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View Full Version : some good flying tips and lessons learned



Digger
01-08-2004, 12:57 PM
A while back I posted some of these, here are some more good ones...

A few for fliers "Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death ...I Shall Fear No Evil ...For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing. (sign over the entrance to the SR-71 operating location Kadena, Japan).

You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3. (Paul F.Crickmore test pilot)

From an old carrier sailor - Blue water Navy truism; There are more planes in the ocean than submarines in the sky.

If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe.

Navy carrier pilots to Air Force pilots: Flaring is like squatting to pee.

When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash.

Without ammunition, the USAF would be just another expensive flying club.

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.

Never trade luck for skill.

The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" and "Oh S#!+!"
[to this one I would add: "watch this"]

Weather forecasts are horoscopes with numbers.

Airspeed, altitude, and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight.

A smooth landing is mostly luck; two in a row is all luck; three in a row is prevarication.

Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!

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

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

When a flight is proceeding incredibly well, something was forgotten.

Just remember, if you crash because of weather, your funeral will be held on a sunny day.

Advice given to RAF pilots during W. W. II. When a prang (crash)
seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slowly and gently as possible.

The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely killyou. (Attributed to Max Stanley, Northrop test pilot)

A pilot who doesn't have any fear probably isn't flying his plane to its maximum. (Jon McBride, astronaut)

If you're faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible. (Bob Hoover - renowned aerobatic and test pilot)

If an airplane is still in one piece, don't cheat on it; ride the bastard down. (Ernest K. Gann, author &aviator)

Never fly in the same cockpit with someone braver than you.

There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime. (Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970).

The three best things in life are a good landing, a good orgasm, and, a good bowel movement. The night carrier landing is one of the few opportunities in life where you get to experience all three at the same time. (Author unknown, but someone who's been there)

"Now I know what a dog feels like watching TV." (A DC-9 captain trainee attempting to check out on the 'glass cockpit' of an A-320).

If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to.

Basic Flying Rules Try to stay in the middle of the air. Do not go near the edges of it. The edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, sea, trees and interstellar space.
It is much more difficult to fly there.

You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.

Fish boy
01-08-2004, 05:25 PM
Really great quotes Digger. Hope you have a very safe 2004.

fish

ToonaFish
01-08-2004, 07:29 PM
Okay, you military types... "flaring" would be?

Bunches,

Celene 'undisciplined'

BLACKIE
01-08-2004, 08:41 PM
I'm a CFI (Certified Flight Instructor). I will try to give you a short explanation of "Flaring". When an aircraft is approaching a runway to land it is descending. This is usually done at specified forward speed for that particular aircraft and at a gentle decent rate (usually about 500 feet per minute). Well as you can figure if you are headed toward a solid object (the ground) at a rate of 500 feet per minute when you get there the abrupt stop would surely damage the aircraft and probably your body too. What to do? Well you have to stop that decent rate, slow it down to approx. 10 feet per minute. This is done by pulling slightly back on the control yoke thus raising the nose of the aircraft to a more level flight position. This will allow the aircraft to touch down very gently & easily. This technique is known as “Flaring”. When the aircraft touches down using this technique it will roll several hundred feet before you can get it stopped. It may float over the runway for several hundred feet if too much backpressure is applied to the control yoke. Navy aviators must land on an aircraft carrier that is: moving, landing area is only 50 –75 feet wide, and most important, it’s only about 400 to 500 feet long. If they don’t get the aircraft stopped in that distance they are going to get wet. They do have arresting wires stretched across the deck (4 of them) and a hook on the back of the aircraft but there is a very small “sweet spot” where the wires are placed. The pilot must hit that spot exactly every time. Thus the navy carrier pilot does not “Flare”; he must fly the aircraft right onto the deck and really plant it down hard. Consequently naval aircraft are built more strongly than Airforce aircraft. It’s a macho, male thing. I hope this helps you understand the concept of “Flaring” and how it applies to Digger’s saying.

ToonaFish
01-08-2004, 09:09 PM
Thank you for an excellent explaination, Blackie!

Bunches,

Celene 'definitely fond of flaring'

Cuda
01-08-2004, 09:59 PM
Good stuff, my favorite is the comment about subs in the air. :)

Team Jefe
01-09-2004, 09:05 AM
Very Cool Digger - I too wish you an incident free 2004.

remember, keep the "rotor side" UP. :D