"A slipping gear could let your M203 grenade
launcher fire when you least expect it. That would
make you quite unpopular in what's left of your
unit."-Army's magazine of preventive maintenance.

"Aim towards the Enemy."-Instruction printed on
US Rocket Launcher

"When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is not our
friend.-U.S. Marine Corps

"Cluster bombing from B-52s are very, very accurate.
The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the
ground."-USAF Ammo Troop

"If the enemy is in range, so are
you."-Infantry Journal

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over
the area you just bombed."-U.S. Air Force Manual

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword
obviously never encountered automatic
weapons."-General Macarthur

"Try to look unimportant; they may be low on
ammo."-Infantry Journal

"You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come
with me."-U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.

"Tracers work both ways."-U.S. Army Ordnance

"Five second fuses only last three seconds."-Infantry
Journal

"Don't ever be the first, don't ever be the last, and
don't ever volunteer to do anything."-U.S. Navy
Swabbie

"Bravery is being the only one who knows you're
afraid."-David Hackworth

"If your attack is going too well, your walking into
an ambush."-Infantry Journal

"No combat-ready unit has ever passed inspection."-Joe
Gay

"Any ship can be a minesweeper ... once."-Anonymous

"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to
do."-Unknown Marine Recruit

"Don't draw fire; it irritates the people around
you."-Your Buddies

"If you see a bomb technician running, follow
him."-USAF Ammo Troop

"Though I Fly Through the Valley of
Death ... I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000
Feet and Climbing."-At the entrance to the old SR-71
operating base Kadena, Japan

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

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're
on fire."

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

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

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

"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."

"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 WWII: "When a prang
(crash) seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the
softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slow and
gently as possible."

"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the
world; it can just barely kill you."-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)

"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

"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."

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental
aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the
crash landing, the crash truck arrives, the rescuer
sees a bloodied pilot and asks "What happened?". The
pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here
myself!"-Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test
pilot)