Great Aviation Quotes: Quotations on Airplanes, Flying and Being A Pilot

"It is a fool’s errand to try to make the aviation system terrorist proof. The only way to do that is ground the airplanes."

— Edmund S. 'Kip' Hawley, former Administrator Transportation Security Administration (TSA), quoted in the 'New York Times' after the Christmas Day underwear bomber incident, 28 December 2009.

"The best safety device is the pilot, who, deep down, regardless of the aircraft, retains a sense of fallibility and vulnerability. No system can ever substitute for that."

— Arnold Reiner, retired airline captain and a former director of flight safety at Pan Am, end of 'Pilots on Autopilot' op-ed, 'New York Times,' 16 December 2009.

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"Thousands of volumes have been written about aviation, but we do not automatically have thousands of true and special friends in their authors. That rare writer who comes alive on a page does it by giving of himself, by writing of meanings, and not just of fact or of things that have happened to him. The writers of flight who have done this are usually found together in a special section on private bookshelves."

— Richard Bach, 'The Pleasure of Their Company,' in 'Flying' magazine, April 1968.

"Or like a poet woo the Moon,
Riding an armchair for my steed,
And with a flashing pen harpoon
Terrific metaphors of speed."

— Roy Campbell, 'The Festivals of Flight,' 1930.

"My wings are a thousand books."

— Gill Robb Wilson

The object here is to capture man's first-hand experiences with flight in all its forms, to collect flying quotes, aviation and space quotations and sayings. It is the ultimate online quotable flyer. It is not 'under construction,' but it very much is a 'work in progress.' If you can supply dates or sources for existing quotes, or correct typos, or suggest further sources of information, or of course if you know of some aerospace, airline, or pilot quotes, please please send them in to me. I'm always happy to add new sections, and to correct mistakes. This collection is growing into something no one person could have created, a real product of the worldwide Internet community. To contact me directly use the oh-so-handy form.

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."

— This must be the most famous aviation quote that is not a verifiable quote. It is attributed everywhere (including some Smithsonian publications and the Washington Post) to Leonardo da Vinci, but I've never found definitive source information. Neither did some nice folks I talked with at 'National Geographic Magazine,' who contacted one of the world's leading Leonardo authorities in Italy as part of a long research process and were told that Leonardo da Vinci did not write it. If you have uncovered any source information, please email me.