According to the first pilot to exceed the speed of sound, flying ace Chuck Yeager, born on this date in 1923, “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.” According to the first pilot to exceed the speed of sound, flying ace Chuck Yeager, born on this date in 1923, “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.”Yeager’s stint as a jet mechanic led him to being a test pilot. Jet engines were so unreliable at first that he had more time in jets than anybody in the Air Force.