22+ Ernest K. Gann Quotes On Ernest K Gann, Education And Adventure

Top 10 Ernest K. Gann Quotes

1. 1.

   Rule books are paper - they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal.

   — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 35 Copy Image Share
2. 2.

   Anyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps.

   — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 34 Copy Image Share
3. 3.

   There are two kinds of airplanes - those you fly and those that fly you . . . You must have a distinct understanding at the very start as to who is the boss.

   — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 32 Copy Image Share
4. 4.

   There is no more alluring airspace in the world than the slit up a China girl's dress.

   — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 31 Copy Image Share
5. 5.

   Nobody who gets too damned relaxed builds up much flying time.

   — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 30 Copy Image Share
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7. 6.

   Electronics were rascals, and they lay awake nights trying to find some way to screw you during the day. You could not reason with them. They had a brain and intestines, but no heart.

   — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 29 Copy Image Share
8. 7.

   The emergencies you train for almost never happen. It's the one you can't train for that kills you.

   — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 26 Copy Image Share
9. 8.

   Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are willing victims to the spell.

   — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 24 Copy Image Share
10. 9.

    I want a boat that drinks 6, eats 4, and sleeps 2.

    — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 14 Copy Image Share
11. 10.

    It's remarkable how quickly a good and favorable wind can sweep away the maddening frustrations of shore living.

    — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 11 Copy Image Share

Ernest K. Gann Quotes About Aviation

• It's when things are going just right that you'd better be suspicious. There you are, fat as can be. The whole world is yours and you're the answer to the Wright brothers' prayers. You say to yourself, nothing can go wrong ... all my trespasses are forgiven. Best you not believe it.

  — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 27 Copy Share

• The men in this book are fictitious characters but their counterparts can be found in cockpits all over the world. Now they are flying a war. Tomorrow they will be flying a peace, for, regardless of the world's condition, flying is their life.

  — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 21 Copy Image Share

• It doesn't look nearly as big as it did the first time I saw one. Mickey McGuire and I used to sit hour after hour in the cockpit of the one that American used for training, at the company school in Chicago, saying to each other, 'My God, do you think we'll ever learn to fly anything this big?'

  — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 16 Copy Share

• I am drawn to the new chart with all of its colorful intricacies as a gourmet must anticipate the details of a feast ... I shall keep them forever. As stunning exciting proof that a proper mixture of science and art is not only possible but a blessed union.

  — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 11 Copy Image Share

• MaCleod, since you've flown the SeaBee a lot you'll understand when I say it was the only airplane I ever owned that you could put in a dive, loose a cylinder and stall out!

  — Ernest K. Gann Copy Image Share

Ernest K. Gann Famous Quotes And Sayings

• Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are victims to the spell. Their world is like a magic island in which the factors of life and death assume their proper values. Thinking becomes clear because there are no earthly foibles or embellishments to confuse it.

  — Ernest K. Gann ♥ 38 Copy Image Share

• During this period Steen and Fox were killed trying a single-engine instrument approach at Moline. Then Campbell and Leatherman hit a ridge near Elko, Nevada. In both incidents the official verdict was 'pilot error,' but since their passengers, who were innocent of the controls, also failed to survive, it seemed that fate was the hunter. As it had been and would be.

  — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share
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• As the years go by, he returns to this invisible world rather than to earth for peace and solace. There also he finds a profound enchantment, although he can seldom describe it. He can discuss it with others of his kind, and because they too know and feel its power they understand. But his attempts to communicate his feelings to his wife or other earthly confidants invariable end in failure.

  — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share

• Fear breeds upon itself because it is a hermaphrodite capable of endless reproduction. Fear is a contagious disease, spreading from its first victim to others in the vicinity until it is powerful enough to take charge of a group, in which event it becomes panic. Fear is the afterbirth of reason and calculation. It takes time to recuperate from fear.

  — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share

• And he supposed it might not be the best of days. But then, he was flying the mails and was not expected to squat on the ground like a frightened canary every time there was a cloud in the sky. If a pilot showed an obvious preference for flying only in the best conditions he soon found himself looking for work. This was the way of his life and he had always ascended when others had found excuse to keep their feet on the ground.

  — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share

• He knew that we gave constant lip service to the dictates of safety and howled like Christians condemned to the arena if any compromise were made of it. He knew we were seekers after ease, suspicious, egotistic, and stubborn to a fault. He also knew that none of us would have continued our careers unless we had always been, and still were, helpless before this opportunity to take a chance.

  — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share

• If we slide into one of those rare moments of military honesty, we realize that the technical demands of modern warfare are so complex a considerable percentage of our material is bound to malfunction even before it is deployed against a foe. We no longer waste manpower by carrying the flag into battle. Instead we need battalions of electronic engineers to keep the terrible machinery grinding.

  — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share