He was in very bad weather and his airplane broke up.

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 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.

Most pilots learn, when they pin on their wings and go out and get in a fighter, especially, that one thing you don't do, you don't believe anything anybody tells you about an airplane.

You don't concentrate on risks. You concentrate on results. No risk is too great to prevent the necessary job from getting done.

When I was picked to fly the X-1, it was my duty to fly it, and I did.