During an inspection of a Mediterranean air base, General Ioannis Metaxas, dictator of Greece from 1936 until his death in 1941, was invited to try out a new flying boat. He took the aircraft* up for a short flight and was coming in to land when the commander of the base said, "Excuse me, General, but it would be better to come down on the sea; this is a flying boat." Metaxas, who had been about to put the aircraft down on a runway, swerved quickly upward, made another circuit, and touched the flying boat down safely on the surface of the sea.
Rising from the wheel, he said, "Thank you, Commander, for preventing me from making a stupid blunder." Thus saying, he opened the aircraft's door and stepped into the sea.
愛奧尼斯．美塔薩克斯將軍一九三六年開始獨裁統治希臘，直到一九三六年去世。他有一次視察地中海一空軍基地，應邀試飛新的水上飛機，在空中盤旋了一下，正準備着陸，基地指揮官說：「將軍，在海上降落會好一點。這是架水上飛機。」美塔薩克本來要在跑道上降落，這時連忙轉向上飛，再在空中繞了個圈，然後安全降落海面。
他在駕駛座上站起來，說道：「指揮官，謝謝你提醒，我差點犯了個愚不可及的錯誤。」他打開飛機門，一腳踏進海裏。
*Aircraft是航空器，包括飛機（aeroplane）、直昇機（helicopter）以至氣球（balloon）。這個字單複數形式相同，two aircraft不可寫作two aircrafts。