Condensed Wisdom

[Old Koreelah]

On this forum there is an awful lot of knowledge about aeroplanes (and lots of other things in life). We are lucky people on here offer advice which would otherwise cost heaps, or be unavailable.

 

Trouble is, even though people like Dafydd can compress a lifetime's experience on one topic into a few paragraphs, many probably don't have the patience to read even that. Perhaps we need to refine that wisdom even more; smelt it down to the essence.

 

To start things off, here is some hard-won, but condensed wisdom which goes straight to the pool room:

 

...a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

 

With stalls and spins: if an aircraft is Easy In, Easy Out, then Hard In, Hard Out also applies.

 

DL: appears that every fool-proof device breeds a new evolution in fools;

 

It's important to think about the future, but it's more important to be present in the now.

 

 

[geoffreywh]

less is more?

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

You're sounding like a Buddhist, Geoff!

 

Actually, being a bloke who owns a proper aeroplane, you might be channeling M. Delemotez. When talking about the Jodel design he advised builders to "add lightness".

 

 

[bexrbetter]

KKK!

 

 

Every morning I get to the front door to leave I say "KKK" meaning; Keys, Kash, Kall - house/car key, money/wallet, mobile phone.

 

Gone from frustration many mornings to never failing for the last 5 years or so since I started doing it.

 

 

[geoffreywh]

I do the catholic thing, Cross myself and say, Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch

 

 

[Head in the clouds]

When talking about the Jodel design he advised builders to "add lightness".

A good one - and one of the more plagiarised comments.

 

It's largely attributed to Henry Ford, he's supposed to have said it to William Bushnell Stout, the designer of the Ford Trimotor aeroplane, though other sources say it was a Stout original. Following a lot of simplification and addition of lightness the Ford Trimotor became the first successful production all-metal aeroplane.

 

Others claim the saying was first uttered by a designer called Gordon Hooton who worked for Stout before Stout sold his Company to Henry Ford.

 

The saying was adopted by Colin Chapman as the design philosophy for Lotus Cars and was also prominently displayed on the wall of Ed Heinemann's office throughout his long career with Douglas Aircraft Company. Heinemann was the designer of 20 something fighters including the A4 Skyhawk and the F-3. As a project leader Heinemann was highly respected for the wise way in which he treated his team (from the A4 Assoc website) -

 

"Following are some key rules Ed said he tried to adhere to when dealing with people. They give you a measure of the man!

 

Tell people what is expected of them.

 

Tell them in advance about changes that will affect them.

 

Let those working for you know how they are getting along.

 

Give credit where credit is due, especially for extra effort or performance. Do it while it's hot. Don't wait.

 

Make the best use of each person's ability.

 

Strive to keep ahead of schedule.

 

Don't waste time.

 

If you're the boss, give guidance, direction, and most important, decisive answers to questions.

 

Make sure people know where to go to get answers.

 

Beware of office politicians.

 

If you want to pick a man for a difficult job, pick one who has already thought out the problem or is capable of doing so quickly.

 

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

 

A great many people think they are thinking when they are really rearranging their prejudices. Beware of these.

 

Respect the specialists -- those who are masters of a particular phase of an operation. But be wary of allowing them to make big decisions.

 

Avoid lengthy committee meetings.

 

Avoid paralysis by analysis.

 

Plan ahead."

 

The famous author and wartime reconnaissance pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupery had his own eloquent version on the same theme -

 

"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

 

.

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

Awsome, HITC! Exactly the sort of condensed wisdom I was looking for. I can sure identify with several of them.

 

 

[Guest Redair]

Let he who has eaten the grass, walk on the dirt... Let he who has smoked the grass float above the ground.

 

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today... If you do it today and like it, you can do it again tomorrow.

 

Look before you leap... Leap before it is too late.

 

He who laughs last, doesn't have much of a sense of humour.

 

Smugness is knowing that you know better than everyone else. Wisdom is not showing smugness when you pass on what you know.

 

Man who feels ill and falls asleep near fire will wake up feeling grate.

 

If you fall off that wall and break your legs, don't come running to me.

 

 

[pylon500]

I feel a more relevant, if slightly modified expression, hits closer to home than many will admit....

 

A fool and his money,

 

is soon flying more aeroplane,

 

than he can handle....

 

I have also always liked;

 

Mechanical Engineers build weapons systems,

 

Civil Engineers built targets!

 

 

[Peter008]

I do the catholic thing, Cross myself and say, Spectacles, testicles, wallet and watch

I altered this a while ago to keep up with the times; Specticals, Testicals, Mobile Phone, Wallet & Watch.

 

Most times I still forget at least one of them........

 

 

[M61A1]

I have always liked...

 

"Fly the airplane as far into the crash as possible".

 

and

 

"You haven't been lost until you've been lost at mach 3".

 

 

[Bikky]

If at first you don't succeed, hide all evidence that you ever tried!

 

 

[DWF]

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you!

