Inspirational aviation quotes will encourage you to think a little deeper than you usually would and broaden your perspective.
Famous Aviation Quotes
Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards. Leonardo Da Vinci
Aviation is proof that given, the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible. Eddie Rickenbacker
The Wright brothers created the single greatest cultural force since the invention of writing. Tom Wolfe
To most people, the sky is the limit. To those who love aviation, the sky is home. Jerry Crawford
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that aircraft take off against the wind, not with it. Henry Ford
Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying. Neil Armstrong
The airplane stays up because it doesn’t have the time to fall. Orville Wright
But accuracy means something to me. It’s vital to my sense of values. I’ve learned not to trust people who are inaccurate. Every aviator knows that if mechanics are inaccurate. aircraft crash. Charles Lindbergh
The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space on the infinite highway of the air. Wilbur Wright
Never quit. Never give up. Fly it to the end. Chuck Aaron
There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror. Orson Welles
The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight, but has no vision. Helen Keller
The airplane is the closest thing to real magic that we have. Charles Lindbergh
The engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul. Walter Alexander Raleigh
The engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul.
We continue to subsidize highways and aviation, but when it comes to our passenger rail system, we refuse to provide the money Amtrak needs to survive. Corrine Brown
If you can walk away from a landing, it’s a good landing. If you can use the aircraft the next day, it’s an outstanding landing. Chuck Yeager
If you don’t like what you see, stop looking. Nancy Lopez
If you’re ever faced with a forced landing, fly the thing as far into the crash as possible. Bob Hoover
Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price. Amelia Earhart
Flying is the second best thrill to cheering; it’s like lead without the pencil. George Lucas
Mistakes are inevitable in aviation, especially when one is still learning new things. The trick is to not make the mistake that will kill you. Stephen Coonts
If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.
In America, there are two classes of travel first class, and with children. Robert Benchley
There’s no such thing as a routine flight. Chesley B. Sullenberger
The Wright Brothers created the single greatest cultural force since the invention of writing. The airplane became the first World Wide Web, bringing people, languages, ideas, and values together. Bill Gates
Until you spread your wings, you have no idea how far you’ll fly
Flying is more than a sport and more than a job; flying is pure passion and desire, which fill a lifetime. Adolf Galland
A pilot who says he has never been frightened in an airplane is, I’m afraid, lying. Louise Thaden
Why don’t they make the whole plane out of that black box stuff. Steven Wright
The pilot who teaches himself has a fool for a student.
Heavier than air flying machines are impossible. Lord Kelvin
Try to learn from the mistakes of others. You won’t live long enough to make them all yourself.
There is no excuse for an airplane unless it flies fast! Roscoe Turner
Great pilots are not born A man may possess good eyesight, sensitive hands, and perfect coordination, but the end result is only fashioned by steady coaching, much practice, and experience.
Flying alone! Nothing gives such a sense of mastery over time over mechanism, mastery indeed over space, time, and life itself, as this. Cecil Day Lewis
Don’t be a show off. Never be too proud to turn back. There are old pilots and bold pilots, but no old, bold pilots.
What freedom lies in flying, what Godlike power it gives to men I lose all consciousness in this strong unmortal space crowded with beauty, pierced with danger. Charles Lindbergh
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.
The thing is helicopters are different from airplanes An airplane by it’s nature wants to fly, and if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or incompetent piloting, it will fly. Harry Reasoner
The air up there in the clouds is very pure and fine, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn’t it be? it is the same the angels breathe. Mark Twain
A pilot’s business is with the wind, and with the stars, with night, with sand, with the sea. He strives to outwit the forces of nature. He stares with expectancy for the coming of the dawn the way a gardener awaits the coming of spring. He looks forward to port as a promised land, and truth for him is what lives in the stars. Antoine de Saint Exupery
The airplane has unveiled for us the true face of the earth. Antoine de Saint Exupery
A pilot who says he has never been frightened in an airplane is, I’m afraid, lying. Louise Thaden
And let’s get one thing straight. There’s a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. Elrey Borge Jeppesen
A pilot must have a memory developed to absolute perfection. But there are two higher qualities which he also must have. He must have good and quick judgment and decision, and a cool, calm courage that no peril can shake. Mark Twain
If you’re ever faced with a forced landing at night, turn on the landing lights to see the landing area. If you don’t like what you see, turn’ em back off.
The quality of the box matters little. Success depends upon the man who sits in it. Manfred von Richthofen
There are three qualities which are essential to a pilot: imagination, courage and physical fitness. If he lacks one of these, he is worthless. Erroll Boyd
Nobody who gets too damned relaxed builds up much flying time. Ernest K. Gann
There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.
Navigating by the compass in a sea of clouds over Spain is all very well, it is very dashing, but you want to remember that below the sea of clouds lies eternity. Antoine de Saint Exupery
Flying is hours and hours of boredom sprinkled with a few seconds of sheer terror.
