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Getting Older and When to Quit

David-aviator

Well Known Member
This subject probably is of no interest to most here but it is a sure thing for all of us eventually.

Time passes, we grow up and before you know it, you're a senior citizen. (old pilot here) The older you are the quicker time seems to pass, has something to do with years lived and length of day. A day is a very long time for a 2 year old, a flash in the pan for an 80 year old.

I've been thinking about quitting lately, don't know why, its just happening. Five years ago I was not.

I still love to climb into, (put on, wear the RV-8) run a simple little check list, crank it up, check ATIS, chat with tower guys getting to runway if area quiet, blast off and become detached for mother earth. It is fun, some days a lot of fun if it isn't too bumpy. Sight seeing along the Missouri River west of St Louis is interesting, relaxing and a favorite thing to do. Some days climb above clouds to 6-8000' and do vey mild aerobatics. It's being up there, perhaps nearer to God, that makes it so enjoyable. Something pilots do and cherish.

So why the thoughts about quitting? I don't know. Maybe someone here has had similar thoughts and would share them.

One factor may be becoming too relaxed in an airplane. There is a thin live between being fearless (relaxed) and carelessness. Example, I force myself to use a simple check list...probably could survive without it, but experience tells me such habits are a good idea in this business.

Incapacitation in flight? I think about that a lot. At age, 77, I could drop dead anytime without warning. It happens. I feel good but am not going to live forever. I guess bottom line with that thought is what does it matter, sitting on couch drinking a beer or flying, either way it is over. I guess sitting on couch, a quick trip to hospital may put off inevitable for a while. They say if heart attack is not fatal right off, getting to hospital within 4 hours is good idea.

Is there anyone here who has a quit and would share their thoughts on the subject?

Thanks.
 
When to quit

Been thinking about that day myself, but not for a few more years.
I've observed my peers aging and have a gradual step down plan in place for my transition.

Already I have cut out routine night flying, and never night IFR. Since I no longer get paid to fly, I do not accept a must get there by xx mission. Eventually I'll be a day VFR local pilot

Yesterday a young lady instructor and her student were killed nearby when a very old man in a Bonanza descended onto her plane on final approach. (The official reports are not out yet) Perhaps he should have hung it up some time back.

My own father who is 91 seems to have gotten more cocky as he has aged about his flying ability and at age 90 was ticked that I would not let him fly the Luscombe in Atlanta class B.

I've flown with some good seniors and some bad ones. One of my heroes once flew on asking me why his plane would not speed up. I suggested raising the gear and it did wonderful things to performance.

Clearing seems to go away and fixation on radios, maps, etc seem to happen as one ages.

One of my favorite Psalms says "teach me to number my days, oh Lord, that I may present to thee a heart of wisdom."
 
Oi Vay,:confused: I'm right behind you. Don't know how many years I have left, but it crosses my mind all the time. Don't wanna quit, still having too much fun.
 
I watched a documentary on Gene Cernan yesterday, "Last Man on the Moon." He is 82 and flies a twin. I think you all have a few flying years left.
 
I watched a documentary on Gene Cernan yesterday, "Last Man on the Moon." He is 82 and flies a twin. I think you all have a few flying years left.

Just because there are instances of people my age running a marathon doesn't mean I can......
 
Getting old

I'm not "getting" old - I'm there. Just enjoyed BD #78 and enjoy flying my 8A but.... No more night flights. Few extended cross country flights. Limited single pilot IFR with significantly higher personal minimums. My solution: I'll be selling my 8A soon and flying my RV-12. She will scratch my flying itch with local VFR day flights, every night in her hanger. Still take the wife for the weekend brunch/lunch flights. Do more talking about flying than actually doing it. Hey, did I tell you about the time I .......
 
What a great conversation.

Hey David,
What a great conversation to be having. The fact that it has actually occurred to you to think about it probably tips the odds of safely culminating your flying career very much in your favor.
One way of thinking about it is to consider the balance of risk and reward. How much risk are you prepared to take for the reward flying brings. That's not so say there should be no risk, but to prompt an investigation of ways of making it as safe as reasonably practicable for as long as you wish to keep doing it.

