I can't remember who said it, and I'm paraphrasing. But whoever said it was giving the difference between a fighter pilot and a test pilot;

When the crap is hitting the fan, the fighter pilot thinks "uh oh, this looks bad, I've only got a few seconds, I should get the hell out"

The test pilot thinks "uh oh, this looks bad, I've only got a few seconds, I'll bet I can save it"

It was said/written many years ago in a different era. And probably meant more in satire than anything else. So don't everybody get all serious and spooled up over it.