How old is too old to fly?

This may sound like a wild tale, so I'm donning the flame suit. My
uncle was an active CFI into his early 90's. For a time he was the
oldest active pilot in the U.S.A. There were several write ups in the
OKC paper about him over his life. Once, as a child he helped Charles
Lindberg push his airplane out of a muddy field. Late in his life he
attended a reunion at CHK where he'd been a civilian flight instructor
during WWII. Many of his students were on the field. They couldn't
believe it when he landed his own airplane and walked up to them,
several years their senior when they themselves were in their late
70's and 80's. He sold his last airplane, (a Skylane) when he was 96.
He passed away at 99. Moral of the story... never, never, ever sell
your airplane.

p.s. Disclaimer: I'm not suggesting anyone fly this late in their
life! This is just one data point.

Joe Schneider
Cherokee 8437R


"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'm sure there's a point when passengers start saying "well
yeah I'd love to go flying but I have to water the lawn".

I'll be happy to be old and flying solo as long as a I can
do it safely. Just not sure if I'll be the best judge of
my safe flying when I'm on the tail end of my years.


I started thinking about this while driving with an old friend.
He didn't notice that he was lane-wandering, while other drivers
did notice. Otherwise he is a safe driver, just not as precise
I suppose.

R. Hubbell