You already mention using a checklist. Helps make up for a diminishing memory.
You can pick and chose the time and place you fly so the weather is within your capabilities on any given day.
You could increase your personal currency requirements. Three take off and landings every month rather than every three months or a check with a CFI every year rather than every other year are a couple of examples.
You mention incapacitation but I think that while it could be catastrophic statistically it is pretty unlikely, I recall seeing some stats that it only accounts for less than 1% of fatalities. But if it worries you the RV-8 has two seats so you could always fly with a pilot friend of CFI so they can fly the plane in the unfortunate circumstances that you are not able to. When you decide you are not up to flying as PIC get a friend checked out in the plane and have them take you flying.
When you decide to give it away don't make a big thing of the last flight. Better still make this decision after a flight rather than before one.

Cheers
Nige
 
As a physician

This comes up in my line of work all the time. When does the cumulative effect of aging (both physically and mentally) lead to a level of dysfunction that can be unsafe. As you can imagine, the aging surgeon is often the last to recognize when things are starting to become an issue. We often define our being by our ability to operate and can't bear to let go.

As pointed out, the fact that you are thinking about it makes you likely to recognize when there is a problem and bow out with grace.

We also owe it to our friends and ourselves to gently approach people who may not have your insight.

The love of flight doesn't have to perish with the decision to give up being PIC.

I've often thought of the "Old Eagles", people we fly with because it brings them happiness and us "young guys" can learn so much from them.
 
David: Having just read you comments about aging and flying the first thing that came to my mine was the recent loss of your wife and the tremendous void that is now so evident in your daily routine.

I don't have an answer to your question, age consideration is legitimate however, there may/are other factors driving your concerns.
 
I think the very fact that you are asking the question is a good sign. I have seen a couple of sad cases where aging pilots were not aware enough to even ask the question. In one case (and this is the only good reason I know of for a medical) his AME would not sign him off, on grounds of general mental incompetence.
 
One of our lunch group is ~87 and let his medical lapse 10+ years ago. He has continued flying but with a succession of babysitters - all 20-something female CFI's. We've tried to convince him to get his medical or go LSA but he's comfortable with that arrangement. Needless to say we're happy to have them in our group.
 
Attitudes - Unusual and Other

FWIW, I have a slightly different take on this (I'm 73+).

The opportunity to fly is just one admittedly very important part of aging. I feel one's whole lifestyle activities should be integrated into a dynamic attitude adjustment process that indicates overall fitness, capability and mental awareness.

I have an annual physical in addition to my every other year AME visit. Even though I no longer need to work for an income, I do so for the activity and mental challenges and have noticed no drop off in performance (supposedly, neither has my boss). I go to the gym four times a week and among other things, do weight training. I seem to plateau at a given weight, but haven't lost strength. I am an avid solo wilderness backpacker - an activity that has produced the first signs of degraded performance (I may be old, but I've become really slow going uphill with a 50 lb. pack). I subscribe to over 15 magazines - astronomy, aviation, trains, military history, news, finance, science, health, consumer affairs, etc - and still read and understand them all. I am active in the local community - including the public forum of airport district board president, where the local aviation crowd would not hesitate to note degraded or inconsistent performance. I also serve as treasurer of the SETP Foundation and on the SETP Membership Committee, where individual opinions are open to criticism, requiring a certain degree of logic and coherence.

And always, still, "I'd Rather Be Flying".

The above serves as a multi-faceted baseline for measuring acceptable performance. I hope that when any start to degrade, I have the common sense and self-discipline to evaluate my lifestyle and knowingly adjust.

Can't guarantee that I will - but at least I have metrics to compare past and current performance.
 
I am currently an old eagle pilot. I take my 87 year old father flying every weekend in his RV-6. He no longer wants to touch the controls, but enjoys every flight we take. I plan to do the same when I get there. I'm sure I can find a quality PIC (especially if I'm footing the bill).
 
I am currently an old eagle pilot. I take my 87 year old father flying every weekend in his RV-6. He no longer wants to touch the controls, but enjoys every flight we take. I plan to do the same when I get there. I'm sure I can find a quality PIC (especially if I'm footing the bill).

If he can get OUT of a 6 at 87, he is miles above most his age! Good for him, and you.
 
I'm in my late 60s. A much younger friend, wondering about her own father who is about my age, discussed with me how to tell him he shouldn't be driving. Made me think about myself. Right now I'm okay, and if I ever had to quit driving, there are enough transportation options in town that I'd probably be okay then too.

