Perhaps the best-known aviation quote was made by British Aviation Insurance Group’s Captain A. G. Lamplugh:
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.
It’s been said that the most often-repeated phrase used by pilots just before running out of altitude and options is ‘Oh, shit…’
I can probably think of several aviation quotes, but I’ll get this thread started with this one by British Airways Flight 9 Captain Eric Moody after flying a Boeing 747 into a cloud of volcanic ash in 1982:
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We have a small problem. All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control. I trust you are not in too much distress.
Afterward, describing attempting to land with a sandblasted windscreen, he said it was
… a bit like negotiating one’s way up a badger’s arse..
When I fly United I find the “Flight Deck” channel to listen in on the pilots chatter. You get a lot of interesting stuff.
I have had the tower chew pilots out for not following orders on the ground.
On one flight to the west coast, we were flying through some nasty weather. The whole time, all the different aircraft are communicating and asking if you get a better ride at different flight levels.
My pilot decided to request at 32,000 feet even though no one had reported from that altitute. He had received negative feedback about the turbulence at 29,000 and 35,000. All of the sudden the plane gets rocked by very heavy turbulence. Worst I had felt in a long time.
The next thing you hear is "Denver Center, advise other aircraft not to proceed at 3-2-0. Request 3-5-0.
We had been the guinea pig and all the other aircraft passing through got a nice warning from our pilot about the ride at 32,000. Bastard.
My vote goes to Al Haynes, pilot of the United DC-10 that crash-landed at Sioux City, Iowa, after an engine failure took out the aircraft’s hydraulics. After what must have been a nightmarish descent, with the pilots able to marginally control the plane only via throttle adjustments, Haynes still had the presence of mind to unleash this quip:
Was leaving Dulles for Munich and the controller asked our crew to slow down since there wasn’t a space for us in the trans-Atlantic routes yet. Our pilot asked if we could come back to Dulles and shoot some touch-and-gos for practice. I heard one other passenger laugh.
Taxiing out at O’Hare our pilot got lost and needed directions to the runway. To be fair, I think we had left from a gate that United didn’t typically use.
I live in Boston but flew out of Providence once to save money. On departure, the leading edge slats wouldn’t retract, so we had to divert to another airport. Boston.
I saw Yeager speak at the Smithsonian in 1997 (fiftieth anniversary of his X-1 flight). I don’t recall the exact number, but he mentioned how many more landings he has than takeoffs. Most of the X-plane flights were carried aloft and dropped from a bomber, and he’s had two takeoffs where he had to bail out without landing.
[QUOTE=Aviation in itself is not inherently dangerous. …[/QUOTE]
This is a very annoying line, and I wish it would die.
Flying IS dangerous - you are operating at heights and speeda inconsistant with survival (yes, that is stolen from someone) if damned near anything goes wrong - and things are noted for going wrong.
Fly all you want - skill and training will get you through (probably). Just don’t think it isn’t dangerous!