An aging pilot

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:QZ5fd.244767$wV.21099@attbi_s54...
Stop whineing Jay, and get them bifocals.
I *started* on my PPL at 47, have had my own bird for three years now.

I always tell people that I wasted the first 35 years of my life on the
ground, gazing skyward. (I learned to fly at age 35...)

Wow Jay, I didn't know you just started (relatively speaking). I'd
always assumed that that you had been flying for a long long time from
your contributions here and and your enthusiasm. I started when I was
17, now almost thirty nine, but flight time has been far and few in
between because of lack of money. I'm a renter. That reminds me, I
gotta get my medical and BFR.

Bryan

I always tell people that I wasted the first 35 years of my life on the
ground, gazing skyward. (I learned to fly at age 35...)

Wow Jay, I didn't know you just started (relatively speaking).

Well, I'm 46 now, Bryan -- so I guess I don't feel like I "just started"
flying...

But I do envy your 22 years in the air. I wanted to start at age 17,
believe me, but I just didn't know how....

Which is why I feel it is our duty to help the next generation avoid the
mistakes I made. How many folks like me NEVER got off the ground, simply
because they NEVER figured out the fact that they could do it?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

But I do envy your 22 years in the air. I wanted to start at age 17,
believe me, but I just didn't know how....

You can't be sure you'd still be flying. Along would have come women,
university, military service, recessions, wars, marriage, children ...

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
the blog www.danford.net

On Sat, 30 Oct 2004 01:56:14 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:



But I WOULD like to know the signs that were noted prior to relinquishing
the left seat, by those who have done so.

I think that that is real simple. if you feel you cant fly the
aircraft safely with the windsock horizontal then you need to evaluate
why. if some practise wont get you back on top of it then you need to
think seriously about getting an aeroplane you can fly. ie trade in
your hot little homebuilt for a cessna 150.
the two oldest guys I know still flying ( at 80 and 86 ) have no
intention of stopping voluntarily.

another friend had a heart attack and managed the aspirin under the
tongue trick and was back in the air with 3 stents in 3 months.
another who suffered a small stroke and had some damage from it will
never be medically signed off to fly again.

voluntarily no one decides to stop flying unless they've had a scare.
involuntarily, a medical hiccup can do it.

Stealth Pilot

voluntarily no one decides to stop flying unless they've had a scare.

I guess that's the part I was wondering about. What's "the scare" that
makes them hang it up?

Was it a momentary lapse of reason? Not being able to remember a clearance
or a frequency? Inability to land the plane smoothly? Confusion over which
runway is which? Not sure from which direction to enter the pattern?

What I've just described has happened to me and Mary over the years -- and
probably to everyone reading this -- at least a couple of times. At our age
we have laughed it off as just a just momentary stupidity -- but when does
it become "a sign" of real problems?

I guess it's just a question that every pilot must answer in their own way,
when the time comes. I've only met one pilot who was admittedly on his
"final flight" -- and he was clearly in physical and mental decline, and
well into his 80s.

I wonder if there is any correlation between advanced age and aircraft
accidents? (I'll bet Richard Collins has written at least five columns on
this over the years...)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Stealth Pilot wrote:
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.
weight training is actually a poor choice. the muscles being exercised
are too small and really all you are doing is exacerbating
hypertension.

That's not always the case. I've read studies that show that weight
training is also beneficial to cardio-vascular health, in addition to
aerobic excersise. I've weight trained, along with 30 minutes on a
stationary bike, three times a week, for the last 18 years, and my blood
pressure is just fine.

--- Jay


--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

Jay Honeck wrote:
voluntarily no one decides to stop flying unless they've had a scare.

I guess that's the part I was wondering about. What's "the scare" that
makes them hang it up?


After 18 years/1000 hrs. of flying, I periodically think about giving it
up (and I'm 5 years younger than you) for a variety of reasons. I haven't
had a particular event that scared me (recently, atleast), but I do allow
my fear of heights to get the best of me, occasionally. I did stop flying
IFR, because I didn't feel like I was practicing enough to be safe. More
often, I think about how I should be spending my money on something else,
or that I don't feel like being bothered with getting medicals or BFRs or
annuals on the plane. I don't feel like being bothered with the
Washington, DC airspace. I could start participating in other hobbies
like boating, horseback riding, motorcycling or restoring my old muscle
car, more than I can now. There are a lot of reasons why someone might
choose to stop flying.

--- Jay



--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

More often, I think about how I should be spending my money on something
else,
or that I don't feel like being bothered with getting medicals or BFRs or
annuals on the plane. I don't feel like being bothered with the
Washington, DC airspace. I could start participating in other hobbies
like boating, horseback riding, motorcycling or restoring my old muscle
car, more than I can now. There are a lot of reasons why someone might
choose to stop flying.

For sure. Everything in life is a balance.

I've often thought about how the money I've poured into aviation in the last
decade could have been better spent. We could be living in a friggin'
mansion, we could be driving a brand new Mercedes, a brand new Harley, we
could have gone on cruises, toured Europe (back when that sounded like fun),
and sent our kids to the finest private schools.

On the other hand, I would not have experienced the utter joy of watching
the sunrise from 5000 feet, the satisfaction of spending many more days with
my dying mother in Wisconsin, nor would I have experienced the pride of
owning a fine aircraft. All those fly-ins, all those Oshkosh's, all those
Sun N Funs, all the great people I've met, and (not least of all) our recent
career change would certainly never have happened.

And I'd still be on the ground, gazing skyward, wondering...

When you get right down to it, we really like our modest ranch home, our '97
Subaru and '00 Mustang convertible are terrific, our '86 GoldWing runs just
fine, cruises sound boring, Europe sucks, and the schools in Iowa City are
some of the finest public schools in the nation -- so what the hell.

Flying is life. When I'm in the air, I feel alive, and when I'm on the
ground, I'm plotting new ways to get back in the air! Everything else is
just window dressing.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay -

A couple years back at Oshkosh there was a fellow selling a beautiful
Cessna 170. It was his dad's - then about 83, and getting too old to
fly. I asked him what went first - driving, or flying. He thought
quite a bit & finally noted that his dad' driving ability went first.

66 years with 27 years in my own 172M

Jay Honeck wrote:

Flying is life. When I'm in the air, I feel alive, ....

Ok. Now imagine for a second if you didn't feel that way in the air. When it becomes
just the same hour 60 times a year (or 50, or 30), would you think it's time to hang
it up?

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.