And then it hit me - if I couldn't drive, how would I get out to the airport to go flying? :p

Dave
 
Case by case

Very interesting thread from my perspective. I've always thought that airline pilots were forced to retire too early - plenty of them could be healthy and sharp into their late 60s or early 70s, I think. In GA, we have a lot more freedom to make the choice on our own. And now, when FAA medical reform is enacted, we'll have even more leeway to determine for ourselves if we're fit to fly, a least for a few years. Like most medical issues, is a VERY individualized assessment. From a medical perspective, "old" is definitely relative. I see patients daily who I wouldn't want to be in the air in their 30s or 40s because their overall health is so bad that they really could drop dead at anytime. Hopefully, they would not even qualify for an initial medical. But I also see those who, if they were pilots could be flying at 80 or beyond because their healthier than the average 50 year old. As patients become older, there are two general categories - those who begin to recognize their limits (most people), and the few who ignore limits and warning signs (more than I would like to see). I'm relatively young - only 54 - and am just about to hopefully pull the trigger (in the spring) on starting a -10. I hope to be able to complete it and fly it for many years. I agree 100% with one of the posts above - asking this question is a good start. When we, like some of my patients, refuse to see reality, that's when danger approaches. No matter what age we are, if the question of ability to safely fly is answered honestly, then there's really no reason to become grounded. The Catch-22 is that sometimes judgment begins to wane as we get older, so we need to be confident that our answer to the question is rational. So as we age, I think safety more frequently demands that we seek expert medical counsel regarding our capacity to fly. Coupling that with our own assessment of comfort and confidence level should lead to the right choice.
 
Two fears of every pilot

Not sure who said it but there are two things every pilot fears.

1. The day a pilot gets in an airplane knowing it will be his last flight

2. The day a pilot gets in an airplane not knowing it will be his last flight.


David-Aviator, I am 18-years younger than you and I also think about the same things you do. I am sure that all of us hope we are smart enough to know when we should make our last successful flight. They say every landing you walk away from is a good landing and every landing that you walk away from plus can use the airplane over again is a great landing.
 
As many have said, this is indeed an excellent topic of conversation. What brings me the most joy in reading it is the respect shown here for those "Old Eagles". As a 50-something guy, it is a certainty that those with a little more snow on the roof can still teach me a thing or two. All one has to do is to slow down a little and listen to the lesson.

An eariler poster mentioned the RV8 has two seats. That, to me, is the ticket to on-going aviation happiness. I'm fortunate enough to have a close friend who is in his late 80's. He no longer has a medical. A few years ago I noticed he and his wife were struggling to man-handle the airplane into the hangar. I jumped in to help, and that was the beginning of a very good thing. He and I fly together, him in the left seat, me as "PIC on paper". He can still nail a crosswind landing, then turn the controls over to me to see if I can do it as well as he. Frequently my results come up well short of his.

He has taken a huge hit to his ego/pride to surrender his ability to fly solo. In return, he has found a way to keep aviating, to keep his own aircraft, and through me, to ensure the aircraft is maintained in an airworthy fashion.

I have no idea how long we will continue doing this - he will make the call when the time comes. In the meantime, I am tremendously honoured and privileged to fly as his right seater. There is little finer in life than sitting in the cockpit as the gyros wind down, seeing the smile on his face and knowing that he has once again experienced the simple joy of flight.
 
Little insight from a friend perspective

I have a very close friend who is 89 years young and continues to fly his globe swift numerous times a week.

His passion in life....wife and flying.

His wife is now in a home with full blown alzhiemers. She doesnt recognize him any more, but insists when she sees him that he should meet her husband.

The point is that he has lost one of his passions, and I truly believe that if he lost his other passion, he would fail to see any other worth in his life.

I've flown with him recently and he's sharp and quick and completely on the ball. He can still form up on you like he was still flying fighters!

If you have the skills to keep going safely, enjoy the freedom that we experience when we strap on those aircraft and get to do what many people dont.

If the passion is fading away, then maybe it's time to hang those wings up.

Keep the passion alive if you can. For him, i think it may be all that is left.


