There are airmen and there are pilots: the first being part bird whose view from aloft is normal and comfortable, a creature whose brain and muscles frequently originate movements which suggest flight; and then there are pilots who regardless of… — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are willing victims to the spell. — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
Fear breeds upon itself because it is a hermaphrodite capable of endless reproduction. Fear is a contagious disease, spreading from its first victim to… — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
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… — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
There is no more alluring airspace in the world than the slit up a China girl's dress. — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
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… — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share
“Those ever more frequent nights when his loneliness became unbearable and he took solace in wine he would sometimes stand outside his tent holding his cup toward the great mass as if it lived and was then only slumbering beneath the stars. Drunk and bemused at its enormous dimensions he would mumble words at it, reaching out as if he… — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share
Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are victims to the spell. Their world is like a magic island in which the factors of life… — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
Anyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps. — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
The emergencies you train for almost never happen. It's the one you can't train for that kills you. — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
The men in this book are fictitious characters but their counterparts can be found in cockpits all over the world. Now they are flying… — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
Rule books are paper - they will not cushion a sudden meeting of stone and metal. — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
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… — Ernest K. Gann Copy Share Image
