Chuck Yeager : What I've Learned

The record-breaking pilot looks back on record breaking, family tragedy, and the difference between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 -- or lack thereof.

Courtesy of NASA
We didn't know if we could break the sound barrier. But it was our duty to try. That's the way I looked at it.

Now you've got guys in space vehicles, smoking along at thousands of miles per hour. Speed is relative.

An enemy is a guy you have to kill.

You wonder why a man started wearing a tie and a stiff shirt.

My brother Roy and I were sitting on the floor of the family room playing with my dad's 12-gauge shotgun. Roy was about six. I was four and a half. Roy found some shells, loaded them into the gun, and accidentally fired. Our two-year-old sister, Doris Ann, was killed. There's nothing that you can do about it except learn.

Maybe that helped me in war. I'm a fatalist, if that's what you call it. The phrase that I use is "If you can't do anything about it, forget it."

A successful marriage is when you don't get divorced.

There's no such thing as a natural-born pilot. Generally, the person with the most experience is best.

There aren't as many practical jokes as there used to be.

There was really no difference between Pearl Harbor and 9/11. In both cases, we let our guard down badly. Complacency will kill you.

The Right Stuff was a little bit stretched out of shape and Hollywoodized. But I thought the casting was outstanding, and it was fun to watch.

Some places are good. Some places are bad. But a lot of them are the same. Paris, London, Berlin -- if you wake up in a hotel, you'd have to look at the phone book to tell what city you're in.

I don't like to go to funerals.


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