Don
 
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interesting topic, david.

despite approaching the topic from the other end of the age bracket, i feel that i can already relate very well...
determining when it's the right time may not be so easy and may take balls. i hope i'll be able to make that call (and without having to be forced) when the time comes. hopefully decades? from now...

i was once assisting an older gentleman, who had picked up flying relatively late in his career, with phase 1 testing. he also had spent a significant effort in time and money to build and finish his experimental aircraft.
i have to say, i admire how he managed to gracefully retreat from flying just about as the project was finished and he could have started to reap the benefits of owning the airplane. so there were certainly many pros to keep flying (that particular airplane). making the right decision at that moment took a lot of courage and in a way must have questioned all the time, sweat and money that went into the project.
but plans, priorities and health change over the years. sharpness definitely goes down (a fact known very well in controller circles). the rate of decrease however is very individual.
i think what did it for him was a combination of many little "pointers". nothing major, but the new and much faster (not RV but similar perfomance) aircraft type being a hand full compared to the spam cans, having to navigate much quicker to avoid controlled airspaces and/or having to do much more talking to atc proved to be challenging / turned out to be more of a chore than fun for him. he was also very receptive to feedback and realized how much workload could be reduced by having a second pilot in the cockpit, workload which would ultimately end up on the PIC. and transitioning from the building portion to the flying portion in a project is already challenging for practically all builders, even in their best days.
i'm certain he could have flown safely and happily for quite a bit longer on a spam can or other lower performance aircraft, or with an assistant in the cockpit, but that was hardly the point now that the plane was completed and as a retiree time could finally be spent taking the plane everywhere he had dreamt.
so he decided to sell and quit altogether.

i feel a similar situation a lot of us RV buffs might find ourselves in eventually.
should one scale/slow down (at maybe even some extra effort/expense) or quit altogether... some of that may not mean changing the airplane but increasing personal minimums or buffers. a windy day remains a windy day, though.

scaling down/slowing down may in fact be even harder than quitting!
what the right option is depends a lot on personal choice and situation. getting an honest opinion from peers might help with that.

good luck with finding when and what's right for you!

happy landings,
bernie
 
Several years ago I noticed that when IMC/IFR IN A 200 knot airplane the plane was entering the approach and on final a few minutes before my brain was.

I quit IMC and night flying and stepped down to a 140 knot airplane day vfr only..

That worked for awhile and as I noticed my reflexs slowwing, I got lucky (relatively speaking) and an unrelated health issue ended my flying days. But I am certain they were coming to an end just based on physical and mental capabilities.

Another thing I noticed towards the end was that the effort of preparation for flight followed by securing the plane and cleaning it started to exceed the joy of flying.

My last flight was 5 years ago and I can say I do not miss it except when driving 10 hours to get where my plane used to take me in 2 hrs.

David faces a decision exclusively tailored to him. Calendar age is irrelevant.
It is not an easy decision but one we will all face one day for a variety of reasons.

Time, money, health, physical limitaitions, mental capacity, +++.

Life is tough, then you die. :eek:
 
When to quit

A family friend flew solo at age 95. He was a very health conscious man and probably weighed the same at 95 as he had at 20. John Miller flew his Bonanza until age 99. Another very health conscious man.
The real questions are:
Do you now or have you ever smoked?
Is your weight within normal parameters for your height?
Do you exercise regularly? If your answers are no,yes,yes, you can probably fly until age 90.
As the pilot shortage becomes more critical some in their 70's are returning to commercial flying. Some who have flown privately are flying commercially as a second career.
The late Henry Haigh won the World Aerobatic Contest at age 65. That is as demanding as civilian flying gets.
There are over 4800 active pilots in the US over age 80.
 
This is a great thread. I never knew smoking made you fly bad though. I consider it to be conditioning. I live fairly high and am as well acclimated as I'm going to get. I fly around the low teens all the time here. People from down below ask me what I do for oxygen. I tell them "I put my cigarette out".
 
An elderly man was driving down the local freeway when his wife called him on his cell phone. "Be careful Harry. The radio just announced that some crazy idiot is driving the wrong way on the freeway!" Harry replied in a state of panic: "Just one? There are hundreds of idiots going the wrong way!"

It may be a good idea to listen to those who love us when they tell us it's time to hang it up.
 
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this subject.

Pulling back, like not flying in circumstances that were routine 25 years ago appears to be common. The envelope is smaller than it was.

At our age we have the time and can pick and choose when to fly. I don't like turbulence but still go out to prove I can do it. :) It is amazing how rough it can be some days, or maybe it just seems so.

It is comfort knowing others are wondering when to quit.
 
What's my last mission

I think a lot depends on your attitude.

This is the accident report on the aircraft I'm repairing. And in anecdotal conversations... Single 89yo; not the first (second or third) incident and his landings where so hard, nobody would fly with him anymore. He no longer had a medical, stopped bothering with annuals. Honestly and seriously the situation make makes me ask myself; what will be my last flight?

NTSB Report
 
Interesting topic, David, and the responses will be as varied as the experiences of the responders.

