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Pre-Flight Check

At Gander International Airport, we’ve been welcoming pilots since 1938, the early days when international aviation cuts its teeth.

Over that time, we’ve been privileged to meet millions of pilots fl ying every shape of metal you can imagine. Commercial pilots. Military pilots. Test pilots. Ferry pilots. Student pilots. Fighter pilots. Bush pilots. Helicopter pilots. Rescue pilots. Celebrity pilots. Pilots of every shape, form, nationality, age, skill level and background. One things unite them all: a shared passion for fl ight, despite the grind, despite the hours, despite the career frustrations.

Th ere’s a certain reverence aff orded to pilots. Pilots soar where Icarus failed. Few professional pursuits can conjure such awe, envy and respect.

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In celebration of what you do, we’ve gathered aviation quotes, tips and wisdoms for your reading pleasure. We hope you enjoy Th e Pilot’s Handbook. Maybe it’ll help you while away a few minutes during a long layover.

As professionals, you’ll recognize this book requires no disclaimer for its operational credibility. You’ll also know that, in aviation, danger is always sitting in the co-pilot’s seat. (Some might argue that the danger is the co-pilot.) Any profession that carries a level of risk relies on humor to make the job easier. So jokes contained within about the safety of your aircraft , crew and passengers are just that - jokes.

Enjoy. Make every trip a round trip. And may there always be a gentle tailwind at your back.

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BASIC FLIGHT INSTRUCTION

1. Try to stay in the middle of the air.

2. Do not go near the edges of it.

3. Th e edges of the air can be recognized by the appearance of ground, buildings, ocean, trees and interstellar space. It is harder to fl y there.

Th ings which do you no good in aviation:

Altitude above you. Runway behind you. Fuel in the truck. A navigator. Half a second ago. Approach plates in the car. Th e airspeed you don’t have.

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If you push the stick forward, the houses get bigger. If you pull the stick back, they get smaller.

Don’t drop the aircraft in order to fl y the microphone.

To go up, pull the stick back. To go down, pull the stick back harder.

If it takes full power to taxi, you’ve landed with the wheels up.

Fuel in the tanks is limited. Gravity is forever.

Try to keep the number of landings equal to the number of takeoff s.

Th e strength of turbulence is directly proportional to the temperature of your coff ee.

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Th e defi nition of a good landing is one from which you can walk away. Th e defi nition of a great landing is one aft er which you can use the airplane another time.

Th e propeller is just a big fan in the front of the plane to keep the pilot cool. Want proof? Make it stop; then watch the pilot break out into a sweat.

Without fuel, pilots become pedestrians.

Regarding engine power: lots is good, more is better, and too much is just enough.

No one has every collided with the sky.

Takeoff s are optional. Landings are mandatory.

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A checkride ought to be like a skirt - short enough to be interesting but long enough to cover everything.

Experience is the knowledge that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.

Speed is life, altitude is life insurance.

One peek is worth a thousand instrument cross-checks.

Always remember you fl y an airplane with your head, not your hands.

Never let an airplane take you somewhere your brain didn’t get to fi ve minutes earlier.

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Superior pilots use their superior judgment to avoid those situations where they might have to use their superior skills.

No matter what else happens, fl y the airplane.

Flying is hours of boredom, punctuated by moments of stark terror.

Believe your instruments.

It’s best to keep the pointed end going forward as much as possible.

Th e only thing that scares me about fl ying is the drive to the airport.

A smooth touchdown in a simulator is as exciting as kissing your grandmother.

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If it ain’t broke, don’t fi x it; if it ain’t fi xed, don’t fl y it.

An airplane may disappoint a good pilot, but it won’t surprise him.

Airspeed, altitude, or brains; you always need at least two.

Gravity is not just a good idea - it’s the law.

Th ere are old pilots and there are bold pilots. However, there are no old, bold pilots.

Any attempt to stretch fuel is guaranteed to increase headwinds.

Any comment about how well things are going guarantees trouble.

A thunderstorm is never as bad on the inside as it appears on the outside. It’s worse.

