Hi,
It’s quite here. Everyone seems to be in Friedrichshafen.
Anyway, my question is this: How do you deal with the decision if it’s okay to take elderly passengers flying? Where do you draw the line?
I’d very much like to give my grandmother the chance to come flying. However, her condition isn’t great, at 86, and I’m not sure if it would be a responsible thing to do. On the other hand, it’s sad to let her sit home alone when we go out on a family trip and have a spare seat.
I’m mostly worried about her getting in and out of the C172. She used to drive her own car until very recently, but since a few months, she has trouble even getting in and out of cars without assistance.
Cheers
Patrick
I think the first thing is that she has to want to, and then it’s can she get into the aircraft. I am 40, and I struggle to even work out how to elegentaly get into a C152. On the otherhand, I jump in and out of my PA28 easily, but other people of varying sizes and ages find it difficult to get onto the wing and drop down into the seats. Lastly, I guess I’d check with your Mum and Dad to make sure they dont know of any issues that might have serious medical conditions. All that said, I would have taken mine up if she was fit enough, or indeed actually wanted to, and I am sure she would be proud. My Wife took up a very elderly passenger in windy / bumpy situations that I am not overly keen on, and this old lady thought it was fantastic!
Where I fly from, we are often visited by the UK’s older current PPL holder at 93. Sadly the insurance in some places prevents him flying without an instructor present, but there are other clubs he visits in the UK where he is allowed to, and does fly solo at 93 ! Hats off to the guy, while the likes of me are at work, or have other commitments and not being able to fly as much as I want, he spend all of his week driving himself around numerous clubs in the South of the UK he is a member of, and flying. He must do 5 + hours a week, which relatively high for a PPL.
So, whether an elderly person flies is a factor of many combinations I guess.
I used to take a friend’s mother flying in my C206. She was late eighties, quite sharp mentally, but very unsteady on her feet.
The technique was that she would firstly sit her bottom on the floor behind the front seat, and then with a little help, shimmy the rest of her legs onto the floor itself. I would sit in one of the back seats and help lift her onto the other one. Disembarkation was just the same thing in reverse.
A C172 is a bit smaller but that should work.
The chap I take to Project Propeller is 88 this year and there are many older than he is that go every year as well. In fact I know of one guy over 100!
The first time I did the event, I was concerned that my passenger might have difficulty getting into the plane and also that he might be worried about flying in a light aircraft.
Well, he hopped onto the wing with very little help, sat down and did his belt up, paid close attention while I did the pre flight checks and followed the progress of the flight with interest. At one point, when I switched tanks he asked me how many tanks I had and when I told him I had two, he told me he used to manage seven!
About 10 minutes after takeoff I realised how utterly stupid I had been to be worried.
After all: he had done 37 trips as a flight engineer on Halifaxes. At night. With people trying to kill him.
What could I possibly do to scare him? 