I spent a few years lusting after RVs at Oshkosh, then began building an -8 soon after they were introduced (#113.) I spent 13 years building, then launched anxiously in August of '09. The adrenaline rush that I experienced on that first takeoff was unlike anything I had ever known!

Fast-forward 7 years. I'm only 62, but the last few flights in Smokey were simply no fun for me. I don't think it was related to age, but more to personality. I seem to notice shiny balls and squirrels, according to our former 8th-grade teacher daughter, who diagnosed me with AADD -- Adult ADD. I don't stick with anything for very long.

For me, flying became boring. I didn't have anyone to fly with, my wife didn't like to fly, and each mission became the same -- take off, fly over the house, do a few rolls, then return and clean off the bugs. I just fell out of love with aviation.

I still look up when a plane flies overhead (especially the F-16s and -35s out of Luke AFB!), but have no desire to be up there. Been there, done that. It was just time for me to explore other, less expensive, hobbies.

To many it seems a shame that I invested 20 years of my life in building and flying a plane, only to sell it and never fly again. But if it ceases to become fun and exhilarating, why do it? Besides, I met some really fantastic friends here and at Oshkosh who will remain my friends.

That's MY story.
 
One of our lunch group is ~87 and let his medical lapse 10+ years ago. He has continued flying but with a succession of babysitters - all 20-something female CFI's. We've tried to convince him to get his medical or go LSA but he's comfortable with that arrangement. Needless to say we're happy to have them in our group.

H-m-m-m, All 20 something females-----that sly fox.:D:D
 
Well there may be hope for me to continue yet. Don't smoke, am fit, not overweight. I can even still get in and out of my second plane the Corby Starlet so the RV4 is dead easy.
I hope to go on until I no longer enjoy it. At this time I have no desire to fly longer than about an hour.
What is needed is someone to point up if I start doing stupid things.
Looking at the general population, overweight and unable to concentrate on driving a car at 60 years of age, I think pilots seem to look after themselves slightly better.
My old CFI, who I think would be getting around 85 or more, still flies a KR2.
 
Late bloomer has case of denial.

I soloed in 1954. I tell friends I'm still 19 on the inside. My third wife and I (one divorce, one death) started building an RV-7 when I got bored at age 80. It will enter phase one next spring. We are members of a group planning flights to Alaska. Plan for life. There's plenty of time to be depressed later. :D
 
David,

Quitting seems so permanent.

I rarely miss a thread or post you write. I have tremendous respect for you and I've never even met you. I hope to someday. You are modest. Not a braggart. You have great character. You are a gentleman. You don't seem to get into long drawn out unwinnable arguments. You are a great story teller. You are a committed loving and dedicated husband. You must miss her terribly. You have shared very personal stuff with us here and I am grateful.

There's something about the way you write and express yourself that grabs my attention.

It started after I bought my RV-8 and went to pick it up in at a remote airport in Arizona. The WX at home in Norcal was bad and so I remained in Arizona trying to figure out how to land my new 8 without killing myself. My landings were terrible. So bad A crowd had gathered to watch me crash. None offered to help. I was about to quit. Yep quit, walk away. Leave my plane there and fly home on the airliners.

On that second night, in desperation I combed through threads on VAF and came across many of your writings on how you and others accomplished landed your RV-8 ("RV-8 wheel landing...."). Sir, you have a remarkable way of expressing how its done.

On that third day the crowd had increased along side the runway at that Arizona airport to watch my destruction. They were like vultures. Many brought chairs and umbrellas. None wanted to miss the incident I would certainly cause.

Happily I can say the vultures never got feed that day, not by me at least, thanks to my application of your instructional words. With each good landing the crowd thinned. Soon they were all gone, maybe there was a wreak on the freeway to go see.

With this new confidence, I knew I could make it home safely in my new RV-8 and land safely all along the way as long as I applied what I have learned by you and others during the conversation you inspired on a VAF thread. I give tons of credit to you for that! You helped me. You have gained tremendous credibility with me. Thanks for that.

For selfish reasons I hope you don't quit. I really enjoy reading about your adventures. You can dissect the mundane stuff and make it super interesting. Challenges me to go out and try it myself.

Heck, you said in a recent thread that you fly nearly everyday. Wow! Everyday. That's a lot. Maybe your just feeling a little burned out. I hope that's the case. Warriors need rest too. A couple days off could cure that.

Thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom and experience with a low-time pilot like me. Its been encouraging, motivational and challenging. Just what I need to be a better, safer pilot. God Bless you David.
 
