How old is too old to fly?

"R. Hubbell" wrote in message
news:20040305083821.7b5873a9@fstop...
With the recent talk about diving and flying and personal limitations
I wonder how older pilots feel about their own abilities to keep fresh
and when do you hang up the wings? Or do you just limit your flying
and take it easier as long as the medical is good?


I presume that this week's question on AVweb got you thinking about it.

It is far more difficult to stay active as a pilot than it is to continue to
drive as you get older. Pilots have to take get a flight review every two
years at a minimum. Those that are active commercial pilots get flight
checks every six months or every year, depending on the type of operation.
If you are flying any sort of expensive, high performance complex type you
insurance company is going to demand annual recurrent training. Many pilots
also regularly schedule flight instruction for currency, or they get regular
instrument training. You also have to get a medical exam every so often.
Although the medical exam itself does not cover much, you do have to review
all doctor visits with the medical examiner.

Your reflexes do deteriorate over time, but most older pilots compensate
with experience or by increasing their personal minimums. Your reflexes do
not have to be all that fast in an airplane anyway. Airplanes are not like
cars, where a split second may be all you have to avoid an accident.
Airplanes are more stable. Obstructions are fewer and can be seen from
further away. They are not confined to narrow lanes. You are not going to
step on think you are stepping on the brake in an airplane when you are
really stepping on the gas. I am not saying that you can afford to be
complacent, but I am saying that an experienced pilot has learned to stay
far enough ahead of the airplane that he is unlikely to face the same kind
of panic or confusion that an automobile driver can get.

Most pilots pretty well know when to quit. If you have to start lying to the
AME about your medical condition, for example, then it is time. Those that
don't know when to quit will continue to fly even if someone yanks their
certificates.

Even if a pilot does not feel qualified to act as PIC he may still keep
flying by taking an instructor or pilot friend along with him. I regularly
fly with people whose skills have deteriorated so much that they can no
longer fly alone. Sometimes they have terminal diseases, such as cancer, but
they want to fly just one more time.

I also sometimes fly with disabled people who know that they will never be
able to get a pilot certificate, but who want to see what it is like to fly
an airplane at least once in their lives. Some of them come back once in
awhile. Often people like this will bring along a family member who will
take pictures of the flight.

There are some people whose health would be put at serious risk by flight.
Others have personality disorders such as depression or who have medications
or medical equipment that would endanger the flight. Such people cannot fly
even with an instructor. There are others who are so physically handicapped
that they would have no hope of controlling an airplane even with an
instructor on board.

Even so, many people can continue flying in some form without undue danger
to themselves or others into extreme old age. Maybe they eventually need a
little help, but if they want to continue to fly, why not?

Every airport has derelict airplanes sitting on the ramp. These often belong
to people who have quit flying, but who have not yet come to terms with that
fact. I visited a very old pilot in a nursing home. He has had several
strokes and has been essentially confined to bed for two or three years. He
could still sit up and even take a few steps once in awhile, but he was
never going to fly again. But if you ask him about his old plane he
brightens up and tells you how he is going to fix it up and go flying. He
will show you his pilot certificate and talk about getting an appointment
for a BFR.

His plane sits on the ramp, the tires flat, birds nesting in the cowling. It
hasn't been started in many years. He knows that. He also knows that selling
the plane means admitting that he is never going to get better, that he is
never going to leave that little room alive. How can he face that? So he
keeps a picture of himself and his airplane and his wife (long gone) by his
bed, and knows that whatever else happens to him he still is a pilot and he
owns an airplane and someday he will get to fly it again. I would be the
last to tell him otherwise.