In a sit-down interview on The Blair Garner Show on Feb. 20, Dierks Bentley had been discussing his new single, “Living,” with the titular host when he detailed one of his “heart’s pounding’ out of your chest” moments–first solo flight more than 20 years ago.

“I had 7.7 hours of flying time with an instructor,” says Dierks. “It was a little airfield in Nashville that’s no longer there called Cornelia Fort, and I was in a little Cessna. The instructor was like, ‘You’re good to go.’ I remember taking off and seeing a Southwest plane flying over my head, because it was right over by Nashville’s international airport. There was no GPS, it was all about visual flying, so I’m trying to find certain landmarks that tell me where the airport is. Once you take off and start flying around, it’s easy to get lost. So I was following the Cumberland River past the Dow Chemical factory and the airport was off to the right. I was able to find the airport and put [the plane] back down again. It was an amazing feeling. I wasn’t really scared, but I was nervous about these big planes flying overhead and making sure I knew where to put the plane back down again. That was back when I was 19 years old, so I’ve been flying for a fair amount of time now. It never ceases to amaze me how amazing aviation is and what a game-changer it is for me with kids and a family. It would be very difficult to continue without it.”

You can see Dierks Bentley at the Dos Equis Pavilion on August 10th.  Check out his latest track, “Burning Man” below: