I was always afraid of dying. Always. It was my fear that made me learn everything I could about my airplane and my emergency equipment, and kept me flying respectful of my machine and always alert in the cockpit.

The first time I ever saw a jet, I shot it down.

There is no kind of ultimate goal to do something twice as good as anyone else can. It's just to do the job as best you can. If it turns out good, fine. If it doesn't, that's the way it goes.

After about 30 minutes I puked all over my airplane. I said to my self, "Man, you made a big mistake."

I don't think about life everlasting. If something doesn't have scientific evidence to back it up, I don't believe it. I'm a straight shooter.

If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing.

I have no regrets about my life. People ask, "If you had to do it all over again, would you do it differently?" No. That's speculation.