On Jun 2, 11:14*am, son_of_flubber wrote:
Sure, a lot "senior citizens" fly gliders. *But how many of them soloed at 55?

It's apparently much easier to learn to fly at 16, but a new student aged 55 is more likely to have the time and funds to commit to the sport and stay with it. *That late middle aged guy/gal is more likely to step into the shoes of the winnowed ranks of the even older guys/gals that presently sustain the sport. *A 50-something who is prepared to retire is more likely to step up to fill the ranks than an underemployed 20-something who is struggling to get established in career, family, and community during a prolonged recession and uncertain economy.

But my question is this, can an "old person" learn to fly and does the soaring community have the patience to teach them? *Are there special challenges to developing an older student and how well are those challenges addressed?

I'm pretty sure they can. I started in my early 20's, I'm 54 now and
have a few thousand or more hours as a PPSEL/G/SL as well as several
hundred hours in hang gliders. All of these hours have culminated in
my ability to fly XC in a variety of conditions and locations, but
primarily in the mountains as that is my preferred venue.

Learning the basic skill set to safely operate a sailplane is do-able,
I think...............BUT..............the hundreds of hours of XC
experience, reading the conditions, watching and understanding the WX
(as much as that is possible) has been something I've gained over many
years. Now I can safely (I hope) and confidently push out into the
peaks and enjoy myself.

There are several older students in my club............I get the
feeling they are eager to visit the peaks also. I just wonder how much
of that is going to be possible, sure they have the time to spend
learning, but do they have the "time" to gain the knowledge needed to
push out.

Brad