Am I too old to fly?

On Mon, 13 Dec 2010 04:39:51 -0800 (PST), Philip Mellinger
wrote:

I was thinking about taking up flying, but
not sure if I'm too old. I'm 62. Is this a bad
idea or should I go for it?

---
Philip Mellinger

Philip, If you have any known physical conditions which might preclude
getting a third class medical you could go directly to sport pilot.
Otherwise there are many pilots flying at your age and I know a few
who flew well into their 90s. Just keep an open mind and don't let
your ego get in the way of learning.

On 12/13/2010 5:39 AM, Philip Mellinger wrote:
I was thinking about taking up flying, but
not sure if I'm too old. I'm 62. Is this a bad
idea or should I go for it?

---
Philip Mellinger
My instructor is a lady and I think she is about 74 years old. She has
been flying for about 20 or 25 years.
I am 39 and started taking lessons back in April and having a ball with it.

Cheers,
Chris

"Chris AKA (Dude)" wrote:
On 12/13/2010 5:39 AM, Philip Mellinger wrote:
I was thinking about taking up flying, but
not sure if I'm too old. I'm 62. Is this a bad
idea or should I go for it?

---
Philip Mellinger
My instructor is a lady and I think she is about 74 years old. She has
been flying for about 20 or 25 years.
I am 39 and started taking lessons back in April and having a ball
with it.

I saw your post on a.g.m.f-s that you have resumed flying after a long
layoff due to someone bending your training plane. Have you managed to solo
yet?

Between Thanksgiving travel by me, some travel by my instructor, and
typical Oregon weather I last flew Nov. 17 and only finally flew again
today (Dec. 15). (I soloed Nov. 3)

Solo was thankfully unremarkable and with no angst at all - the nice parts
being that I didn't feel as cramped (it's a C-152) and less dead weight
made the climb rate a bit better. :-)

On 12/15/2010 6:11 PM, Jim Logajan wrote:
"Chris AKA wrote:
On 12/13/2010 5:39 AM, Philip Mellinger wrote:
I was thinking about taking up flying, but
not sure if I'm too old. I'm 62. Is this a bad
idea or should I go for it?

---
Philip Mellinger
My instructor is a lady and I think she is about 74 years old. She has
been flying for about 20 or 25 years.
I am 39 and started taking lessons back in April and having a ball
with it.

I saw your post on a.g.m.f-s that you have resumed flying after a long
layoff due to someone bending your training plane. Have you managed to solo
yet?

Between Thanksgiving travel by me, some travel by my instructor, and
typical Oregon weather I last flew Nov. 17 and only finally flew again
today (Dec. 15). (I soloed Nov. 3)

Solo was thankfully unremarkable and with no angst at all - the nice parts
being that I didn't feel as cramped (it's a C-152) and less dead weight
made the climb rate a bit better. :-)

Yeah back in the air after almost 2 months off. Fortunately the plane
was ok. Some guy moved forward with the plane and struck a orange rubber
cone. No damage was done but because it was considered a "Prop Strike"
the engine did have to come out and get inspected.

Congrats on your solo. So are you working on cross country now?
I fly in a 2003 Archer III but it will be nice when she gets out and
there is more room like you said and better performance.

If any of you want to check out my videos of my flight training please
do. http://www.youtube.com/user/cholubaz I have cockpit video plus all
the ATC and COMMS of most every flight so far.

Cheers,
Chris

On Dec 17, 2:46*am, "Chris AKA (Dude)" wrote:

If any of you want to check out my videos of my flight training please
do.http://www.youtube.com/user/cholubazI have cockpit video plus all
the ATC and COMMS of most every flight so far.

Now that -is- busy...
Good place to learn. After that there's little that's going to faze
you..
Well done

Ed writes:

Philip, If you have any known physical conditions which might preclude
getting a third class medical you could go directly to sport pilot.

Actually, this is illegal. You are not eligible for a sport pilot license if
you are medically unfit to fly (and the inability to pass an aviation medical
is prima facie evidence of this). If you know you don't qualify medically, you
must not attempt to obtain the sport pilot license, as that would be
fraudulent.

