curator of air transport history at the Smithsonian and author of a book on Pan Am. Ron called me back and told me the phrase pre-dates Priester, but that his research shows the originator of the phrase was Captain Lamplugh, who was quite well known in British aviation circles after W.W.I.

If you are looking for perfect safety, you will do well to sit on a fence and watch the birds; but if you really wish to learn, you must mount a machine and become acquainted with its tricks by actual trial.

— Wilbur Wright, from an address to the Western Society of Engineers in Chicago, 18 September 1901.

Mix ignorance with arrogance at low altitude and the results are almost guaranteed to be spectacular.

— Bruce Landsberg, Executive Director of the AOPA Air Safety Foundation.

It's always better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than be in the air wishing you were on the ground.

— A fellow I met in Twin Falls, ID, on the trip to the hotel after another pilot and I we weathered in by 50 knot winds on the ramps just as we were starting to taxi, but I'm sure attributable to many.

It all pays the same.

— Jack Hart, Forest Ranger in Gainesville, FL. I used to work with Jack. He used to say this on those days when the job seemed too much or too little or just anything out of the ordinary. Given the uncertainty of my schedule, as it is very dependent on weather and experimental equipment working, I often tell myself this to remind me just how good I have it.

A ship in harbor is safe—but that is not what ships are for.

— Admiral Grace Hopper