I have recently been dogged out of a job.

I have hit 70, and it looks like I am going to retire. At least for a while.

I used to be an active pilot years ago.

Around 400 to 500 hours, all SEL have a commercial and instrument rating, I have never really used.

My eyes and ears are not what they used to be.

Today is CAVU with a light breeze.

If you don't mind me asking, what age are you still flying?

When did you decide it was time to hang it up?

Thoughts on a 70-year-old starting again?

The obvious first question is can you pass a airman's medical?

I lost mine a long time ago, and it ain't coming back.

I knew a guy who was flying a Midget Mustang well into his 70's. I've known a couple of other guys who flew into their 70's. All were able to be honest with themselves and knew when it was getting a little too dangerous. One of whom transitioned from his homebuilt Pazmany PL-4 to a TEAM Airbike (ultralight) and he was able to get a few more years of flying in.

What do you want to get out of flying? If you just want to get into the air some of the ultralights out there are pretty amazing. I was looking really hard at the Aerolight 103 a couple of years ago.

Find an instructor and go back up and get your feet wet again. I'm thinking you'll know if it's a good idea to proceed and how after a couple of hours of dual.

My instructor, back when I was pursuing my PPL [2003-2005ish], was in his 70s.
He did it because he wanted to & enjoyed it. Lessons were $50, regardless of length.

Then I moved away for college & it was too expensive to fly [had a free plane & a cheap instructor back home].
Never finished up my PPL, stopped at about 30hrs.

Mid '60s and still flying ASEL. Use for business and pleasure. Might be hard to justify the expense after I retire; we'll see. It's not like it cost much. Most people spend considerably more on a boat or RV.

You're the best one to determine if it's right for you. You'd probably like to get an instructor to get you back up to speed. Would think you could do that in a weekend or two followed by a BFR.

I'd encourage you to do it.

Commercial airline pilots in the United States are required by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to retire at age 65.

However, many continue flying in non-airline roles—such as corporate, charter, or private flights under Part 91 or Part 135—beyond that age, provided they maintain a valid medical certificate.

Age alone doesn't disqualify someone from flying general aviation aircraft; more critical factors are health, skill, and ongoing training. That said, most pilots I know chose to retire around age 70 to 72, recognizing that their reflexes, vision, hearing, and cognitive sharpness were no longer at peak levels.

I have a friend, he’s over 80, I think close to 81 now. He still owns a plane, but virtually never flys alone anymore.

As posted, any degradation of skills can be very individual dependent. The guy I mention does have his plane listed for sale, but not trying hard to sell it.

I knew another guy taking flying lessons into his 70’s. He never got to a checkride, said he may never get there. This guy just liked taking flying lessons.

So I’m just saying, there are alternative ways to participate. I own a light aircraft, take people flying at times. I figure I’m going anyway, may try to spread the cheer.

Often these flights are short, warm the oil type. It’s not often worth it to mesh schedules for 25 minutes of flight time.

Just waiting for V-Tail to get in here. He's a little long in the tooth and an experienced instructor. Where are you located?

I couldn't pass the physical on a bet, and I know that my days are done.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
The obvious first question is can you pass a airman's medical?...

If yes, AOPA has a "Rusty Pilot" program that helped me get back into the left seat (Cessna 152 and 172) at age 67 after 34 years. That was eight years ago and I'm still flying.

https://www.aopa.org/training-...-pilots/rusty-pilots

You don't have to use AOPA, but the initial seminar helped me.

My Uncle Bill flew a Comanchee 250 well in his 80s until a stroke stopped him.
Then I flew it for him.

I retired from the airline at 62. I have not flown since then, and have purposefully chosen not to engage in light aircraft aviation. But I really miss flying and still dream about it every night.

I really hate to admit it, but the last 2 years I know I was no longer at my peak. Multi-tasking in complex environments was more of a challenge than before. Things like listening to tons of background chatter on the radio at a busy airport (approach, tower, ground) I don't think I was able to process all of that well while concentrating on the main task, e.g. flying an approach in bad weather or taxiing and running checklists. Admittedly the environment was as complicated and fast as imaginable, but in my 50's I felt I was fully aware and on top of all of it. After about 60 I noticed I wasn't catching things quite as quickly or easily.

Another thing I've noticed is my eyesight is not what it was, and though still officially 20/30 uncorrected, the loss of contrast is also a factor. When driving I notice I am not as fully aware of everything around me, because my vision is not sharp the way it used to be.

My father was a private pilot and owned a Piper Arrow for about 25 years. He stopped flying at about age 67 iirc. He kept his airplane in NJ and it was a busy airspace. He was concerned about the same things as me, finding the complexity more and more difficult to feel highly confident about.

Imho, the real danger to any pilot though is not flying regularly enough. That is my main concern if I were to fly light aircraft. Flying only once or twice per month is not nearly enough to stay sharp. It can be fine if the aircraft works perfectly, the weather is great, and the airports are calm.