 

 

 

[Soleair]

One for which I can personally attest:

 

"The only way to make a small fortune out of aviation is to start with a large one"

 

 

[bexrbetter]

Here's one I know that I just used, many times when searching for something in Google I get heaps of youtube links or something related that I don't want such as RC planes when searching for real planes (that one annoys me).

 

Solution is easy peasy, at the end of your search request merely use the minus symbol with whatever you want left out of the search.

 

I want to look at flying wings that a million RC ones have been built I will type into Google but I don't want to see any of those;

 

flying wings -RC

 

Note there is no spacing between the minus sign and whatever you want left out.

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

perhaps a minor point but Flying wings -RC is logically equivalent to (Flying OR wings) AND NOT RC. where as if you had put quotes around "Flying Wings" just as I did then the logical equivalent is "Flying wings" AND NOT RC

 

So what?

 

The first will return anything that has both flying and wings in the article (first returned as close to each other as possible on the webpage but later anywhere in the same webpage, but not containing RC and then Flying and not RC and then wings and not RC so at some point you'll run out of flying wings and start with flying something that has a wings but then latter you get flying anything's or wings and no mention of flying..........

 

I'll get back in my box now.......

 

P.S google is changing the logic of its search engine very regularly what I say above was metaphorically true yesterday and is very likely true today but tomorrow? who knows

 

For those that would like to understand google search better, try the following:-

 

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/136861?hl=en&ref_topic=3180167 Search operators

 

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/2466433?hl=en&ref_topic=3180167 Punctuation and symbols

 

https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/134479?hl=en&ref_topic=3180167 How to search

 

 

[bexrbetter]

P.S google is changing the logic of its search engine very regularly what I say above was metaphorically true yesterday and is very likely true today but tomorrow? who knows

I have been doing it since I was a beta tester for Chrome all those years ago and that's where I got actually the tip from.

 

PS; I meant to write flying wing, not wings.

 

You can also do it as many times as you want to, try ...

 

flying wing

 

then try ...

 

flying wing -RC -Youtube -Northrop

 

 

and see the differences. What makes that excellent is when you delete all the popular ones that keep coming up first, you get to find lots of interesting obscure stuff that was on page 289 or so before!

 

 

[DWF]

How about the first commandment for pilots:

 

Maintain thy airspeed lest the Earth arise and smite thee.

 

DWF

 

 

[pylon500]

"Push the stick forward, the houses get bigger,"

 

"Pull the stick back, the houses get smaller,"

 

"Pull the stick back further and the houses get bigger again!"

 

Somewhere else in the flying commandments...

 

 

[Bandit12]

When you are flying, everything is all right or it is not all right.

 

If it is all right there is no need to worry. If it is not all right one of two things will happen. Either you will crash or you will not crash.

 

If you do not crash there is no need to worry. If you do crash one of two things is certain. Either you will be injured or you will not be injured.

 

If you are not injured there is no need to worry. If you are injured one of two things is certain. Either you will recover or you will not recover.

 

If you recover there is no need to worry. If you don't recover you can't worry.

 

- Biggles' philosophy (W.E. Johns)

 

 

[ayavner]

"just because you can doesn't mean you should"

 

 

[SDQDI]

Al

 

"just because you can doesn't mean you should"

also just because he did doesn't mean I can/should

 

 

[MarcK]

For people of such wisdom you have all missed the golden rule

 

Happy wife = Happy life

 

M

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

My mate recently sent these that have been around a while.

 

WISDOM FROM AIR FORCE TRAINING MANUALS

 

'It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.'

 

- US.Air Force Manual -

 

'Yea, Though I Fly Through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 50,000 Feet and Climbing.'

 

- Sign over SR71 Wing Ops-

 

'You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3.'

 

- Paul F. Crickmore (SR71 test pilot)-

 

'The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.'

 

-Unknown Author-

 

'If the wings are travelling faster than the fuselage it has to be a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe.'

 

- Fixed Wing Pilot-

 

'Without ammunition, the Air Force is just an expensive flying club.'

 

-Unknown Author-

 

'Tracers work both ways.'

 

- Army Ordnance Manual-

 

'If you hear me yell;"Eject, Eject, Eject!", the last two will be echoes.'

 

If you stop to ask "Why?", you'll be talking to yourself, because by then you'll be the pilot.'

 

-Pre-flight Briefing from a Canadian F104 Pilot-

 

Never trade luck for skill.'

 

-Author Unknown-

 

The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in military aviation are:

 

'Did you feel that?' 'What's that noise?' and 'Oh S...!'

 

-Authors Unknown-

 

LOVE THIS ONE

 

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

 

-Basic Flight Training Manual-

 

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

 

- Emergency Checklist-

 

'The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you.'

 

- Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot) -

 

'You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal.' -

 

Lead-in Fighter Training Manual -

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

For people of such wisdom you have all missed the golden ruleHappy wife = Happy life

 

M

To which I have invented a very important and new acronym for all pilots....

M.A.C. Marital Aviation Clearance. Absolutely imperative to avoid AIDS ( Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome).

 

Or. a Big MAC if it's really important!!) Boy I'm Grateful.