Like you, I was once young and vibrant. Under the right circumstances I’m still a fairly sparkly guy. But if I’m honest about the world around me and my reaction to it, I could use a nap. That’s been true for several years now.
The future is coming. Prepare thyself for the reality to come.
Yes, it’s true. There is a day waiting out there in the future of every single one of us we generally don’t want to think about. While we celebrate each new birthday with candles on cakes and ice cream with sprinkles, we slowly become aware over time that age is the abrasive that wears us down, little by little.
By the time we hit our prime, we’re almost fully committed to ignoring what awaits us. Why ruin a sunny day with talk of rain and mud? Still, just as we stock up on the essentials before a big storm, it’s worth putting some thought into the fate that awaits us — if, for no other reason, than we would rather make the most of the situation than suffer the consequences of being in denial until life hits us full force at the most unexpected time.
There very well may come a day when we can’t fly anymore. There will almost certainly come a day when we shouldn’t. We might still have the ability to climb into the cockpit, fire up the engine, and launch into a clear blue sky. Having the ability, however, does not mean it’s a good idea.
Safety really should be our number one priority — for our own sake, in consideration of our family and friends, and out of respect for those on the ground and in the air we might encounter unexpectedly.
When I was young, I had remarkable eyesight. Maybe even at the Chuck Yeager level of eagle eye vision. I could recognize a friend on the street from blocks away. When entering the tunnels at Grand Central Terminal in New York City, I could read the labels on the train cars at the front of the train while I was still aft of the rear section. My vision was so crisp and clear I had a hard time understanding why friends and family had difficulty reading or seeing what I could pick out so easily.
I understand their struggle now. I wear glasses. Corrective lenses. Trifocals. My eyesight is failing. Not rapidly, but it is going. Like most southerners with light colored eyes in my age bracket, I’m in the early stage of developing a cataract. I don’t even notice it at this point. One day I will, however. I’m told I’m too old for surgical intervention that might bring younger eyes back into shape. The acuity of my vision is on a downhill slide that will only get steeper, with no stops along the way.
My knees don’t work like they used to either. My legs still bend, but not without significant discomfort. I’m in the stage of disrepair that requires me to make a grunting sound when I stand from a sitting position. An exercise that now requires a bit of arm strength as I push off from any chair of normal height.
Although I use my own infirmities as an example of what age does to the human body, don’t mistake my meaning. I’m in good health for a man of my age. That qualifier is important: “For a man of my age.”
If I was in this shape in my 20s, I would be considered a mess. But I’m at retirement age, not in the spring of my youth. I require no medications to control my various biological functions. I am physically active. Sometimes too physically active, which results in aches and pains that last…well, they last. I suspect some will never go away.
All of this matters because health is a necessary component for being a competent, safe pilot. Age will rob most of us of our health at some point. At least physically.
This past weekend I met up with a young woman, her three children, and their father. The twin boys, 14 years old, are moderately interested in aviation. They’ve got no specific plan, just a casual interest in an industry and an activity that seems exciting. I assured them it is that and more.
In situations like this, one thing I tend to share is this: Flying an airplane is easy. A 10-year-old can generally be taught the basics of flight in just a few minutes. They can take the controls and pilot the aircraft reasonably well with a minimum of input from me in the right seat.
The trick is to spend the remainder of your flying years building up a body of knowledge that will help you make good decisions in a wide variety of scenarios as they reveal themselves. The learning never stops. Technology is updated, regulations change, procedures are refined. Nothing is static in aviation. And that is its gift to folks like me who have plenty of miles on the odometer of life.
We may have to give up flying altogether one day for health reasons. Or we may limit ourselves to only flying dual with a qualified pilot in the other seat. A safety pilot. Someone to be there should we need intervention, or advice, or assistance getting into or out of the aircraft.
But we will never have to leave aviation. As long as we have that body of knowledge squirreled away in our brain, we have value. Knowledge and experience become our currency.
Old pilots may walk with a shuffle, or stand with stooped shoulders, or carry a cane for reasons other than the affectation of looking classy. What their body lacks in strength, their mind makes up for in experience and insight. This is where mentors come from. This is where real wisdom can be found.
If you’ve got it, share it. If you need it, seek out one of those old pilots sitting in a rocking chair in the shade. They’ve got something to teach the rest of us.
That’s a real win-win situation.
Remove the words related to aviation and replace with “Fire Service”. While also a pilot, who didn’t fly for 28 years, and am now frantically trying to catch up with all the years I missed, my biggest loss was when I retired from the fire department. Things like this and aviation, you don’t just walk away from. I now have 45 years in the fire service, but no longer as a true ‘firefighter’. In the winter, I teach classes for a bachelor’s degree in emergency management and am Coordinator for the Wildland
Fire training program at a local college. This spring, we did almost 50 courses from beginning to advanced, and more than 650 enrollments. I also teach for the structural fire academy and the EMT classes.
