It wasn't that the X-1 would kill you, it was the systems in the X-1 that would kill you. Chuck Yeager More Quotes by Chuck Yeager More Quotes From Chuck Yeager Later, I realized that the mission had to end in a let-down because the real barrier wasn't in the sky but in our knowledge and experience of supersonic flight. Chuck Yeager experiencerealsky I have flown in just about everything, with all kinds of pilots in all parts of the world - British, French, Pakistani, Iranian, Japanese, Chinese - and there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between any of them except for one unchanging, certain fact: the best, most skillful pilot has the most experience. Chuck Yeager chineseflyingdifferences That to me is a bunch of crap trying to shoot guys up into damned space. What they're going to do is they're going to wipe out half a dozen people one of these days, and that will be the end of it. Chuck Yeager guyspacepeople 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. Chuck Yeager airplanewingsbelieve You concentrate on what you are doing, to do the best job you can, to stay out of a serious situation. That’s the way the X-1 was. Chuck Yeager best-jobjobsway Never wait for trouble. Chuck Yeager troublewaiting At 42,000' in approximately level flight, a third cylinder was turned on. Acceleration was rapid and speed increased to .98 Mach. The needle of the machmeter fluctuated at this reading momentarily, then passed off the scale. Assuming that the off-scale reading remained linear, it is estimated that 1.05 Mach was attained at this time. Chuck Yeager cylinderslevelsreading In 1966, NASA took over in space, and it has been a bureaucratic mess ever since. Chuck Yeager nasamessspace The one word you use in military flying is duty. It's your duty. You have no control over outcome, no control over pick-and-choose. It's duty. Chuck Yeager flyingmilitaryuse 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. Chuck Yeager shooterbelievethinking There's no such thing as a natural-born pilot. Chuck Yeager aviationflightpilots Hey Ridley, that Machometer is acting screwy. It just went off the scale on me. Chuck Yeager aviationheyacting 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. Chuck Yeager regretspeculationpeople I ran the astronaut school for six years, and I was the commandant and when I finished in '65, 26 of my guys went into space as NASA astronauts that I trained. Chuck Yeager spaceyearsschool As we went through mach one, the nose started dropping, so we just cranked that horizontal stabilizer down to keep the nose up. We got it above mach one, and once we got it above the speed of sound, then you have supersonic flow over the whole airplane, so you have no more shock waves on it that are causing buffeting...You really don't think about the outcome of any kind of a flight, whether it's combat, or any other kinds of flights, because you really have no control over it. Chuck Yeager airplaneflowthinking It's really difficult for fanatic churchgoers to understand God can't help me. I'm the only one who can help me. Chuck Yeager understandmedifficultgod When I was picked to fly the X-1, it was my duty to fly it, and I did. Chuck Yeager flydidpickedduty