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PILOT’S GLOSSARYAirspeed: Speed of an airplane. Deduct 25% when listening to a Navy pilot.ETOPS: Engines Turn or Passengers SwimFirewall: Section of the aircraft designed to let heat and smoke enter the cockpit.Glide Distance: Half the distance from the airplane to the nearest emergency landing fi eld.Good landing: One in which you can still get the doors open.Hydroplane: An airplane designed to land on a 20,000 foot long wet runway.IFR: I Follow Roads.Optimism: A dispatcher’s estimated time of departure.Pilot: Th e fi rst one to arrive at the scene of an aircraft accident.Service Ceiling: Altitude at which the cabin crew can serve drinks.Weather Forecast: A horoscope with numbers.

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In thrust I trust.

Some hear jet noise. I hear the sound of freedom.

Any pilot who does not privately consider himself the best in the game is in the wrong game.

Fly with the eagles, or scratch with the chickens.

Flying is the second greatest thrill known to man.... Landing is the fi rst!

Th e only thing that scares me about fl ying is the drive to the airport.

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Being a pilot would be great if you didn’t have to go on all those trips.

Remember when sex was safe and fl ying was dangerous?

Th e average pilot, despite the sometimes swaggering exterior, is very much capable of love, aff ection, intimacy and caring. Th ese feelings just don’t involve anyone else.

Flying is the perfect vocation for a man who wants to feel like a boy, but not for one who still is.

Th ere are four ways to fl y: the right way, the wrong way, the company way and the captain’s way. Only one counts.

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Pilots believe in clean living. Th ey never drink whiskey from a dirty glass.

Nothing fl ies without fuel, so let’s start with some coff ee.

One of the beautiful things about a single piloted aircraft is the quality of the social experience.

Th e most sensitive mechanism in modern aviation is the shower control in a layover hotel.

Th e worst day of fl ying still beats the best day of real work.

Pilots are just plane people with a special air about them.

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It only takes two things to fl y: airspeed and money.

See that propeller? Everything behind it revolves around money.

Crime wouldn’t pay if the FAA took it over and would go totally bankrupt if an airline management team did.

A commercial aircraft is a vehicle capable of supporting itself aerodynamically and economically at the same time.

—William B. Stout Designer of the Ford Tri-Motor

If the Wright brothers were alive today, Wilbur would have to fi re Orville to reduce costs.

— Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines

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Running an airline is like having a baby: fun to conceive, but hell to deliver.

— C. E. WoolmanPrincipal founder Delta Air Lines

It’s easy to make a small fortune in aviation. You start with a large fortune.

CAUTION: Aviation may be hazardous to your wealth.

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What is chiefl y needed is skill rather than machinery.

— Wilbur Wright

Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.— African proverb

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

— Amelia Earhart

In the air transport business more than any other, the human element is everything. Th at big plane in front of the hangar is only as good as the man who fl ies it, and he is only as good as the people on the ground who work with him.

— W. A. (Pat) Pattersonformer President United Airlines

Th at’s what we’re trained to do.— Chesley B. ‘Sully’ Sullenberger III

Captain of US Airways fl ight 1549

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Th e way I see it, you can either work for a living or you can fl y airplanes. Me, I’d rather fl y.

— Len Morgan

A pilot lives in a world of perfection, or not at all.

— Richard S. Drury

Accuracy means something to me. It’s vital to my sense of values. I’ve learned not to trust people who are inaccurate. Every aviator knows that if mechanics are inaccurate, aircraft crash. If pilots are inaccurate, they get lost—sometimes killed. In my profession, life itself depends on accuracy.

— Charles A. Lindbergh

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I’ve never seen an airplane yet that can read the type ratings on your pilot’s license.

— Chuck Boedecker

Sometimes things are bigger than you, and the best you can hope for is to keep your wings level and have patience and a little luck.

— Warren L Simpson

Th ere are no accidents and no fatal fl aws in the machines; there are only pilots with the wrong stuff .

— Tom Wolfe, Th e Right Stuff

Th e best safety device is the pilot, who, deep down, regardless of the aircraft , retains a sense of fallibility and vulnerability. No system can ever substitute for that.

— Arnold Reiner, retired Pan Am captain

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Th e pilot who teaches himself has a fool for a student.

— Robert Livingston

Th e happily married man with a large family is the test pilot for me.

— Nevil Shute

Th e exhilaration of fl ying is too keen, the pleasure too great, for it to be neglected as a sport.

