Military aviation wisdom

[LCHIEN]

"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

"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

"Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"Even with ammunition, the USAF is just another expensive flying club."

"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."

The three most common ex pressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" And "Oh S...! "

"Friendly fire - isn't"

"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight."

"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!"

"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."

"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." - Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)

"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."

"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)

[herb fellows]

There is a t shirt I've seen that says;

I'm a bomb technician; if you see me running through the airport, try to keep up!

[Tom Slick]

Just a couple factoids to go along with the wisdom.

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

not any more. The F-22 has shoot down capability beyond the curvature of the earth, nobody else has this.

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

At that speed, 1 second off course is a 60 mile per second error!!

BTW I've seen some of these quotes before, Paul F. Crickmore is a author, not a pilot or even an american.

[Kristofor]

At that speed, 1 second off course is a 60 mile per second error!!

Umm.... 60 miles per second times 60 seconds per minutes would equal 3600 miles per minute, or 216,000 miles per hour (80% of the way to the moon).

Using 761mph as Mach 1 (sea-level speed, it's lower as the air thins at more reasonable flight altitudes), you would travel 0.63 miles per second at Mach 3. Still zipping along, but a couple orders of magnitude below 60 miles per second.

Kristofor.

[nothing]

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

not any more. The F-22 has shoot down capability beyond the curvature of the earth, nobody else has this.

I think you need to look at the source. Infantry Journal (if the source is correct) is looking at it from the perspective of the infantryman. As an infantryman myself I'd have to agree 100% with that statement and is generally common knowledge for any ground pounder.

Also, if you want to be technical, keep in mind with ICBM's I believe we are all in range.

[Uncle Cracker]

My uncle (Uncle's uncle... ) was an Air Force test pilot back in the late 60's/early 70's, and was fond of saying: "I never met a pilot who was afraid of flying... Now, afraid of crashing, that's another thing entirely..."

[khf314]

Another one I've read is "Always remember the jet you fly was built by the low bidder".

[Tom Slick]

I think you need to look at the source. Infantry Journal (if the source is correct) is looking at it from the perspective of the infantryman. As an infantryman myself I'd have to agree 100% with that statement and is generally common knowledge for any ground pounder.

Also, if you want to be technical, keep in mind with ICBM's I believe we are all in range.

That makes it really bad if aviators are taking wisdom from infantry.

Umm.... 60 miles per second times 60 seconds per minutes would equal 3600 miles per minute, or 216,000 miles per hour (80% of the way to the moon).

Using 761mph as Mach 1 (sea-level speed, it's lower as the air thins at more reasonable flight altitudes), you would travel 0.63 miles per second at Mach 3. Still zipping along, but a couple orders of magnitude below 60 miles per second.

Kristofor.

You are correct. I don't remember where I got the 60 miles from, it may have been their camera is 60 miles off target. I think it has to do with vectors.
for reference at 80k feet mach 3 is 2000 mph.

Their nav system set their course by tracking viable stars and kept them within a couple hundred feet of the set course. no GPS back then.