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Old 5th Sep 2019, 09:32
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FlightlessParrot
 
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Originally Posted by DaveReidUK
Nothing to do with fear.

Loosely translated it means "we achieve what cannot be done".
Yup. I read as "Quod non fieri potest conficimus" which indeed means "We accomplish what cannot be done." "Quod non fieri potest" seems to be a frequently used phrase, but Google doesn't find an example of the motto, so I guess someone with a good command of Latin used it to translate "We do the impossible" which someone had suggested would look nice on the aircraft.

"Fieri" is the present infinitive of fio, which is the passive of facio, to do or to make. "Conficimus" is the 1st person plural, present indicative, of conficio (3rd conjugation, a bit irregular, whilst fio is as irregular af.)

Unlike the more familiar slogan, they don't give a time scale for accomplishing the impossible.

Edit: whilst I was composing this post, and checking words in Lewis and Short (available in several amazingly affordable implementations for your phone) and Kennedy's grammar, DaveReid gave the explanations. He's right, except I wouldn't call "conficio" exactly regular, but the endings are straightforward enough. Should have said it's the 1 pl. present indicative active, to pin it down thoroughly.

Last edited by FlightlessParrot; 5th Sep 2019 at 09:39. Reason: Crossover in posting.
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