Harrison Ford nearly landed on top of airliners on a taxiway at Orange County airport a few years ago. That, to me, seemed like a classic error an older pilot could make. The weather was perfect, he was familiar with the airport, yet it is a very busy airspace and he was single pilot. Perfect conditions for our brains to get overloaded.

What my father did towards the end was hire an instructor to ride along. This seems very prudent to me.

Where's VTail???

quote:

Originally posted by MikeGLI:

Where's VTail???

Right here, yo. To catch up, I reluctantly sold the v-tail when I no longer had a business use for it and could not justify the cost of keeping it. A factory overhauled engine and a new prop came in at around sixty large -- twice as much as I originally paid for the whole airplane!

Then, the wise souls at the FAA decided that prostate cancer, after successful radiation series, was reason to deny my medical certificate.

Without a medical, I can not use my commercial pilot certificate, so can not fly as PIC (Pilot In Command). Medical certificate is not required to instruct, as long as the trainee is legal to act as PIC, so I did that for a while, until burn-out took over and I just stopped flying.

For a while, I did ground school instruction and simulator training, but I finally got tired of the FAA's bullshit and disconnected completely from aviation. It was fun while it lasted, more than sixty years and around ten thousand hours, but I'm done now.

74 and still fly regularly, but only ~100 hours a year. I have 4,000+ hours TT, Private, single & multi engine land, instrument rated. I fly under Basic Med, as a 3rd class medical would now require special issuance(s)

I fly single pilot IFR, but not to FAA minimums; generally lower than 800 and a mile is when I stay on the ground, but train to and am current to 200 and 1/2. I no longer fly at night; good single malt instead when it's dark.

No more high G acro, just gentleman's loops and rolls in a Super Decathlon. Most of my flying these days is in my beloved '71 V-tail or little brother's Grumman Tiger. The V-tail holds 120 gallons of gas, so 5 hour non-stops to SoCal make it super easy to go visit our grandchildren vs a 1,300 mile drive (2,600 round trip)

I'm fairly confident in my ability to fly for a few more years, as I'm having a hot rod 340 HP IO-550 built for installation this summer. Age is just a number.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: aileron,

Only the individual can decide whether he still has the focus. I’ve read of people learning to fly in their 70s. Two days ago I did a flight review for a friend who is 72 and he was fine.

A reminder that if the OP originally held a medical issued *after* July 14, 2006... he can qualify to fly under Basic Med.
https://www.faa.gov/licenses_c...tification/basic_med

This isn't about me. I'm not a pilot, although I wanted to be since I was a kid.
This is about my late friend and co-grandpa LeRoy, and his buddy Dick. They shared a hangar at Gillespie Field in El Cajon CA for years. The highlight was their building an F1 Rocket, which won an award. At the wake for LeRoy in January, I asked Dick what happened to their "Orange Appeal" (see photo) rocket. Dick had to sell it. He couldn't afford to insure it; insurer wanted him to always have a co-pilot. He told me "I'm 84!" So age and insurance led to the end of a great flying career that included flying an F-4 in Vietnam, then later a commercial airline pilot.

Here's the cover of Kitbuilder Magazine featuring their kit-built, award-winning Rocket. Dick in the front seat, LeRoy in the back.

No disrespect intended but I’ve never heard that term. What is a “co-grandpa”? Cool plane. FAA is trash. They need a do over.

quote:

Originally posted by slosig:
Only the individual can decide whether he still has the focus. I’ve read of people learning to fly in their 70s. Two days ago I did a flight review for a friend who is 72 and he was fine.

I completely agree. Back around 1990 I had an old Cessna 175, and the guy in the next hangar had a Bird dog. He had flown them in Burma in WWII. He was 74 yrs old and flew regularly.

He took me up sometimes, and he was the most natural stick and rudder pilot I've ever known.

He knew his limitations, so he was a day vfr flyer only.

But I will offer the caution that aviation is supremely callous towards us. Fate is the Hunter as it were. On that same field we lost 4 aircraft owners and some passengers to fatal accidents within a couple years. Two were lost in icing encounters, and one was an aerobatic competitor whose Extra broke up during practice for an airshow in Florida. One was a light twin where the nose baggage door opened immediately after takeoff, spewing luggage into the prop. They were fully loaded and crashed.

Another owner who flew several times each week crashed but survived doing his usual departure. He would turn left into rising terrain for a left downwind departure, but this time there was a downslope wind which he couldn't out climb.

Two retirees from my airline were killed in separate light piston accidents. One was a flat spin in a twin, the other some kind of IMC CFIT.

As we age we are less alert to the big picture of our situation, and more prone to errors. Our skill and knowledge are superior with experience.

My admonition is to fly frequently enough to stay sharp, and don't push your limits. Hire an instructor or find a trustworthy safety pilot if conditions are not perfect for you.