"Cal Vanize" wrote in message
...

30+ years ago (a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away) I was an
active pilot in my early 20s. I held a CASMELI, CFI and CGI A&I tickets.
Had 1100+ hours PIC mostly in single engine with about 4o0 or so in light
twins. Circumstances in life (not medical) changed my direction and I
haven't flown since around 75. I haven't even paid any attention to the
industry until very recently

Its been so long and I know the regs have to be entirely different from
the early 70s. Certainly the technology has changed even though there
seems to be a lot of familiar airframes still flying.

I've put on some additional ballast (insulation from the cold and
insurance against the great famine) and am on light blood pressure meds.
Otherwise, I'm in pretty good shape for an older guy. No restrictions on
my driver's license.

Can't make any suggestions on where to drive that stake, but by all
means go fly!!

If you check out the AOPA website, they have a page that lists all the
meds that might disqualify you. Check that for the name of yours. If it is
a disqualifier, get your doc to change the prescription to one that isn't.
That's not so tough. If you want to lose some of the ballast and insulation
you might ask Jay Honeck (he hangs around this hangar a lot) about his
success with eating fruits and lowering the BP along with the weight.
Weigh in here, Jay. Deliberate pun intended.
You and I shut the hangar doors and walked away from aviation about the
same time. I started back up a bit sooner though; after only 25 years off.
With your 1100 logged hours, I have a hunch the most trouble you'll have is
remembering how to land the damn thing. The rest will go pretty smooth.
The most troublesome will be all this new Class-A, -B, etc., airspace
descriptions. Get the newest AIM and read it three times.
Third troublesome area will be the avionics. Problem I had there was
finding a CFI who could explain how some of the stuff works past the first
page. I'm gonna catch hell from some of the CFIs that hang around here for
that, but it is sadly true. All of the new stuff is great. I wish I'd had an
HSI back in the 70's... and a GPS... and digital flip/flop radios.... and a
172SP with a single axis autopilot... with heading or nav modes... Oh
Yeah, Baby!!

What's that Nike says.... Just Do It!