You love a lot of things if you live around them, but there isn’t any woman and there isn’t any horse, nor any before nor any after, that is as lovely as a great airplane. Ernest Hemingway
If God meant man to fly, He would have given us more money.
Man must rise above the Earth to the top of the atmosphere and beyond for only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives. Socrates
In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the ground has yet to lose.
I hate to wake up and find my co pilot asleep. MICHAEL TREACY
In flying, you need at least two of these three to stay alive: altitude, speed or brains.
Just go for a ride. Get into an airplane. Take off from the ground. See the world from a different perspective. See if you have the flying gene. TOM STILLWELL
If an airplane is still in one piece, don’t cheat on it; ride the bastard down. Ernest K. Gann
An airplane stands for freedom, for joy, for the power to understand, and to demonstrate that understanding. RICHARD BAC
You can be a pilot without an airplane, but you cannot fly an airplane without a pilot.
The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods. More than any other thing that pertains to the body it partakes of the nature of the divine. PLATO
It’s better to be down here wishing you were up there than up there wishing you were down here.
O to speed where there is space enough and air enough at last! WALT WHITMAN
Flying is the second greatest thrill known to man Landing is the first
Flying is liberating. I can fly anywhere and everywhere I want There is no restriction and hurdle in the air. MARK JEFFRIES
I think it is a pity to lose the romantic side of flying and simply to accept it as a common means of transport. Amy Johnson
Life is simple. Eat, sleep, fly.
The good thing about flying solo is it’s never boring. Steve Fossett
One of the beautiful things about a single-piloted aircraft is the quality of the social experience. RICHARD S. DRURY
More than anything else, the sensation of flying is one of perfect peace mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost. If you can conceive of such a combination. Wilbur Wright
The list of flying indignities is by now as annoying as it is familiar. Shrinking seats. Bloated fees. Battles for overhead bin space. Peanuts in place of meals. The airlines’ business model increasingly centers on getting customers to pay their way out of misery. NICHOLAS CALIO
Everyone has oceans to fly, if they have the heart to do it. Is it reckless? Maybe. But what do dreams know of boundaries? Amelia Earhart
In the century since Orville Wright and Thomas Selfridge fell from the sky, humanity has toiled with impressive focus to make flying the safest mode of transport. We needed to justify our hubris, to prove to ourselves, and maybe to the gods, that our conquest of the sky was no foolish pursuit. We have largely succeeded, but once in a while, those gods take their toll. ALEXANDER NAZARYAN
You know you’ve achieved perfection in design, not when you have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away. Antoine de Saint Exupery
Within all of us is a varying amount of space lint and star dust, the residue from our creation. Most are too busy to notice it, and it is stronger in some than others. It is strongest in those of us who fly and is responsible for an unconscious, subtle desire to slip into some wings and try for the elusive boundaries of our origin. K. O. ECKLAND
There is no way to become a perfect pilot; it’s just a matter of survival until you get there. Chuck Yeager
Long before it became common to board a flight in sweatpants, the world was a mystery, and the airplane was a means of revelation. ALEXANDER NAZARYAN
Every flier who ventures across oceans to distant lands is a potential explorer; in his or her breast burns the same fire that urged adventurers of old to set forth in their sailing ships for foreign lands. Jean Batten
The modern airplane creates a new geographic dimension. The world is small, the world is one. WENDELL WILLKIE
Sometimes you have to go up really high to see how small you are. Felix Baumgartner
Death is just nature’s way of telling you to watch your air speed.
The Wright brothers created the single greatest cultural force since the invention of writing. The airplane became the first World Wide Web, bringing people, languages, ideas, and values together. Bill Gates
Most gulls don’t bother to learn more than the simplest facts of flight how to get from shore to food and back again. For most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating. For this gull, though, it was not eating that mattered, but flight. More than anything else, Jonathan Livingston Seagull loved to fly. RİCHARD BACH
Flying might not be all smooth sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price. Amelia Earhart
My airplane is quiet, and for a moment still an alien, still a stranger to the ground, I am home. RİCHARD BACH
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. Admiral William Harris, USN
Lovers of air travel find it exhilarating to hang poised between the illusion of immortality and the fact of death. ALEXANDER CHASE
There are no shortcuts to any place worth going. Beverly Pepper
I used to despise flying. I won’t bore you with the details, because the fear isn’t an original one. Let’s just say this: I once took a train from San Francisco to New York. I want to pretend the journey was worth it, but anyone who has traversed rural Illinois will know better. ALEXANDER NAZARYAN
If you want to be a pilot, it’s not just about flying the airplane, it is living the life. Chesley B. Sullenberger
Lovers of air travel find it exhilarating to hang poised between the illusion of immortality and the fact of death. Alexander Chase
In soloing as in other activities it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it. Amelia Earhart
Sometimes, flying feels too godlike to be attained by man. Sometimes, the world from above seems too beautiful, too wonderful, too distant for human eyes to see. Charles A. Lindbergh
You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky. Amelia Earhart
Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible. Eddie Rickenbacker
