Airline pilots are men to be admired and respected. Men to be trusted. Men of means. And you don't expect an airline pilot to be a local resident. Or a check swindler.
If you play a role, you want to familiarize yourself with that person's world. If I were playing an airline pilot or a doctor, I'd probably want to hang out with a doctor or an airplane pilot for a while, ask some questions. You don't get to hang out the kings. They don't help consult on movies. So your resources are, by necessity, secondary.
You can't have a mid-life crisis in the airline industry because every day is a crisis.
The U.S. government doesn't build your computers, nor do you fly aboard a U.S. government owned and operated airline. Private industry routinely takes technologies pioneered by the government and turns them into cheap, reliable and robust industries. This has happened in aviation, air mail, computers, and the Internet.
The only airline I avoid like the plague is Ryanair. I don't like that, when you book, there are then all of these little extras to pay for, and you end up paying more than just flying with British Airways.
When I started working on Southwest Airlines, I kid you not, only people flying on business and very wealthy people ever flew.
Never, ever get on an American Airlines flight. They will make you wait four hours, and then, when you complain about it, you will be kicked off your flight, and they will rob you of your money.
My father was a Tuskegee Airmen captain in the Air Force and a very strong personality. He believed in fairness and ethics and living up to the commitments you make to others. He ultimately became a judge, and he would talk to me over and over about how important it is to be fair.
Cutting the deficit by gutting our investments in innovation and education is like lightening an overloaded airplane by removing its engine. It may make you feel like you're flying high at first, but it won't take long before you feel the impact.
Jimmy Carter used to walk off the airplane carrying his own luggage. Do you remember that? I don't want my president carrying - I want the freaking Marines to be carrying his luggage, and they want to carry his luggage.
When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.
If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference', you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
It takes a lot to get people talking in airplanes. But once they start talking, you just can't shut them up.
Oldtimers, weekends, and airplane landings are alike. If you can walk away from them, they're successful.
And, you know, being able to wear the stars and stripes, when you step up on one of the blocks or, you know, when you step off of an airplane or when you hear the national anthem play, you know, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world because you know that there are people at home who are supporting you and watching you.
Airplanes may kill you, but they ain't likely to hurt you.
I went to Ethiopia, and it dawned on me that you can tell a starving, malnourished person because they've got a bloated belly and a bald head. And I realized that if you come through any American airport and see businessmen running through with bloated bellies and bald heads, that's malnutrition, too.
Anything that keeps you happy and writing is part of my writing ritual: I like music, so I tend to have it playing in the background. But if I'm interested, I can write in an airport waiting areas.
The No. 1 thing I hear from people when I meet them in the airport is, 'Oh my gosh, you're just like you are on TV.' Well, I'm not an actor. I don't think anyone could figure out how to be this weird.
People in this country need to understand when you go to any airport in the United States, you are not protected by the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. They can do anything they want to you, and there is no where you can go to seek redress.
