Rules of the air

[PawPaw]

Altitude. Airspeed. Ideas. Never run out of all three at the same time.

Aerobatics that are exciting at 10,000 feet are terrifying at 1,000.

Or, as a military pilot once told me. "If you hear me scream Eject, Eject, Eject, and you say "Huh?" He paused for dramatic effect. "You'll be talking to yourself."

[First Shirt]

FWIW, my picks for the ten best:

1,3,4,5,7,10,20,21,23,24.

Please bear in mind that this advice is worth just about what you paid for it.

[Jericho941]

2. The dispatcher's butt is always safely on the ground.
5. The mechanic's butt is always safely on the ground.
9. The air traffic controller's butt is always safely on the ground.

2a, 5a and 9a: Nobody put a gun to your head and made you defy gravity.

But that's probably covered by item 1 on Mekender's list.

[Mike OTDP]

A good pilot never forgets that the plane, maintainers, ATC, and ground are all trying to kill him.

(flight test law) When the weight of the paperwork equals the weight of the airplane, it can fly.

(another flight test law) Unmanned aviation offers the chance to have a Class A mishap with all the details recorded in excruciating detail...and without the dignity of getting killed.

[randy]

A good pilot never forgets that the plane, maintainers, ATC, and ground are all trying to kill him.

When I went through Nav School, we were taught that the number one goal of pilots was to kill navigators, so they required considerable watching to ensure they pointed the airplane where and when we told them to.

[Odahi]

Corollary to the flight test law: We will not launch until the paperwork weighs more than the spacecraft. (And usually not until at least a year after that, paperwork piles up QUICKLY)

Kapton tape is the duct tape of the spaceflight industry.

[Odahi]

FWIW, my picks for the ten best:

1,3,4,5,7,10,20,21,23,24.

Please bear in mind that this advice is worth just about what you paid for it.

I might substitute #19 for 20, but yeah. What he said.