“Pilots take no special joy in walking: pilots like flying.”

The Pilot that weathered the Storm.
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Source: English Proverbs (1670), p. 4

Epistle to Augusta, Stanza 3, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).

Source: Empire of the Sun (1984), p. 201
Context: He waited for the roll-call to end, reflecting on the likely booty attached to a dead American pilot. Soon enough, one of the Americans would be shot down into Lunghua Camp. Jim tried to decide which of the ruined buildings would best conceal his body. Carefully eked out, the kit and equipment could be bartered with Basie for extra sweet potatoes for months to come, and even perhaps a warm coat for the winter. There would be sweet potatoes for Dr. Ransome, whom Jim was determined to keep alive. He rocked on his heels and listened to an old woman crying in the nearby ward. Through the window was the pagoda at Lunghua Airfield. Already the flak tower appeared in a new light. For another hour Jim stood in line with the missionary widows, watched by the sentry. Dr. Ransome and Dr. Bowen had set off with Sergeant Nagata to the commandant's office, perhaps to be interrogated. The guards moved around the silent camp with their roster boards, carrying out repeated roll-calls. The war was about to end and yet the Japanese were obsessed with knowing exactly how many prisoners they held. Jim closed his eyes to calm his mind, but the sentry barked at him, suspecting that Jim was about to play some private game of which Sergeant Nagata would disapprove.

Godfrey explains that the 2 pilots in the media focus were not the only ones to take a high risk and fly near the obvious storm cloud.

On the Tranquillity of the Mind
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919)

Interview at The New Space Race (August 2007) http://library.thinkquest.org/07aug/00861/armstrongiscool.htm <br class="br">Context: The exciting part for me, as a pilot, was the landing on the moon. That was the time that we had achieved the national goal of putting Americans on the moon. The landing approach was, by far, the most difficult and challenging part of the flight. Walking on the lunar surface was very interesting, but it was something we looked on as reasonably safe and predictable. So the feeling of elation accompanied the landing rather than the walking.

Quoted in Elisabeth Bumiller (2001-12-05) "A Nation Challenged: The President" New York Times. Colloquial English allows Bush's remark to be interpreted as "I saw that an airplane had hit the tower."
2000s, 2001

The Pilot, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).