An aging pilot

"Will Robinson" wrote in message
news:5bbfd.2284$kE.146@trnddc03...
Go easy on the booze, quit smoking, get off your butt and walk instead of
drive whenever feasable, take the stairs, watch your diet a bit more
carefully. Fly as often as you can, do fun stuff frequently. Enjoy life.


..... and then there's my Dad. Age 91. Smoked till age 70 (unfiltered Pall
Malls). STILL drinks at least one (sometimes two) six-packs of beer a day.
Hasn't eaten a green vegetable in all of my 50 years. Lives on hot dogs,
bologna, and potato rolls. The only medical stuff he's had done in the past
50 years has been to have his prostate reamed out and cataracts.

And is obsese. (Not grossly, but he's got a pot belly.)

Still rides a bike. Quick reflexes. Shoots pool every day (won the Gold at
the Senior Olympics). Has absolutely no idea what his cholesterol or BP is.
His outlook: what's the worst that could happen? It kill me?

Carl

Some years ago I knew a man who was an active pilot in his 90s.
He didn't even start flying until his 60s. His approach to main-
taining his health was hard work. You'd see him out working on
his property every day. I hope I can do as well (just turned 60)

David Johnson

Quit worrying, start flying:
http://jimsladesairlines.com/rothenberg2.html

(Flight log of 74 year old pilot who flew an Ercoupe to airports in
the 4 farthest corners of the continental USA).

Your weight training is an excellent plan. Start or continue some
cardio stuff too....join a health club, or better yet, put an exercise
room in your hotel and use it yourself. Watch your diet! Hard to do
perhaps in the Midwest. Avoid restaurant foods. Watch "Supersize
Me", that should cure anybody of the fast-food places.

Pick the right parents.

Jay Honeck wrote:
Savor each moment.
We've been given a special gift. We didn't earn it and we don't
deserve it.


For sure, Gene. For sure.
Couldn't agree more.

Luckily, my flying ace in the hole is my wife, Mary, who, as a woman
pilot, will certainly out-last and probably out-live me. Thus, my
days of PIC may come to an end some day, but my time aloft won't...
I've thought the same thing Jay. Whenever my PIC days are over, I hope
to have several flying buddies such that my time in the air can continue.

--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL, Wanna-be IA Student

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

On 10/24/04 11:42 PM, in article 5D_ed.243219$wV.57086@attbi_s54, "Jay
Honeck" wrote:

For those of you farther down life's trail than I, what have you done to
maintain your edge? Any tips on staving off old man winter as long as
possible?


My DOB: 1957. My advice and personal practice:
No drinking, no smoking. Vitamins every day. Get down to your fighting
weight. Sex as often as the wife can stand it. Keep your mind sharp by
keeping active physically and challenging yourself mentally.
--
Jeff 'The Wizard of Draws' Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic�
http://www.wizardofdraws.com
http://www.cartoonclipart.com

On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 19:50:17 -0400, Wizard of Draws
wrote:

On 10/24/04 11:42 PM, in article 5D_ed.243219$wV.57086@attbi_s54, "Jay
Honeck" wrote:

For those of you farther down life's trail than I, what have you done to
maintain your edge? Any tips on staving off old man winter as long as
possible?

Date young women, but make sure your wife doesn't catch you or instead
of maintaining your edge you may find she keeps all the silverware
really sharp. But thinking on the positive side, like my used-to-be
tomcat, you still might want to go out, but wouldn't remember why.

That and no more testosterone poisoning.

You might even find doing the dishes fun.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

My DOB: 1957. My advice and personal practice:
No drinking, no smoking. Vitamins every day. Get down to your fighting
weight. Sex as often as the wife can stand it. Keep your mind sharp by
keeping active physically and challenging yourself mentally.

My DOB: 1957. My advice and personal practice:
No drinking, no smoking. Vitamins every day. Get down to your fighting
weight. Sex as often as the wife can stand it. Keep your mind sharp by
keeping active physically and challenging yourself mentally.

No smoking since 1987, a multi-vitamin and 500 mg of vitamin C, plus an
enteric-coated aspirin each morning has kept me remarkably healthy. In
fact, I honestly can't remember the last time I was sick, and I've never
missed a day of work in my life.

At six feet tall, I've been as light as 175 pounds, and as heavy as 205, but
I generally remain in the 185 - 190 range when working out regularly, as I
am now.

