Scudrunners

I like getting older. 


At the airports for some reason down here, girls aren't wearing bras much anymore; which means I can stare and its okay, because I'm getting older.

[quote author=Nark link=topic=9039.msg24796#msg24796 date=1537501912]
I like getting older. 


At the airports for some reason down here, girls aren't wearing bras much anymore; which means I can stare and its okay, because I'm getting older.
[/quote]

This sounds spectacular except my right eye is doing weird stuff so I might get busted trying to keep the boobs in my field of vision.  :(

[quote author=Chuck Ellsworth link=topic=9039.msg24789#msg24789 date=1537490070]
[quote]WARNING: All ye who enter here, know that your feelings may be hurt![/quote]


Digits, obviously you have not understood what I have said.


It does not hurt my feelings being old, but I do find it frustrating when someone uses old age as a put down.
[/quote]


Only the stupid do that. 


In my industry one knows serious pain is coming when everyone mocks the old, rich investors.

[quote]Only the stupid do that. [/quote]


For sure common sense would dictate that aviation like all other professions is run by those with experience and experience comes with age.


The world has really changed since I was in my early years in aviation, for any young pilot at the lower end of the flying business to publicly try and demean their elders would have been the end of their short career.


In today's world arrogance and lack of respect for ones elders seems to be a method of demonstrating their superiority.


It is weird.

Also, it's FO's that tend to do that. 


Not true captains. In flying, business, and in life. 

I get what you guys are saying.


Why a young pup the other day suggested I was not at my A game anymore,  I sicked my seeing Eye dog on him and threatened him with my cane.  I think he might have tried to apologize but my hearing aid fell out, and I had to rush away as I needed to take my heart medication because I had my medical scheduled for that day.


Of course getting older has had no effect on us.  We are real pilots.  No sissy nose wheels,  No TV screens on the panel for us.  Just a couple of engine instruments and a map we drew ourselves.  Coffee grinder referred to our Radios, not a Starbucks speciality.  Jet engines!  Don’t even get me started.  Radial pistons is what real pilots fly.


I say we band together so we can demand those snot nosed, gel coated newbies treat us with the respect we deserve and recognize our right to criticize any that dare to disagree with how we do things.

[quote]in your opinion does being old make you less a pilot?[/quote]

This is a really good question.  There is no doubt that aging changes you
drastically.

When you are a young teenager and just starting out as a pilot, you have
excellent vision, hearing (haha) and reflexes.  But you have an empty brain. 

You have no skill, and no knowledge, which results in you making spectacularly
bad decisions, and you have no skill to deal with the problems you create. 
But you can react and learn fast - if you don't die because of a horrible mistake.

As pilots age, they gain more skill and knowledge.  Personally, I think I was
at my best at age 40, with 30 years of flying experience.

On the far side of 50, your vision and reflexes are not what they used to
be, and lets not talk about hearing, because we're all fucking deaf now.

But with a mountain of experience to draw on, you can make MUCH better
decisions and you can see trouble coming a mile away, and avoid it.

On the far side of 60, you can still do tasks you have done all your life with
great competence, but you don't learn new stuff and handle new situations
as well as when you were 30 or even 40.  This gets worse with advancing
age, and can be a real problem, even if no one has ever mentioned it.

You just can't compare the same pilot at age 20 and age 70 - they are such
different people.  I'd take the 70 year old over the 20 year old any day, though,
because the 20 year old is looking for a good place to kill himself.  He's invincible,
and 99.9% of the time, you can't teach them anything because they know it all.

Excellent post Andy:


My benchmark for flying skills was Bob Hoover and he was still doing show displays into his eighties.


I never even came close to his flying skills but I always wanted to.


I retired from flying for a living at age seventy because my medical doctors in Europe convinced me that at that age it was time to quit because ageing had put me into the higher risk cat-orgy for things like heart failure caused by pulling high G loads repetitively.


I had reached the point in my career some years before turning seventy where I was tired of the kind of flying I was doing and tired of being away from home for months on end so when the doctors advised me to find something else to do for a living I was delighted because finally the people I worked for could not try and convince me to fly one more year like they had done in the past.


I will be eighty three next month and even though I passed a T.C. medical a few months ago I know beyond doubt I will never be another Bob Hoover.


I have started to build another airplane in my garage for something to keep me busy and interested in life in general.


It will be interesting to see if I think I can test fly it when it is finished.  :) :)

[quote]aging had put me into the higher risk category for things like heart failure caused by pulling high G loads repetitively[/quote]

That's actually BS.  Doctors don't know shit about the effects of +ve or
-ve G in my experience.  Ask them about the wobblies sometime, and you'll
get a blank look.

My father was pulling and pushing significant G's into his 80's, no problem.

Other pilots die of heart failure in their 30's.  In the cockpit.

Everyone is different, is what they won't tell you, and they can't predict shit.

I think I've mentioned that when my father was flying Sabres in Europe in
the 50's, everyone in the squadron pulled so much G all the time - they didn't
bother with G-suits - that all the pilots in the squadron adapted to the G with
high blood pressure.  According to the rules, they should have all been grounded,
because as any moron doctor will tell you, high blood pressure is bad - except
when you want to stay conscious, flying an airplane.

Doctors don't know shit.

[url=http://www.migflug.com/jetflights/how-g ... works.html]http://www.migflug.com/jetflights/how-g ... works.html[/url]

[quote]G-force is an instant killer. In fact, the effects of g-force was, as long ago as the Second World War, causing the death of pilots who either lost consciousness or were unable to quickly bail out of their planes.

In an Extra 300 stunt plane, Zeron and I experienced 6.5g, with quite a fast onset, but only for a few seconds. If we were to go out and play with the big boys in their F-16s we would have to endure over 9g for as long as ten or twenty seconds.

L.O.C. — Loss of consciousness. The subject cannot hear, feel, think, or function. Recovery does not occur on the average for 15 to 20 seconds after the G force is terminated. The time required to return to consciousness may vary from nine to 20 seconds, and the subject does not re- turn to normal function for several minutes. [b]Very dangerous[/b].[/quote]

Not according to a moron doctor that wants you to have low blood pressure.

[quote author=Colonel Sanders link=topic=9039.msg24812#msg24812 date=1537586374]
[quote]aging had put me into the higher risk category for things like heart failure caused by pulling high G loads repetitively[/quote]

That's actually BS.  Doctors don't know shit about the effects of +ve or
-ve G in my experience.  Ask them about the wobblies sometime, and you'll
get a blank look.

My father was pulling and pushing significant G's into his 80's, no problem.

Other pilots die of heart failure in their 30's.  In the cockpit.

Everyone is different, is what they won't tell you, and they can't predict shit.

I think I've mentioned that when my father was flying Sabres in Europe in
the 50's, everyone in the squadron pulled so much G all the time - they didn't
bother with G-suits - that all the pilots in the squadron adapted to the G with
high blood pressure.  According to the rules, they should have all been grounded,
because as any moron doctor will tell you, high blood pressure is bad - except
when you want to stay conscious, flying an airplane.


Not according to a moron doctor that wants you to have low blood pressure.
[/quote]
I've always thought that the difference between your systolic and diastolic (= pulse pressure) is what keeps you conscious during g-loads?

In your example, do you know if they developed a high systolic pressure (the big number) only, or also a higher diastolic (lower number)?