David,

I saw this thread and passed on commenting.

I have not read the comments before and am writing this now.

Here we are, days later and you are now older....:D

You may have seen me on the forums, you have been here for a while (it gets worse).

Things have happened in my life this week that have changed my already biased opinion to our brief rented occupancy of our world, and in our wonderful flying community.

One of our most wonderful friends, Elizabeth, has just found out that her previously beaten cancer has returned.

Writing this is difficult as I am struggling to see the keyboard....

David,

You are here, still. You carry on and fly, either by yourself, or with your friends forever.

You stop, when you stop, when you sputter out.

Contact me, let us find a way to get together and enjoy a flight with you as PIC , or let me have the privilege of taking you up somehow.


I am in the UK, but fly longhaul and can get to places now and again.

Missouri isn't far from most places.

Stop thinking about stopping and think about how to start again, with friends, with kindred spirits and people who will fly you.

M
 
David,

Quitting seems so permanent.

I rarely miss a thread or post you write. I have tremendous respect for you and I've never even met you. I hope to someday. You are modest. Not a braggart. You have great character. You are a gentleman. You don't seem to get into long drawn out unwinnable arguments. You are a great story teller. You are a committed loving and dedicated husband. You must miss her terribly. You have shared very personal stuff with us here and I am grateful.

There's something about the way you write and express yourself that grabs my attention.

It started after I bought my RV-8 and went to pick it up in at a remote airport in Arizona. The WX at home in Norcal was bad and so I remained in Arizona trying to figure out how to land my new 8 without killing myself. My landings were terrible. So bad A crowd had gathered to watch me crash. None offered to help. I was about to quit. Yep quit, walk away. Leave my plane there and fly home on the airliners.

On that second night, in desperation I combed through threads on VAF and came across many of your writings on how you and others accomplished landed your RV-8 ("RV-8 wheel landing...."). Sir, you have a remarkable way of expressing how its done.

On that third day the crowd had increased along side the runway at that Arizona airport to watch my destruction. They were like vultures. Many brought chairs and umbrellas. None wanted to miss the incident I would certainly cause.

Happily I can say the vultures never got feed that day, not by me at least, thanks to my application of your instructional words. With each good landing the crowd thinned. Soon they were all gone, maybe there was a wreak on the freeway to go see.

With this new confidence, I knew I could make it home safely in my new RV-8 and land safely all along the way as long as I applied what I have learned by you and others during the conversation you inspired on a VAF thread. I give tons of credit to you for that! You helped me. You have gained tremendous credibility with me. Thanks for that.

For selfish reasons I hope you don't quit. I really enjoy reading about your adventures. You can dissect the mundane stuff and make it super interesting. Challenges me to go out and try it myself.

Heck, you said in a recent thread that you fly nearly everyday. Wow! Everyday. That's a lot. Maybe your just feeling a little burned out. I hope that's the case. Warriors need rest too. A couple days off could cure that.

Thank you for taking the time to share your wisdom and experience with a low-time pilot like me. Its been encouraging, motivational and challenging. Just what I need to be a better, safer pilot. God Bless you David.

Charlie, thank you for the kind words. Not sure I deserve them but I am pleased my meager findings regarding landing the RV-8 helped you.

Truth is there is wide range of expertise, skill and experience represented here in all manner of flying. I am no where near the top or maybe not even in middle but I am a survivor. I have had stuff happen and somehow come out the other end reasonable ok.

With regard to landing the 8, I cannot do a decent 3 point landing in it. (period) I do not have the skill to do it. I can do it in a Citabria but not the 8. So wheel landings it is, they work all the time and that makes flying the airplane fun.

With regard to loosing a wife. That's tough but it is not he end of the world. Truth is (again) I was relieved when she passed away, her final months were just awful for her and everyone who knew her. She could not help what was happening, it simply was her time to leave us. God called her home. That's the way it is.

I have a few very good close friends. That makes life worth living more than the airplane. But the airplane is important It is like a faithful mistress, she is always there to tease me on, challenge me to do it better, and the reward is getting off the the planet and being up where only we pilots find peace and comfort.

It is a very special place and I am not about to quit going there, I just wonder how much longer I will be welcome doing it. (from a perspective of mental and physical capabilities)

I guess that's why I ask for some feed back on the subject, what are other pilots thinking?

The response is encouraging, you 80-year-olds are roll models par excellent.:)

Thanks to all who have shared their thoughts on the subject.
 
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