GREAT AVIATION QUOTES
AMELIA EARHART

Why does a man ride a horse?

Amelia Earhart

After being asked “Why do you want to fly the Atlantic?” by George Putnam, while interviewing ladies as part of his plan to put the first woman over the ocean, 1928. He went on to marry her. Quoted in 2018 book Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History.

Flying is the best possible thing for women.

Raymonde de Laroche

First licensed woman pilot, regards receiving her license, 8 March 1910. Quoted in 2009 book Women Aviators: From Amelia Earhart to Sally Ride, Making History in Air and Space.

See one other Raymonde de Laroche great aviation quote.

When I go, I’d like best to go in my plane, quickly.

Amlia Earhart

Last Flight, 1937.

I go wherever I please, or rather wherever I can land.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart Spends Day Here; Gale Halts Ship, Omaha World Herald newspaper, 10 October 1928.

Riding trains or motor cars is simply a waste of time.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart Here to Lecture on Recent Flight, Kansas City (KS) Journal newspaper, 18 February 1935.

Motor cut. Forced landing. Hit cow. Cow died. Scared me.

Dean Smith

Telegraph to his chief, quoted by Amelia Earhart, The Fun of It, 1932.

See one other Dean Smith great aviation quote.

Aviation is a science that cannot be limited to men only.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Letter to Amelia Earhart after becoming the first woman to successfully fly from Hawaii to California, January 1935. Quoted in 1989 book Amelia Earhart: A Biography.

See two other Franklin D. Roosevelt great aviation quotes.

As soon as we left the ground I knew I myself had to fly!

Amelia Earhart

After her first flight in an airplane, a ten minute sight-seeing trip over Los Angeles, 1920. Quoted in the 1989 book : A Biography

Worry and fatigue are relentless enemies to good judgment.

Amelia Earhart

My Flight from Hawaii, National Geographic magazine, May 1935.

I am getting housemaid’s knee kneeling here gulping beauty.

Amelia Earhart

Comment in logbook while flying the Atlantic, June 1928. Quoted in 1963 book Courage is the price: The biography of .

To my mind there is as much danger on a yacht as there is in an airplane

Amelia Earhart

Take to the Air, Boston Herald newspaper, 3 July 1927.

Trouble in the air is very rare. It is hitting the ground that causes it.

Amelia Earhart

20 Hrs 40 Mins, 1928.

By the time I was 200 feet in the air, I knew I must learn to be a pilot.

Amelia Earhart

All Must Fly Sooner or Later, Amelia Earhart, Who Is Rabid Air Fan, Tells 400 Clubwomen, Dallas Morning News newspaper, 7 December 1933.

We are on the line [of position] 157-337 … We are running north and south.

Amelia Earhart

Last received radio transmissions, KHAQQ to USCGC Itasca, while searching for Howland Island, morning of 2 July 1937. Recorded in Radio Log of the Last Communications of Amelia Earhart, July 1–2, 1937, Textual Materials Relating to the Last Flight and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart, 1937–January 31, 1971, Collection BLRTS: Leo G. Bellarts Papers, National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD; National Archives Identifier 6210268.

The 157/337 numbers are compass directions, a reciprocal line running roughly southeast–northwest. The usual navigation interpretation is that Noonan had derived or advanced a sun line—a celestial line of position—near Howland. A single line of position can tell you that you are somewhere on that line, but not where along it; without a crossing bearing or a visual sighting of Howland, they still did not know whether they were north or south of the island. That is why “running north and south” matters: it implies they were flying along or near that line, searching for the island.

Flying might not be all plain sailing, but the fun of it is worth the price.

Amelia Earhart

The Fun of It, 1932.

Where am I?
In Gallegher’s pasture … have you come far?
From America.
Have you now?

Amelia Earhart

First solo flight by a woman across the Atlantic, upon arrival in an open field near Londonderry, Northern Ireland, 21 May 1932. Her question was answered by Danny McCallion, a foreman working the land. This is the version in the 2009 biography by Mary LovellThe Sound of Wings: The Life of .

Another biographer, Doris Rich, tells it slightly differently in her 1989 book . Danny McCallion answers, “Sure you’re in Derry, sir.” The sir an easy mistake to make to a pilot in a plane whose face was smeared in grease.

It was a night of stars. Stars hung outside my cockpit window near enough to touch.

Amelia Earhart

Writting about flying from Hawaii to California. She was the first person to complete this flight solo. Last Flight, 1937.

It doesn’t take any more prowess to be a super-flyer than it does to be a super something else.

Amelia Earhart

The Fun of It, 1932.

Some day women will fly the Atlantic and think little of it because it is an ordinary thing to do

Amelia Earhart

Miss Earhart on Her Adventure, The Times newspaper, London, 21 June 1928.

In soloing — as in other activities — it is far easier to start something than it is to finish it.

Amelia Earhart

20 Hours: 40 minutes, 1928.