But no drinking? At all? Not even a cold beer at the hangar after a long
cross country on a hot summer's night? Not even a glass of rose with a
plate of lasagna?

That ain't right.

And, I believe, health statistics show that alcohol, when consumed in
moderation, is a life-prolonging prescription.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Hi Jay,

I started with the old reading glasses and floaters thing when I hit
forty. I am 52 now. The reading glasses are a little stronger now (not
much) and have a few more floaters (again not much). At forty, I can
remember seeing something floating to the side of my vision and saying
"What the hell was that?", thinking it was a bogie.

I read talked to my doctor about the floaters and he told me that
eventually your brain learns to "tune" them out. I have found that
this is true. I've gotten so use to them that they are no longer a
factor and only notice them when I'm thinking about them. Accept them
as part of your life now and move on.

I would say that you have nothing to be concerned about. I keep my
reading glasses in the airplane glove compartment and found that
Walgreens sells sunglasses with bifocals for around 15 bucks. No
problem!!

Keep on FLYING!
Jim
http://FunPlacesToFly.com






"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:5D_ed.243219$wV.57086@attbi_s54...
So I've reached my 46th year fairly unscathed. I've still never missed a
day of work, ever, and I'm rarely under the weather. In fact, I feel great.

Still, now that I'm solidly in middle age, I find that my cholesterol is too
high, I could stand to lose 15 pounds, and, at my most recent check-up, my
blood pressure was a touch high, for the first time.

In short, the inevitable effect of aging is starting to show itself.

To combat this I've been doing daily weight training with my 14-year old son
for over 9 months. I've built muscle mass and stamina, and (for the first
time in 20 years) my back isn't on the verge of "going out" all the time.
I've passed the CAP cadet requirement for running a mile (even though, as a
senior member, it wasn't required), just to show my kid that "the old man"
could still do it. (I darn-near died... ;-)

So, all things considered, I guess I'm doing okay for an old, balding white
guy.

My biggest concession to age has been my vision, which has always been a
weak point. (It kept me from joining the Air Force.) Although I'm still
corrected to 20/20, I'm going to need bifocals at my next check up for sure
(boy, that danged sectional is just about impossible to read), and I am
plagued with more and more floaters every year. Low-contrast backgrounds
(like an overcast) make it very difficult for me to spot traffic.

Since life is a terminal condition, it's only natural that whatever is
deteriorating will continue to do so -- although I assume there are various
things pilots can do to compensate. At some point, however, the lines on
the graph intersect, and you've got to quit flying. Question is, when?

For those of you farther down life's trail than I, what have you done to
maintain your edge? Any tips on staving off old man winter as long as
possible?

And for those of you who have hung it up, what made you do it? When did you
know it was time?

On 27 Oct 2004 07:06:53 -0700, (Jim) wrote:

Hi Jay,

I started with the old reading glasses and floaters thing when I hit
forty. I am 52 now. The reading glasses are a little stronger now (not
much) and have a few more floaters (again not much). At forty, I can
remember seeing something floating to the side of my vision and saying
"What the hell was that?", thinking it was a bogie.

I read talked to my doctor about the floaters and he told me that
eventually your brain learns to "tune" them out. I have found that
this is true. I've gotten so use to them that they are no longer a
factor and only notice them when I'm thinking about them. Accept them
as part of your life now and move on.

I would say that you have nothing to be concerned about. I keep my
reading glasses in the airplane glove compartment and found that
Walgreens sells sunglasses with bifocals for around 15 bucks. No
problem!!

Keep on FLYING!
Jim
http://FunPlacesToFly.com


I am the same age and have the same problems that developed at the
same time. My brain must be deficient, however, because I have not
been able to "program out" the floaters. I still feel like I have to
swat away he gnats that are flying around in front of me.
Fortunately, they settle to the bottom and spend most of their time
there.
Rich Russell

For those of you farther down life's trail than I, what have you done to
maintain your edge? Any tips on staving off old man winter as long as
possible?
----------------------------------------------

FWIW, I'm 68, recently renewed my 2nd Class FAA medical, don't smoke (never
have), don't drink, don't chase women, eat all the wrong foods, don't exercise,
high BP (treatable), high cholesterol (treatable), flying at least once a week.


Hey, I may make age 70 at this rate. Maybe it's the genes (Dad lived till his
late 80s, Mom is in her late 80s - choose your parents carefully)