On making it difficult for everyone else

"Wayne Paul" wrote in message
...

A few years ago an elderly pilot, whose ability to fly far exceeds mine,
determined it was time to give up the sport. He had just completed an
outstanding flight from Sun Valley, Idaho. During the after flight
debriefing (you know, beer and "there I was, scratching the Bolders") he
stated he wanted his memories of flying to be the great flight he and just
finished and put his Mini-Nimbus on the market.

Though we miss him when we fly, we all adminre his wisdom and judgement.

Wayne
HP-14 "6F"
http://www.soaridaho.com/

My father-in -law (now deceased alas) was driving cars well into his
eighties. He was a very keen driver - he had learned on a Model T when he
was doing his BS at Carnegie Mellon in the 20s. We used to lunch together
from time to time and yarn (both of us were engineers with loads of
stories). Normally I drove us to the lunch spot, but on this particular day
he said he would drive. We had our usual jolly lunch and as I paid the bill
he passed his car keys across the table to me and said ' The car's yours
now; I'm not driving any more'. A very sensible decision by a man for whom I
had enormous respect. I would hope that all pilots would be able to face
facts as he did. There is no shame in flying with a safety pilot. When my
time comes (soon) I will accept this gracefully.

Alistair Wright