Great Story in this month's AOPA Pilot by Rick Durden

(Rick Durden) wrote in message om...
...What also takes a while to sink in is how incredibly fast kids learn
to fly (I heard that from both of the glider instructors as they
talked repeatedly about their amazement at the rate at which the 13
year olds learn to fly the gliders), plus we forget just how smart
kids are. They are every bit as smart as us old farts, they just
haven't had the same experiences, their thought processes and
reasoning and ability to learn probably exceed our due to their youth....

I've got a minority opinion here. I've read the article, and was glad
to read it, and glad for Rick and his daughter. I can see his
justifiable pride coming through the words. But, I'm also glad I'm
learning to fly as a 40-mumble-something year old and not as a
teenager. I'm pretty sure (based on some of the stunts I thought
reasonable back then) that I wouldn't have had the maturity to make
consistently good safety decisions. Note that people vary wildly and
my limitations may not apply to others.

I know now, with the experience of a little age, that screw ups
happen, and bad decisions lead to more screw ups that good decision
do. And that screw ups can have lasting if not permanent effects. I
think that, in my case, it makes me a better student pilot.

I think it helped in my recently XC where my DME and Radio both failed
after leaving the DC ADIZ for Richmond's Class C.

-Malcolm