— Orville Wright

Aeronautics was neither an industry nor a science. It was a miracle.

— Igor Sikorsky

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Th e thing I miss about Air Force One is they don’t lose my luggage.

— President George Bush Sr.

Th ere are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror.

— Orson Welles

Th ere’s nothing like an airport for bringing you down to earth.

— Richard Gordon

People think it would be fun to be a bird because you could fl y. But they forget the negative side, which is the preening.

— Jack Handey, ‘Deep Th oughts’ from Saturday Night Live

It is said that two wrongs do not make a right, but two Wrights do make an aeroplane.

— Anon

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Aviation is proof that given the will, we have the capacity to achieve the impossible.

— Eddie Rickenbacker

No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.

—William Blake

No one regards what is before his feet; we all gaze at the stars.

—Quintus Ennius

Flying is more than a sport and more than a job; fl ying is pure passion and desire, which fi ll a lifetime.

—General Adolf Galland

If you want to grow old as a pilot, you’ve got to know when to push it, and when to back off .

— Chuck Yeager

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You haven’t seen a tree until you’ve seen its shadow from the sky.

—Amelia Earhart

Th e engine is the heart of an airplane, but the pilot is its soul.

—Walter Raleigh

Th ere is an art . . . to fl ying. Th e knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

— Douglas AdamsTh e Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

I fl y because it releases my mind from the tyranny of petty things.

— Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Th e air up there in the clouds is very pure and fi ne, bracing and delicious. And why shouldn’t it be? - it is the same the angels breathe.

- Mark Twain, “Roughing It”

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If God had wanted me to fl y, he would have made me fl ush riveted.

It’s always better to be down on the ground wishing you were up in the air than up in the air wishing you were down on the ground.

Sorry folks for the hard landing. It wasn’t the pilot’s fault, and it wasn’t the plane’s fault. It was the asphalt.

I want to die like my grandfather did, peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming in terror like his passengers.

Trust your captain .... but keep your seatbelt securely fastened.

You’ve never been lost until you’ve been lost at Mach 3.

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AIRFIELD INFORMATION

IATA YQX ICAO CYQXStatus IFR Airport, 24 hours/day - 7 days/weekElevation 496 feet (151.2 metres) above mean sea levelLocation Latitude 48º 56’ 13” N; Longitude 54º 34’ 05” W

RWY DATA Rwy 03/21 10200x200 Rwy 13/31 8900x200

Country Code: +1 IDD Access Code: 011 Time Zone: GMT-3.5/8

COMMUNICATIONSTower Frequency 118.1 Ground Frequency 121.9ATIS 124.8 DEP 128.5CUST AOE 888-226-7277FLT Plan NOTAM FILE CYQX Halifax 866-WXBRIEFWX METAR H24 TAF H24 issue times: 00, 06, 12, 18Z

FBOsGander AviationTelephone (709) 256-4620 Fax (709) 256-7977 Web www.ganderaviation.ca E-mail fb o@ganderaviation.ca Unicom 122.55

Irving AviationTelephone 709-651-5000 Fax 709-651-5015 Web www.irvingaviation.comEmail iasgan@irvingoil.com Unicom 122.9

Shell AviationTelephone (709) 256-3431 Fax (709) 256-4101 Web www.shell.caE-mail shellyqx@alliedaviation.ca Unicom 123.3

Woodward AviationTelephone (709) 256-4414 Fax (709) 256-2314 Web www.woodwardaviation.comE-mail operationsyqx@woodwardaviation.com Unicom 122.7

GROUND HANDLINGAllied Aviation Service Company Telephone: (709) 256-3041 Fax: (709) 256-7404 Web www.alliedaviation.com E-mail fl topns@alliedaviation.caVHF 129.1 SITA YQXOGXH AFTN CYQXXHAX

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T H E F I N E P R I N T

Quotes, jokes and are culled from common use sources. Th e Pilot’s Handbook has no commercial or operational value whatsoever. Any persons, living or dead, quoted within are in no way implied to endorse Gander International Airport or its tenant companies.

In keeping with Gander International Airport’s commitment to Carbon Neutrality, Th e Pilot’s Handbook is printed on 100% recycled paper.

If you or someone you know might want to receive a copy, send us an email with your mailing address to marketing@giaa.nf.ca