My DH, a carrier-based jet pilot, always told me before deployments or any flying day, if something happened to him while he was flying, he had no regrets, he would go quickly and while doing something he loved. I just made sure to tell him I loved him before every parting for the day, even if we were having a bumpy time.
I always think of this poem by John Magee.
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of
Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence.
Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.
The author was a Spitfire pilot, who died not long after he wrote it.
Here’s his story. Hauntingly similar to this one - too close to the ground to survive.
http://www.skygod.com/quotes/highflight.html