Am I too old to fly?

On Dec 19, 10:00*am, Mxsmanic wrote:
writes:
Because the requirements for a medical are rather rigid while the requirements
for a sport pilot is the rather flexible "safe to fly".

I've just explained why they are one and the same.

Once again you see everything as black and white and can't decern shades of
grey nor do you seem to be able to understand the concepts of two sets of
standards.

Like a lawyer, in other words.

You would fail your medical with a blood pressure reading of 156,
which is 1 mm over the limit for the medical, but there is no one (except
maybe you) who would make the claim that a person is safe to fly with a
blood pressure of 155 but not with a blood pressure of 156.

Then why isn't the limit 157?

There is little doubt that the risk of a 'cardiovascular
accident' (stroking or MI) increases with increasing blood pressure.
Of minor interest is in a location I am familiar with when people are
subjected to a max effort treadmill test and their blood pressure as
well as EKG is being monitored, the test will stop when (ready for
this?) the BP exceeds 260 over I forgot what. The moral of the story
may be steady state hypertension does long term damage to organs, but
the chance of something sudden happening is probably fairly remote,
even for hypertensives.

The FAA thinks in terms of cut-offs, but we all know the risk increase
is gradual, not abrupt. I am not sure but wonder if the BP limit is
something for which one can get a waiver, just as I had gotten one for
vision to get a Class 2 medical instead of the Class 3 I would have
otherwise gotten.

It's a pleasure to see an occasional posting that is actually related
to aviation!