“I had no intention of actually flying, but to my great surprise and intense discomfiture the full power blast of the motor carried me down the field far faster than I had expected and there was a very substantial fence dead ahead. Instinctively I yanked backward on the stick and there I was - alone in the air in a ship that had never been flown before. To my general astonishment, I found myself calm and collected. I immediately became self-reliant. I felt as only one who flys can feel- that here at last, I have conquered a new world, have moved into a new sphere. I had sprouted wings, a rhapsody in the air, but the stark realization came to me that I had yet a landing to make!”
Banning discussing his first solo flight