But it’s pretty much in the classroom these days, and not much field work. I have not thrown on an air pack and crawled into the burn building in years. Hiking the line on a wildfire is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, and now work big fires in fire camp, supporting those out doing the real work. I also spend a lot of free time mentoring new kids, looking for a career in the fire and emergency services.
But now that I’m back into aviation, I’m planning to obtain my CFI, and to use my teaching skills in a different capacity. I don’t know how long that will last, due to what you have mentioned, but I hope to be a positive influence on the new kids interested in aviation, and not just those with fire in their eyes. Aviation has actually given me an alternative career option to replace the one I have loved so much. Aviation is a joy I will hold on to for as long as I can and will share with as many as I can before the last time I yell “Clear” out the window. Yes, there will still be a place for the storytellers. I hope people will still be willing to hear mine, when I can no longer be in the fire service, or climb into a cockpit.
You’re a true inspiration! I’d be interested in hearing your stories, and hope you’ll write a book. Teaching is a special gift that not evryone has.
Great article Jamie.
I am still not in my retirements years, but I am getting there. If you had asked me a year ago I would have said that I would be flying until I am 100 and will keep my three small airplanes. A few months later, I am starting to think that maybe having three airplanes is a little too much work and detracts from the enjoyment of flying. And despite being an ATP with airline experience I have given up flying IFR in a small plane entirely (well, living in Florida doesn’t give you too many opportunities to fly “easy” IFR). What I am trying to say is that we change and adapt to the circumstances. What is becoming more important to me is not dwell on what I am loosing but focusing on enjoying more what I can realistically do. If I can’t race at Reno anymore so be it. And I don’t mind. Maybe I will swap my LongEZ by a Cub one day. Cool!.
Thanks for letting me know I am not alone.
When my dad… a WWII fighter pilot… admitted that it was too hard, and no longer enjoyable, to get up on ladder to check the Cessna wing tanks… at 91-YO… he sold his bird… after a lifetime of flying.
A few years later, after very 2 minor accidents my sister and I ‘helped’ him sell his car and surrender his driver’s license. THOSE were some of the hardest day of my life. The 1943 photo of young-dad standing beside the long prop blade of his 80thFS P-40… jungle behind him… was burning in my brain. Thankfully, my sister held-up better than me.
“Just because You can, doesn’t mean You should.” –Lt. Col. Carlos A. Keasler
“As a pilot, only two bad things can happen to you… and one of them (eventually) will.
a. One day you will walk out to the aircraft knowing that it is your last flight.
b. One day you will walk out to the aircraft not knowing that it is your last flight.
–unknown
DANG. cough.
Sorry for some of my obvious typos… my eyes had something in them…
Places I frequented in 47 years of flying are now more like corporate offices and lockdown facilities. Can’t get on the ramp without a plane or AOA..
Now in retirement, I tend to enjoy instructing more than piloting. Without sounding too negative, I’m just not seeing much demand for my knowledge base anymore.
Yes we all will get there. If we do it right there should be a lot of friends and memories around us. People calling for advise and recommendations on what to do.
Instructing for 50 years has taught me a lot. I still am able to function well and keep going.
The FAA did one smart thing. They still allow instructors to instruct with out a medical, as long as they are not PIC. All the experience and wisdom learned over the years can still be useful……
Thanks for this article and stay in there……..
Hi Jamie
Sure glad Evelyn Brian Johnson didn’t read your article.
Why didn’t you start out by addressing driving to the airport- that is far more dangerous than flying!
Hmmm- are you employed by the FAA that appears to be spending more time discouraging aviation than promoting it? Course their goal is to have a National Airline. Understandable why they have been diligently working to destroy general aviation.
Hope you have not bought into their left wing socialist agenda.
Blessings to you
Susan VanFleet
Sent from my iPhone
Hey Susan
What is that all about. ?
FAA has alway been reactive and our organizations help keep them in line. True this administration is bad an anti/ aviation but they will be kicked out soon and hopefully we all can get back to normal….
For one thing there will not be electric airplanes for quite a while……….
I for one keep going and giving back to help G/A………..
I THINK Susan was just lampooning how far some people have gone down a rabbit hole these days. She wasn’t serious?
Great article Jamie and some great comments followed! There’s two kinds of knowledge, the latest and greatest technology advances in flying, which is great and nice to see the advances being made….. and there is the time proven lessons that were relevant in my day (retired with 30,000+ hrs ) and still are today . Let’s hope they are not lost on the next generation.