The Rules Of Flying

agrau · May 21, 2004

A friend sent me this, and it seems it's applicable to trading as well. Priceless!

THE RULES OF FLYING

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. 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

20. 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.

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

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

23. 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.

24. 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

AND FINALLY,

25. When in doubt, take AMTRAK. They may crash more, but they don't have to fall before they do!"

More...

agpilot · May 21, 2004

agrau
Thanks for the list. It's been a while since I've read some of
those rules. There is also another general rule about not
trying to be an old and bold pilot.. I can relate to the whole
list and it really does have similar human problems to trading.
There been quite a few times I'd rather been back ag-flying
(crop duster) than sitting in front of my monitor watching my
hard earned $$ crashing. I guess I am a better pilot than I am
an investor. ..but that will change as time goes by..
agpilot

Hawker · May 21, 2004

Being a pilot I really enjoyed the reading of that list . Can't help the flight through a lot of reminiscences.

Some of them certainly would apply to trading, however there's a rule in aviation that in an unquestionable manner would apply to traders:

Parrots are the chattiest of birds but the worst flyers , however .

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The Rules Of Flying

agrau

agpilot

Hawker