We can start working with time, if you wish, till you can fly the past and the future. And then you will be ready to begin the most difficult, the most powerful, the most fun of all. You will be ready to BEGIN to fly up and know the meaning of kindness and of love

Bach has retained a dedicated fan base throughout the years. Their son Jonathan is a software engineer and journalist who wrote Above the Clouds about growing up without knowing his father Richard and then later meeting him as a college student. Bach married his third wife Sabryna Nelson-Alexopoulos in April 1999.

He is widely known as the author of the hugely popular 1970s best-sellers Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah among others. He has pursued flying as a hobby since the age of 17.