Just before you break through the sound barrier, the cockpit shakes the most.

Hey Ridley, that Machometer is acting screwy. It just went off the scale on me.

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.

If you want to grow old as a pilot, you've got to know when to push it, and when to back off.

There's no such thing as a natural-born pilot.

Just before you break through the sound barrier, the cockpit shakes the most.

It's your duty to fly the airplane. If you get killed in it, you don't know anything about it anyway. Duty is paramount. It's that simple if you're a military guy. You don't say 'I'm not going to do that - that's dangerous.' If it's your duty to do it, that's the way it is.