Insights

The countdown has begun. On December 17, 2003, numerous centennial celebrations will be held in honor of Orville and Wilbur's first powered flight. The technological advancements during the past 100 years have been nothing short of spectacular, but I pity the pilot who ignores the numerous pearls of wisdom that experienced pilots generated during this era. My favorite "pearls" follow, and if I know the author's name, it is listed.

"Rule one: No matter what else happens, fly the airplane."

"There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots!"

"Aviation safety consists of attitude, proficiency, and knowledge." (R.C. Morton, FAA safety program manager, retired.)

"Professionalism is like pornography; you'll recognize it when you see it." (John Lauber, National Transportation Safety Board, retired.)

"Truly superior pilots are those who use their superior judgment to avoid those situations where they might have to use their superior skills."

"Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment."

"Always know where you've been, where you are, and where you're going."

"Always remember, you fly an airplane with your head, not your hands."

"Don't drop the aircraft in order to fly the microphone."

"An airplane flies because of a principle discovered by Bernoulli, not Marconi."

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."

"Learn from the mistakes of others; you won't live long enough to make all of them yourself."

"The three most useless things in aviation: the altitude above you, the runway behind you, and the fuel that you did not put in the tanks."

"An airplane may disappoint a good pilot, but it won't surprise him."

"Any pilot who relies on a terminal forecast can be sold the Brooklyn Bridge. If he relies on winds-aloft reports, he can be sold Niagara Falls."

"Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers."

"Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwind."

"A thunderstorm is never as bad on the inside as it appears on the outside - it's worse."

"It's easy to make a small fortune in aviation. You start with a large fortune."

"A fool and his money are soon flying more airplane than he can handle."

"Remember, you're always a student in an airplane."

"Keep looking around; there's always something you've missed."

"Never trade luck for skill."

"Airspeed, altitude, and brains: At least two are always needed to successfully complete a flight."

"Flashlights are tubular metal containers kept in a flight bag for the purpose of storing old dead batteries."

"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding it."

"Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another airplane going in the opposite direction."

"You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck."

"Instrument flying is when your mind gets a grip on the fact that there is vision beyond sight." (Captain Pettibone, the U.S. Navy's fictitious safety officer, in a 1945 issue of Approach magazine.)

"The emergencies you train for almost never happen. It's the one you can't train for that kills you." (Ernest K. Gann)

"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; if ATC screws up, the pilot dies."

Ralph Butcher, a retired United Airlines captain, is the chief flight instructor at a California flight school. He has been flying for 43 years and has more than 25,000 hours in fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Visit his Web site www.skyroamers.com.