Inspirational Quotes on Aviation, Aircraft and Flying

The feeling of flying an aircraft is often indescribable. But throughout history, some famous aviators managed to express the joy, wonder and mystery of flying in words. In celebration of fearless aviators past and present, here are some inspirational quotes on aviation, aircraft and flying.

Alexander Graham Bell, inventor and founder of the Aerial Experiment Association:
"There are two critical points in aerial flight—its beginning and its end."

Amelia Earhart, first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic:
"I have often said that the lure of flying is the lure of beauty. That the reasons flyers fly, whether they know it or not, is the aesthetic appeal of flying."

Antoine de Saint-Exupery, aviator and author of "The Little Prince:"
"I fly because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things."

Bessie Coleman, first African American woman pilot:
"The air is the only place free from prejudices."

Charles Lindbergh, first non-stop solo transatlantic flight:
"I owned the world that hour as I rode over it—free of the earth, free of the mountains, free of the clouds, but how inseparably I was bound to them."

Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger III, who safely landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River:
"In hindsight, I think something remarkable did happen that day."

General Charles "Chuck" Yeager, first pilot to break the sound barrier:
"If you want to grow old as a pilot, you’ve got to know when to push it, and when to back off."

Harriet Quimby, first American woman to earn a pilot’s license and first woman to fly solo across the English Channel:
"If a woman wants to fly, first of all, she must, of course, abandon skirts and don a knickerbocker uniform."

Howard Hughes, famous pilot and aircraft engineer who set a transcontinental airspeed record:
"Find me some clouds!"

Neil Armstrong, first person to step foot on the moon:
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Galactic in his new book, "Reach for the Skies":
"There isn’t a flight that goes by when I don’t stare out of the window and thank my lucky stars for what I’m feeling and seeing."

Richard Bach, pilot and author of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull:"
"The highest art form of all is a human being in control of himself and his airplane in flight, urging the spirit of a machine to match his own."

Wilbur Wright, along with brother Orville, inventor of the first piloted and powered airplane:
"More than anything else, the sensation is one of perfect peace, mingled with an excitement that strains every nerve to the utmost, if you can conceive of such a combination."

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