This appeared in a recent issue of Australian Aviation Magazine
and sent to us by John Foglesong

 1. Every takeoff is optional. Every landing is mandatory.

 2. If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the  stick back, they get smaller. That is, unless you keep pulling the stick  all the way back, then they get bigger again.

 3. Flying isn't dangerous. Crashing is what's dangerous.

 4. It's always better to be down here wishing you were up there, than up  there wishing you were down here.

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

 6. The propeller is just a big fan in front of the plane used to keep  the pilot cool. When it stops, you can actually watch the pilot start  sweating.

 7. When in doubt, hold on to your altitude. No one has ever collided  with the sky.

 8. A 'good' landing is one from which you can walk away. A 'great'  landing is one after which they can use the plane again.

 9. Learn from the mistakes of others. You won't live long enough to make  all of them yourself.

 10. You know you've landed with the wheels up if it takes full power to  taxi to the ramp.

 11. The probability of survival is inversely proportional to the angle  of arrival. Large angle of arrival, small probability of survival and  vice versa.

 12. Never let an aircraft take you somewhere your brain didn't get to  five minutes earlier.

 13. Stay out of clouds. The silver lining everyone keeps talking about  might be another airplane going in the opposite direction. Reliable  sources also report that mountains have been known to hide out in  clouds.

 14. Always try to keep the number of landings you make equal to the  number of take offs you've made.

 15. There are three simple rules for making a smooth landing.  Unfortunately no one knows what they are.

 16. You start with a bag full of luck and an empty bag of experience.  The trick is to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of  luck.

 17. Helicopters can't fly; they're just so ugly the earth repels them. 

 18. If all you can see out of the window is ground that's going round  and round and all you can hear is commotion coming from the passenger  compartment, things are not at all as they should be.

 19. In the ongoing battle between objects made of aluminum going  hundreds of miles per hour and the ground going zero miles per hour, the  ground has yet to lose.

 20. Good judgment comes from experience. Unfortunately, the experience  usually comes from bad judgment.

 21. It's always a good idea to keep the pointy end going forward as much  as possible.

 22. Keep looking around. There's always something you've missed. 

 23. Remember, gravity is not just a good idea. It's the law. And it's  not subject to repeal.

 24. The three most useless things to a pilot are the altitude above you,  runway behind you, and a tenth of a second ago.