1. Every take-off is optional. Every landing is mandatory.
2. Gravity always wins.
3. If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller. That is unless you pull the stick all the way back, when they get bigger again.
4. Flying is not dangerous. Crashing is dangerous.
5. It is always better to be down here wishing you were up there, than to be up there wishing you were down here.
6. The only time you have too much fuel is when you are on fire.
7. The three most useless things in aviation: fuel left in the bowser, runway behind you and sky above you.
8. The propeller is just a big fan used to keep the pilot cool. When it stops turning, the pilot starts sweating.
9. When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided with the sky.
10. A good landing is one you can walk away from. A great landing is one after which they can use the airplane again.
11. Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make all of them yourself.
12. The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival - and vice versa.
13. Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain did not get to five minutes earlier.
14. Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about might be another aircraft going in the opposite direction. Reliable sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in clouds.
15. Always keep the number of landings you make equal to the number of take-offs you've made.
16. There are three simple rules to make a smooth landing. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.
17. You start with a full back of luck and an empty bag of experience. The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck.
Et on dit que les Brits n'ont pas le sens de l'humour...
Cheers