Do you feel an age limit for pilots? a 82 year old flew into an apartment this weekend?

Question

Its not his first crash. I am a retired driving instructor, some of my worst rides came from seniors..Serious answers only. Ps i turned in my licence

Answer 1

The one in Richmond?

Yeah 80s is getting a little old for pilots. I flew with an 80+ year old as a seat warmer since his medical had been revoked. Some manoeuvres were very good (like the landing) but quite often items would get forgotten and even though he is trying to get his medical back, I secretly hope he doesn't. Many DOT medical examiners keep passing loyal elderly clients since they don't want to ground them (I know this for a fact).

Also the type of plane (Piper Seneca) that crashed is complex for single pilot operation, has poor handling characteristics, and deadly single engine performance.

Answer 2

I think it should be left up to flight physicians and the instructors that perform biennial flight reviews with them.

Some of the best pilots I've ever flown with have been, pardon the phrase, old guys and some of the worst pilots I've ever flown with have been old guys. Much the same as driving.

I can also rate reasonably young guys in the best and worst categories.

5-6 years ago, an 82 year old friend and customer killed himself by taking off in his V-35 on a fuel tank that only had 6 minutes worth of fuel in it. He wasn't able to get it restarted before he ran out of air to fly through and crashed the airplane into the mostly empty parking lot of a shopping mall.

As it turns out, he'd boloxed his last biennial and was required to have a licensed pilot, registered in type, with him at all times. I never saw him fly with anyone.

Given the tri-ennial need for a flight physical for a class C medical, and the biennial flight review required for all pilots, rather than yanking people's tickets, I think we need better reporting from doctors and instructors performing biennial reviews.

In your case, you seemed to have realized that it was time to give it up. In other cases, some people don't. Past a certain age, I feel driver's should have their doctors provide a note of health and mental condition periodically to whatever organization issues licenses.

The same should be true of communication between the doctors, instructors performing the biennials, and the FAA.

If a person is down checked, for a failed medical or biennial, that information needs to go to the FAA and the airport he keeps a plane at. If he doesn't own a plane and rents, the people he rents from need to be notified that he's not authorized to fly by himself. In the event that he's a partner on a jointly owned airplane, his partners need to be notified that they need to buy him out.

At 77, my father's still one of the best drivers I know. And at 80, if he's a day and I'm not asking, I know one of the sharpest DC-3 pilots in the world; he's all over the airplane before anyone else, including his right seater, has arrived, and is actually the judge and jury for the co-op that owns the Goon they fly for fun.

I recall an article, a few years ago, about the oldest pilots. One was well into his 90's, delivering newspapers in rural areas by air; he wouldn't let anyone into the airplane with him unless they were a pilot for their own safety, in the event that he had a stroke, heart attack, or just keeled over.

As the baby-boomers get older and make me cringe at the social security tax removed from my paycheck, (which may not be there when I get to that age,) a lot of attitude is shifting.

If they pass a biennail flight review and a class C medical, and they're not flying commercially, let 'em fly. If they're not passing those tests, it's time to get proactive to keep them from flying.

Having not seen the reports, beyond news articles, it's impossible to say what happened. It might have been his fault, it might have not been his fault. It may have been age related, or it might have been something else.

My normal inclination is to let the operator of the vehicle, or their family, determine when they should stop using it; but obviously, that doesn't always happen.

With aviation, if you're a pilot, it's not a matter of if, so much as when, you'll be involved in an incident. For the most part, pilots that fly for a long time, usually manage to walk away and don't kill anyone in the process of having fate suddenly glance their way.

JT

Answer 3

I haven't read up on this weeken's crash, but a young major league baseball player and his young flight instructor crashed into an apartment building a while back, trying to reverse course at low level in a tight area...Should've climbed and taken the potential class B violation instead.

Answer 4

Well, that can all depend on the pilot's personal care habits and his overall health. You can't rightly say all 80 y/o pilots should be grounded because of age. I know quite a few able minded/bodied senior pilots, it is all on how they take care of themselves. And the answer about the Seneca being a very complex airplane that is not easy to fly single pilot??!! Deadly single engine characteristics??!! Where are you getting your information from? My 12 y/o nephew can handle a Seneca..c'mon!..Want something that will get you killed single engine...talk about an MU-2 or a Beech Duke...

To the person who asked this question...Accidents happen all the time in this industry...some a result of poor judgement on the pilots behalf..and some mechanical and unavoidable.
All of them could have been prevented...but..we are only human.

Jonathan S
ATP-LRJET
Flight/Ground Instructor

Answer 5

My fifteen 300 and sixty 5 days-previous son is sitting no longer 5 ft from me, enjoying XBOX-stay together with his friends mutually as i take advantage of his laptop. he's quite taller than me, with hair that lays in gentle waves, and which particularly desires trimmed yet he refuses a decrease. he's skinny, painfully so, and could't weigh greater effective than a hundred thirty pounds. He and his friends are seeking for for device faults on the recent Rainbow 6 pastime he offered the former day, and from what i will tell they're having a incredible time. His Easter candy is in a bowl between his ft, and his mattress room floor is affected by potential of Starburst wrappers. He is accustomed to i'm tucking some money into his wallet for a planned holiday to Pittsburgh on Monday, and he's performed no longer something yet communicate regarding the clothing he needs to purchase on the mall after my healthcare expert appointment. that's what youth ought to be. fidgeting with friends, eating candy and looking out forward to an afternoon interior the city. no longer beating your self bloody and enduring crucifixion. basically examining this tale makes me desire to cry.

Answer 6

There needn't be an age limit. The designee who signed my private, instrument, commercial and multiengine licenses was in his eighties. He was sharper than a tack and knew more about flying than anyone out there. Every year when he had to renew his designee status, he'd head down to the local GADO ( as they were called in those days) and embarass the FAA inspectors on what THEY didn't know.

Whoaa! I just read the article. I think that I knew that guy. I remember a Peter Garrison and a Seneca back in the '70s!

Answer 7

I think that only those who pass some type of safety standards should be allowed to fly (or drive, for that matter). I don't think age alone should be the determining factor though.

If the 82-year-old guy has decent health, good or correctable eyesight, and a good flying record, he should be allowed to fly. If you start taking away rights of any kind due strictly on the basis of age, you're endangering the twilights of all of our years.

Answer 8

I'm 65 and know that one day I will have to give up my license as much as I don't want to. I have family members who are in their 80s, I can see it coming. A friend of mine had to give up his license at 95 after his second wreck. Luck no one was hurt.

Answer 9

I don't think someone should be grounded for being old. I see more people who are younger having accidents. Just look at automobiles. Most accidents are by young drivers. There have been a lot of aviation accidents. I don't recall anyone this old having one. That sounds like a good track record for older pilots.

Answer 10

It all depends on his/her health. I am about to go for my checkride for my CFIA with a DPE (designated pilot examiner) that is somewhere in his 90s. He had 40,000 hours in the mid-70s and has stop counting since then. Apparently he was a teenager during the great depression.