Mxsmanic wrote:
Ed writes:

Philip, If you have any known physical conditions which might preclude
getting a third class medical you could go directly to sport pilot.

Actually, this is illegal.

No, it is not.

The short answer is the medical requirements for sport pilot are not as
strict as they are for a third class medical.

snip pontification


--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 22:31:26 +0100, Mxsmanic wrote:

Ed writes:

Philip, If you have any known physical conditions which might preclude
getting a third class medical you could go directly to sport pilot.

Actually, this is illegal. You are not eligible for a sport pilot license if
you are medically unfit to fly (and the inability to pass an aviation medical
is prima facie evidence of this). If you know you don't qualify medically, you
must not attempt to obtain the sport pilot license, as that would be
fraudulent.

Horse****, the determination of "fit for flight" is a medical one
performed only by a physician so approved. Once you flunked the
medical, /then/ you are screwed for the PPPL.

So don't take the medical /if/ you think you are going to flunk it.
--
A fireside chat not with Ari!
http://tr.im/holj
Motto: Live To Spooge It!

On 12/16/2010 12:35 PM, george wrote:
On Dec 17, 2:46 am, "Chris AKA wrote:

If any of you want to check out my videos of my flight training please
do.http://www.youtube.com/user/cholubazI have cockpit video plus all
the ATC and COMMS of most every flight so far.

Now that -is- busy...
Good place to learn. After that there's little that's going to faze
you..
Well done

Thanks George,
Yeah KDVT Deer Valley is the busiest GA airport in the country even over
Van Nuys
Your always talking to someone lol

Cheers,
Chris

"Chris AKA (Dude)" wrote:
Yeah back in the air after almost 2 months off. Fortunately the plane
was ok. Some guy moved forward with the plane and struck a orange
rubber cone. No damage was done but because it was considered a "Prop
Strike" the engine did have to come out and get inspected.


Congrats on your solo. So are you working on cross country now?

I just got signed off today to do solo landings at another untowered
airport (61S - Cottage Grove, OR) all of 8 NM away from my home field of
77S (Creswell, OR). The plan for next week is to fly to Eugene, OR
airport (KEUG), a towered field.

I fly in a 2003 Archer III but it will be nice when she gets out and
there is more room like you said and better performance.

Sounds nice! I think the C-152 I'm flying was built when Gondwana was
still whole. Runs fine though, and renter's insurance is cheap thanks to
its low replacement cost. :-)

If any of you want to check out my videos of my flight training please
do. http://www.youtube.com/user/cholubaz I have cockpit video plus all
the ATC and COMMS of most every flight so far.

I've looked at some of your videos. Quite demanding! On the other hand,
I've already had a NORDO (and no transponder, or at least not in mode C,
if my MRX is any indication) biplane do a straight-in touch-and-go that
we spotted on long final just about when I was going to turn base.

Another time, a transient (probably a student on cross-country) pulled
out onto the active when another plane was on short final. (The landing
plane announced a go-around of course.) Never heard any calls from her -
probably had the wrong frequency.

Then there was the plane we thought was NORDO but my instructor had a
hunch and called on a CTAF frequency that 77S used to have - and managed
to reach the plane (after they had landed.) He let them know the proper
frequency and that it had been changed. Off-air he told me the frequency
had changed about 3 years ago - so they were using mighty old information
or charts!

Today while doing a 360 turn to check for traffic before leaving 61S, I
spotted a plane that was almost above us. No signal on the MRX and no
radio calls, and with wind dead calm we weren't sure which way he would
go, so we just watched to see what he did. My CFI tried to raise him, but
with no luck. Eventually he turned and landed on the runway we were
using. After I had done my solo landings and my CFI had cooled his heels,
I learned from him that the NORDO pilot had come over to him and
apologized - he was using a handheld and could hear us, but he realized
after the radio call from my CFI that we couldn't hear him.

Oh - and yesterday after we got back and I was shutting things down I
discovered I had never turned the transponder switch from standby to
altitude mode. We were both annoyed that neither one of us caught that.