Kodera Aviation Quotes

I would attack any squadron blockading a port. Nothing could prevent me from dropping out of the clear blue sky on to a battleship with 400 kilos of explosives in the cockpit. Of course it is true that the pilot would be killed, but everything would blow up, and that's what counts. ~ Jules Vedrines

To propel a dirigible balloon through the air is like pushing a candle through a brick wall. ~ Alberto Santos-Dumont

Flight Reservation Systems decide whether or not you exist. If your information isn't in their database, then you simply don't get to go anywhere. ~ Arthur Miller

Although no definite reason for the accident has been established, modifications are being embodied to cover every possibility that imagination has suggested as a likely cause of the disaster. When these modifications are completed and have been satisfactorily flight tested, the Board sees no reason why passenger services should not be resumed. ~ John Moore-Brabazon, 1st Baron Brabazon Of Tara

Nothing ever built arose to touch the skies unless some man dreamed that it should, some man believed that it could, and some man willed that it must. ~ Charles Kettering

…it was even more disconcerting to examine your charts before a proposed flight only to find that in many cases the bulk of the terrain over which you had to fly was bluntly marked: 'UNSURVEYED.' It was as if the mapmakers had said, 'We are aware that between this spot and that one, there are several hundred thousands of acres, but until you make a forced landing there, we won't know whether it is mud, desert, or jungle – and the chances are we won't know then! ~ Beryl Markham

Earthbound souls know only the underside of the atmosphere in which they live ... but go higher - above the dust and water vapor - and the sky turns dark until one can see the stars at noon. ~ Jacqueline Cochran

An excellent weapon and luck had been on my side. To be successful, the best fighter pilot needs both. ~ Adolf Galland

For most of the time carrier aviation is more challenging than flying in a spacecraft ~ Jim Lovell

Simplicate, and add lightness! ~ William Bushnell Stout

Aviation, this young modern giant, exemplifies the possible relationship of women and the creations of science. Although women have not taken full advantage of its use and benefits, air travel is as available to them as to men. ~ Amelia Earhart

When asked by someone how much money flying takes:
Why, all of it! ~ Gordon Baxter

My first wife didn't like to fly, either. ~ Gordon Baxter

The moon is essentially gray, no color; looks like plaster of Paris or sort of a grayish beach sand. ~ Jim Lovell

Somebody said that carrier pilots were the best in the world, and they must be or there wouldn't be any of them left alive. ~ Ernie Pyle

Try to secure advantages before attacking. If possible, keep the sun behind you. ~ Oswald Boelcke

Flying is hours and hours of boredom sprinkled with a few seconds of sheer terror. ~ Pappy Boyington

You cannot propel yourself forward by patting yourself on the back. ~ Steve Prefontaine

All attempts at artificial aviation are not only dangerous to human life, but foredoomed to failure from the engineering standpoint. ~ Simon Newcomb

President Obama dropped the term 'war on terror', and rightly so. Terrorism is not an enemy but a type of warfare that may or may not be adopted by an enemy. Imagine if, after Pearl Harbor, an attack that relied on aircraft carriers, President Roosevelt had declared a global war on naval aviation. By focusing on terrorism instead of al Qaeda or radical Islam, Bush elevated a specific kind of assault to a position that shaped American global strategy, which left the United States strategically off-balance.
Obama may have clarified the nomenclature, but he left in place a significant portion of the imbalance, which is an obsession with the threat of terrorist attacks. As we consider presidential options in the coming decade, it appears imperative that we clear up just how much of a threat terrorism actually presents and what that threat means for U.S. policy. ~ George Friedman

Nothing said I had to crash. ~ Bob Hoover

The E.U.-U.S. Open Aviation Area agreement therefore envisages the establishment of a broadly similar cooperation framework between the Commission and the Department of Transportation. ~ Neelie Kroes

Listen, my day job is also Chief Creative Officer for Marvel, and it's a very painful job because we publish a lot of books, and there are things I see where I can punch people out. Therefore, we have some new people now, and the kids are going to read our books. ~ Avi Arad

Ireland, like Ukraine, is a largely rural country which suffers from its proximity to a more powerful industrialised neighbour. Ireland's contribution to the history of tractors is the genius engineer Harry Ferguson, who was born in 1884, near Belfast.
Ferguson was a clever and mischievous man, who also had a passion for aviation. It is said that he was the first man in Great Britain to build and fly his own aircraft in 1909. But he soon came to believe that improving efficiency of food production would be his unique service to mankind. Harry Ferguson's first two-furrow plough was attached to the chassis of the Ford Model T car converted into a tractor, aptly named Eros. This plough was mounted on the rear of the tractor, and through ingenious use of balance springs it could be raised or lowered by the driver using a lever beside his seat. Ford, meanwhile, was developing its own tractors. The Ferguson design was more advanced, and made use of hydraulic linkage, but Ferguson knew that despite his engineering genius, he could not achieve his dream on his own. He needed a larger company to produce his design. So he made an informal agreement with Henry Ford, sealed only by a handshake. This Ford-Ferguson partnership gave to the world a new type of Fordson tractor far superior to any that had been known before, and the precursor of all modern-type tractors. However, this agreement by a handshake collapsed in 1947 when Henry Ford II took over the empire of his father, and st ~ Marina Lewycka

Always carry through an attack when you have started it. ~ Oswald Boelcke

We actually are waiting for more people to be killed before we can do something that makes sense. We don't kill enough people in aviation to merit regulatory changes. ~ Deborah Hersman

The most beautiful dream that has haunted the heart of man since Icarus is today reality. ~ Louis Bleriot

To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home. ~ Jerry Crawford

Fly it like you stole it! ~ Bill Stein

My Luftwaffe is invincible ... And so now we turn to England. How long will this one last - two, three weeks? ~ Hermann Goring

For all professional pilots there exists a kind of guild, without charter and without by-laws. it demands no requirements for inclusion save an understanding of the wind, the compass, the rudder, and fair fellowship. ~ Beryl Markham

To put your life in danger from time to time ... breeds a saneness in dealing with day-to-day trivialities. ~ Nevil Shute