GREAT AVIATION QUOTES
ELON MUSK

No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent.

Grimes (née Claire Boucher)

Explaining the A-12 aeroplane part of her son's name X Æ A-12 Musk. She tweeted:

•X, the unknown variable ⚔️`
•Æ, my elven spelling of Ai (love &/or Artificial intelligence)
•A-12 = precursor to SR-17 (our favorite aircraft). No weapons, no defenses, just speed. Great in battle, but non-violent 🤍
+
(A=Archangel, my favorite song)
(⚔️🐁 metal rat)

Elon Musk quickly corrected the typo, the plane is the SR-71. 5 May 2020.

There’s a real opportunity to have a vertical takeoff and landing electric supersonic jet.

Elon Musk

If anybody else said that It would be crazy talk. For the CEO of Paypal, Solar City, Tesla and Space X it would be just another project to work on. Instead, he bought Twitter. TV interview with Stephen Colbert, 24 July 2014.

The fighter jet era has passed. Locally autonomous drone warfare is where the future will be.

Elon Musk

Comments to the audience at the AFA’s annual Air Warefare Symposium, 28 February 2020. Air & Space Forces magazine reported it this way,

“First came a moment of silence, then a rolling murmur. Reporters tweeted. Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein, seated in the front row, sat up straight, then leaned in to hear what followed. The rumble died down.”

I realized that a methane-oxygen rocket engine could achieve a specific impulse greater than 380.

Elon Musk

A combination of physics and chemistry that should allow travel to Mars and back. Quoted this way in The shared genius of Elon Musk and Steve Jobs, Fortune magazine, 21 November 2013:

“When future historians report human progress during the 21st century, they may conclude that one of the key moments took place a year ago in Elon Musk’s bedroom. His eureka! moments happen every few months. Sometimes during his morning shower, sometimes late at night before sleep, sometimes, as on this occasion, waking at 2 a.m. This is how he described that moment to me: …”

It’s just mind-blowingly awesome. I apologize, and I wish I was more articulate, but it's hard to be articulate when your mind's blown - but in a very good way.

Elon Musk

SpaceX founder, regards the return of the Dragon capsule, the first time a privately developed spacecraft has been recovered safely on its return from low-Earth orbit. Reported by BBC news. 8 December 2010.

#1 Don't Panic.
#2
#3 Safety.

Safety third. There’s not even a Rule Number Two. But even though there’s nothing in second place, safety is not getting promoted to number two.

Elon Musk

On his family rules, showing an understanding of the fallacy of ‘safety first’. Interview in Rolling Stone magazine 30 November 2017.

You can just reload, propel it and fly again. This is extremely important for revolutionizing access to space because as long as we continue to throw away rockets and space crafts, we will never truly have access to space.

Elon Musk

SpaceX, revealing the 7 person Dragon V2 spacecraft, press reports 29 May 2014.

I’ve always wanted to be part of something that would radically change the world…. People forget the power of inspiration. All of humanity went to the moon with the Apollo missions. The issue was cost. There was no chance to build a base and create frequent flights. That’s the problem I would like to solve.

Elon Musk

SpaceX founder, Bloomberg Businessweek magazine, 2-8 May 2011.