Flight Experience Quotes

There is no such thing as a natural born pilot. Whatever my aptitudes or talents, becoming a proficient pilot was hard work, really a lifetime's learning experience. For the best pilots, flying is an obsession, the one thing in life they must do continually. The best pilots fly more than the others; that's why they're the best. Experience is everything. The eagerness to learn how and why every piece of equipment works is everything. And luck is everything, too.

Pushing Tin,' I went to air traffic control school in Toronto for that. Passed with flying colors, by the way. If I ever become an air traffic controller and I'm the guy in charge of your plane, you're in good hands.

When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.

If I'm on an airplane, a Kate Hudson movie is what I'm looking for. I'll sit there and I'll cry. I think it's the altitude or something like that.

This was 1978, when flying was still an occasion, a special grand event that took planning and care. I worked as a TWA flight attendant then. I stood in my Ralph Lauren uniform at the boarding door and smiled at the passengers through lips coated with lipstick that perfectly matched the stripe on my jacket. Mostly, the passengers smiled back.

When I was younger, I had a horrible flight. Horrible. It was well before I was 10 years old. So I always thought to myself, 'I know I don't want to travel.' That's why I wanted to be a session guy, because I knew I could still play guitar and make a living at it - hopefully.

I learned the mechanics of how to fly a plane, but I never lifted a plane off the ground.

On my first flight, I don't know if maybe it's a function of time, or if I was less stressed on my second flight, but just being able to tell what part of the planet we were flying over by the reflected light coming through the window - that was pretty special.

Flying was a very tangible freedom. In those days, it was beauty, adventure, discovery - the epitome of breaking into new worlds.

My experience bears out an adage about airlines: People almost always opt for convenience and price, even while complaining loudly about crowded planes and a dearth of amenities.

I like that they call it an airplane cabin. A cabin is where you go to get away from stress. The cabin is a respite from the terminals on either end of the flight where noise bombards you as soon as you walk through the gate.

I fly my own airplane, and I have since 1960. I rarely fly anywhere other than my own airplane.

I realized how important it was to know something about aviation, and it was something I was interested in, so I followed my brother's footsteps and obtained my pilot's license.

When you lift off, the pressure is supposed to be maximum. But actually, it was very benign. Very enjoyable. But as soon as the engines cut off and you get to zero gravity, you felt as if you were being pushed off your seat. You feel disoriented. You don't feel aligned with anything. I felt for a few good hours that I was falling.

On both of my flights, everything went very well.

Coffee on an airplane always smells bad. Whenever it is served, suddenly the whole cabin stinks of it.

The Concorde is great. It gives you three extra hours to find your luggage.

If anyone wonders why the airlines are not doing well it is because flying has been made such an unpleasant and degrading experience.

I can't remember much about the early flights, except that it was ages before we got into First Class.

The first time I took a plane to dance in front of an audience outside France was when I was in the Paris Opera Ballet School, and we flew to Japan.

My airplane is quiet, and for a moment still an alien, still a stranger to the ground, I am home.

There is no substitute for taking off in flight in front of a live audience.

If you travel as much as we do, you appreciate the improvements in aircraft design of less noise and more comfort - provided you don't travel in something called economy class, which sounds ghastly.

I'm one of those people who loves to fly.

People come back from flights and tell you a story like it's a horror story. That's how bad they make it sound. They're like, 'It was the worst day of my life. We didn't board for 20 minutes and they made us sit there on the runway for 40 minutes.' Oh really? What happened next? Did you fly in the air, incredibly, like a bird? Did you partake in the miracle of human flight you non-contributing zero?'