The Coalition of the Swilling

I guess you never saw "Second Hand Lions". Dead in a plane crash beats someone turning off the respirator ANY day.

Yes, it does, as long as you can make sure it's only you.

I agree Mr. B, but I still think that the best death is one where they can't scrape up enough of you to run a microgel DNA test to tell if it is you. At least you would have been having an adventure at the end - which is more than most people can say for their whole lives. I'm glad it worked out well for him - no collateral damage.

My father died doing what he loved to do, even though he was proabably too sick to be doing it (and there was no chance of injuring anyone else).

I'd like to go like Peter Sellers.

Should have sent him out to New Mexico/Arizona/Nevada/Death Valley. Plenty of room out there to crash without worrying about hitting anything.

I don't know, Mr Bingley. No mention was made about whether age was a factor. If he had someone else with him and it was his fault, they may have saved it but if it wasn't his fault, you're looking at another fatality.

Oh, I'm sure they're just starting to investigate the cause Rob, and it may well have been a mechanical failure of the plane that could have happened to anyone. But a sudden age-related affliction is obviously far more likely to hit someone in their 80s than it is anyone who's younger, not to mention lesser attention spans and slowed reflexes. And that's not a matter of 'fault' but simply an unavoidable part of age.

Yeah, but some people avoid it a lot longer than others. If his pilot's license has to be renewed at shorter intervals than younger pilots like driver's licenses are in most states, I think that's fair enough.

There will come a time,When you are older than you are now and let some one say to you .that you cannot do some thing, because you are too old, If he had the plane and the money to put in the fuel and take off down the runway. it is no one else is Business but his,and old people do not take the cowards way out like young test pilots and pull the rip cord or push the seat ijection button, And he has earned the right too end his life, doing any thing he needs to do.Or Fly and travel how he likes.

I'm with you on that one, Rob. And most pilots I know would be too, I'm sure. They already have age limits and far more rigorous requirements if they're flying commercially/for the military and are apt to be far more pragmatic than you might think. Even though the mere thought of no more open skies JUST about kills them. (We have one of those for a pater famila.) That's why old Naval aviators all wander around our Naval Aviation Museum here like happy little boys. They're home.

WOW, Charles! Sounds like you might've spent a little time in the cockpit ~ or wish you had.
( It's hugely addictive, isn't it? )

A Warm Swill Welcome to you!

I think that's probably a reasonable solution, Rob. I have no problem with more frequent testing to make sure that the skills have not deteriorated.

Yes, welcome, Charles!

But I have to follow that by disagreeing with you. What he has earned is my respect and admiration for what he did 50 some-odd years ago; however, that simply has no relevance on whether he still possessed the skills to safely operate an airplane. None. And it becomes a lot of other people's business if he overshoots an approach or the old ticker gives out at 10,000 feet, which unfortunately is simply much more likely to happen at 84 than it is at 35. I in no way shape or form question his (or any other person with that phenomonal a resume) bravery, but, yes, I do question an 84 year olds physical ability.

Meh. We should probably start herding anyone over age 60 into detention ... er, care centers. For their own protection, of course.

Soylent Green is OLD people!!

Bing as THS would say; you poophead. They let Chuck Yeager fly an F-15 solo not too long ago and he's as old as this guy. The ticker could lock up on just about anyone, granted more likely at that age but still if his eyesight was good and he was active why not fly? I doubt that the airfield would let him fly if he was feeble. I'll bet this guy was like the characters in "Second Hand Lions".

Perhaps he was like the characters in that movie or that NASA one with Clint Eastwood and Tommie Lee Jones; big whooped-dee-doo. If being a cranky irrascible bastard was all that was required to fly than I could do it. The point is he and all folks past a certain age should be tested fairly regularly to make sure they still are able to operate planes (and cars) safely. If his eyesight is good and he passes a physical, I agree, let him fly. Somehow I think they did a little check-up on Yeager before they gave him the keys and said "just have her home by midnight, Chuck." The airport he took off from is uncontrolled, so there may have been no one there to notice if he were feeble (which I don't recall saying), not that anyone would say anything anyway, since this cult of hero worship seems to rather effectively cloud the senses.

Ick no, Cullen. Mountainman used to work in one of those places, and the stuff those folks do when they congregate!

(If being a cranky irrascible bastard ~ Not so fast. In your case, that should read "cranky irritable bowel"...)

bowel/bastard; it's all the same nether region.

Bing Bing get your panties out of that wad they're in. You did say "no one" that age should fly solo. Then you just moved those goalposts by throwing that testing part in. I think we were all saying if a person is capable physically and mentally (testing?) he/she should be allowed to do what they want. Yeager passed the flight physical and they gave him the keys to the F-15, I doubt it was because of hero worship.

Er, actually I agreed with Rob 20 minutes before you posted; I did err in not posting the update sooner, though, I will agree.