EAA Chapter 1241 Marathon, FL

 WELCOME to our website dedicated to helping pilots above age 65 enhance their flying experience. This website has many functions. The site asks you the pilot to educate all of us to the experience of being an older pilot. Experience and desire have taken you this far and now there are other challenges. We would like to hear from you about the problems facing a pilot, as age becomes a factor. As we have all mentored others in aviation in one way or another, you are being asked again to mentor all of us. It takes nothing short of heroism to step up to the plate and say that aging is not for the weak. If older pilots can talk about the problems they experience regarding the physical and mental aspects as they relate to flying, we all can benefit.

SHARING life’s experience is how we teach and learn. By providing this website, we hope to accomplish many things. We want to say you are not alone. In fact we all grow older together and our love for flying is a part of our lives. We want to talk about the physical changes that we see happening to us, but we will discuss what the PhDs and MDs have to say about this. It may be dull, but it may be spot on. If we know what to expect or can understand what is happening to our bodies, we can better fight the battle to overcome them. (seniorsflysafer@aol.com)    

COUNTERMEASURES are procedures we hope will be helpful and effective to overcome the many problems and difficulties with getting older and our desire to keep flying. There is no one silver bullet that applies to all of us, but there maybe some that you can use, share with others and get a better experience out of your flying.  We are inviting pilots, CFIs, wives, husbands, MDs, PhDs, AMEs, and anyone that wants to participate to do so.

AM I TOO OLD TO FLY  is a question that your Dr. may answer for you. But you need to know for yourself in you heart of hearts when it is time to change how you fly. Notice, I did not say stop flying. Perhaps it is time to fly with a co-pilot. Time to get your significant other a pinch hitter course. Time to get new glasses or a better headset. The most important part of flight instructing is the post flight discussion. You have the ability to do a post flight critique on your flight. It is one of our goals to prepare a POST FLIGHT CRITIQUE you can use. In the meantime, do your own post flight critique. Ask yourself how it went. How many problems did I have on this flight? Score yourself. Set a minimum passing score. If you fall under this score take action! You may seek some dual instruction. You may ask a friend to serve as a safety pilot while you practice attitude instrument flying under the hood. You may add some countermeasures to your flight bag. If you fail to meet your minimum standards, you decide how best to proceed. If you decide to stop flying, it is your choice having more tools than ever to make that decision. We want you to fly safely as long as you can.