Older Pilots and Safety

There's a good discussion of this subject in the current issue of
"Flying" magazine written by the editor-in-chief, Richard L. Collins.
This monthly is of course chiefly aimed at General Aviation (read power)
pilots but there are several points Collins makes that could profitably
be extracted for our benefit. By the way, Collins, holder of a current
instrument flying ticket, has just turned seventy years young himself,
so he writes with a wonderful perspective.

The first thing that comes to everyone's mind is of course memory. It's
our short-term memory that has been proven to deteriorate earliest
(Where did I put my coffee cup, car keys, you know the drill), but
Collins feels that checklists can be of benefit in handling most
problems in this department. This is particularly true when considered
in conjunction with the next big concern, concentration.

Collins believes older pilot's concentration has a tendency to
self-regulate if not improve. This has to do with the old truism that
16-yr olds know that they are going to live forever, while 70-yr olds
know that they aren't. Consequently the older you get, the more careful
you become. As Collins puts it, older pilots seem to instinctively know
that what they are doing can hurt them. Think climbing a ladder. Or not
using a checklist.

Gantenbrink gave a perfect example of this when he related the incident
of his deciding not to follow Holighaus through the pass. A good
conservative idea also suggested by Gantenbrink is to consciously stay
out of gaggles, especially when you're not a contestant.

Collins relates NTSB data showing about 125,000 active GA pilots in the
50-59 age bracket, which seems to be the group reponsible for the most
accidents, "even though they are outnumbered by pilots in the 30 to 39
and 40 to 49 age groups." There are about 50,000 pilots in the 60-69 age
bracket, and only around 25,000 in the 70 and older group. "The over-70
age group seems to have the greater incidence per capita than any other,
based on the number of pilots and the number of accidents." For whatever
reason, the evidence shows GA pilots decide to opt out of the program in
the greatest numbers between the ages of 60 and 69.

These population groups may tend to be somewhat skewed toward greater
age numbers in the older glider pilot ranks because our piloting tasks
may appear to be less demanding together with the lack of younger folks
in the pipeline, but that is only my speculation. If that this analysis
is correct however, the following
discussion about declining abilities could be even more important for us
than it might be for a GA typical pilot.

The final overall consideration is the sure knowledge that aging is not
a linear process. Reflexes, memory, agility, and vision can all be
monitored for accelerating deterioration.

The things we do reflexively include lower the nose below the horizon
on a winch line break, turn into the wind on an airtow line
break over the fence, pick up a stalled low wing with outside rudder,
clear before turning, unload the elevator the instant our mount decides
to dump its nose on its own, turn away from the ridge ---- what else can
we include here? I don't know if that little knee hammer picks this up
on
the annual physical or not. Maybe some medical person can fill us in
here.

On the memory front, Collins reminds us that if, when in your ship, you
ever wonder where you are, you're in the wrong place. It's called
situational awareness and a safe pilot can't do without it.

For the entire pilot population the third item, agility, pretty
much takes care of itself. If you can't get into your ship, and
especially if you can't get out (on the ground, let alone in the air)
you already
know what you have to do.

And the last item, vision, can be regulary evaluated at the eye
clinic. Macular degeneration and cataracts can show up faster than you
might think. Collins says, "Many of us choose to have our eyes tested
annually."

Bob Johnson