On Jun 2, 4:04*pm, wrote:
On Saturday, June 2, 2012 2:14:05 PM UTC-4, 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?

Yes they can.
Variations in aptitude, motivation, and maturity are mor important than age.
That said, we are all going down a slippery slope of aging and its ain't easy to crawl back up.
They may also be likely to last longer as particpants that the younger generation that commonly has a short attention span.
FWIW
UH

As one of the "old students" in Brad's club, I can tell you that
taking up flying in the autumn of my life has been a bitch. I earned a
PPSEL and a couple hundred hours thirty years ago and then dropped
flying until I was sixty-eight, two years ago. I'm reasonably healthy
both physically and mentally (no comments McTow!). However, it's
become obvious that the "brazen" self-confidence that I once
possessed, assuming it was there in the first place, has declined
precipitously. It's also obvious that my ability learn and
consistently perform basic techniques has taken much longer than I
ever imagined. Earning the glider rating has been a struggle but I
finally did it. Now, with ticket in hand, I watch Brad and the other
accomplished pilots in our club head off to the Cascades for some
amazing flights and I wonder if I will ever have the nerve, not to
mention the skills, to follow. I'm in it now and will probably
continue but were I to know two years ago what I was subjecting myself
to, I might well have taken up a pastime less challenging.

Fred