Quotes by Ernest K. Gann

Ernest K. Gann

And he supposed it might not be the best of days. But then, he was flying the mails and was not expected to squat on the ground like a frightened canary every time there was a cloud in the sky. If a pilot showed an obvious preference for flying only in the best conditions he soon found himself looking for work. This was the way of his life and he had always ascended when others had found excuse to keep their feet on the ground.

Clouds

Feet

Sky

Anyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps.

Aviation

Jobs

Play

Are we lost, or are we found at last? On earth we strive for our various needs, because so goes the fundamental law of man. Aloft, at least for a little while, the needs disappear. Likewise the striving. In the thoughts of man aloft, food and evil become mixed and sometimes reversed. This is the open door to wisdom. Aloft, the earth is ancient and man is young, regardless of his numbers, for there, aloft he may reaffirm his suspicions that he may not be so very much. This is the gateway to humility.

Doors

Humility

Men

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 his wife or other earthly confidants invariable end in failure.

Profound

Wife

Years

During this period Steen and Fox were killed trying a single-engine instrument approach at Moline. Then Campbell and Leatherman hit a ridge near Elko, Nevada. In both incidents the official verdict was ‘pilot error,’ but since their passengers, who were innocent of the controls, also failed to survive, it seemed that fate was the hunter. As it had been and would be.

Errors

Fate

Safety

Electronics were rascals, and they lay awake nights trying to find some way to screw you during the day. You could not reason with them. They had a brain and intestines, but no heart.

Brain

Heart

Night

Fear breeds upon itself because it is a hermaphrodite capable of endless reproduction. Fear is a contagious disease, spreading from its first victim to others in the vicinity until it is powerful enough to take charge of a group, in which event it becomes panic. Fear is the afterbirth of reason and calculation. It takes time to recuperate from fear.

Fear

Groups

Powerful

Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are victims to the spell. Their world is like a magic island in which the factors of life and death assume their proper values. Thinking becomes clear because there are no earthly foibles or embellishments to confuse it.

Islands

Life And Death

Thinking

Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are willing victims to the spell.

Flying

Pilots

Victim

He knew that we gave constant lip service to the dictates of safety and howled like Christians condemned to the arena if any compromise were made of it. He knew we were seekers after ease, suspicious, egotistic, and stubborn to a fault. He also knew that none of us would have continued our careers unless we had always been, and still were, helpless before this opportunity to take a chance.

Careers

Christian

Opportunity

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After Hours

Airplane

Art

Aviation

Battle

Believe

Bird

Blessed

Book

Boss

Brain

Brother

Careers

Character

Christian

Clouds

Cylinders

Doors

Dresses

Emergencies

Errors

Fate

Fear

Feet

Flying

Forever

Frustration

Funny

Girl

Great Aviation

Groups

Happens

Heart

Honesty

Humility

Islands

Jobs

Life And Death

Men

Military

Nautical

Night

Oil

Opportunity

Paper

Pilots

Play

Powerful

Prayer

Profound

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Quotes by Ernest K. Gann

Ernest K. Gann

Anyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps.

Electronics were rascals, and they lay awake nights trying to find some way to screw you during the day. You could not reason with them. They had a brain and intestines, but no heart.

Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are victims to the spell. Their world is like a magic island in which the factors of life and death assume their proper values. Thinking becomes clear because there are no earthly foibles or embellishments to confuse it.

Flying is hypnotic and all pilots are willing victims to the spell.

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Topics by Ernest K. Gann

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The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

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