CA Woman Proves The Adage: You're Never Too Old

Remember how you thought your parents were "old?" Well now that you've reached their age, it doesn't feel very old, does it?

Chalk it up to better healthcare, living and working longer, or what-have-you, but today's senior citizen probably doesn't feel too senior (although the discounts are kinda nice) and 83-year old Mary Williams certainly doesn't feel her age.

Just months after celebrating her 83rd birthday, Williams flew solo last week in a Cessna 152 two-seater, adroitly demonstrating three takeoffs and landings in the process, reported the Whittier (CA) Daily News.

"The view was so nice," Williams said. "I never, ever thought I would be flying a plane."

Williams actually starting flying in the right seat, with her 77-year old boyfriend and long-time recreational flyer Lee Roan as the PIC.

Her move to the left seat was at his encouragement, to ensure she could land the plane if he ever "conked out," Roan said.

So how many new pilots are of a "certain age?"  According to latest FAA figures, the average student is 33.7 years old, 3 years older than in 1981. Recreational pilots, the next step up for flying novices, average 46.5 years old. Overall, today's average active pilot is more than five years older than just two decades ago: 35.5 years old in 1971 to over 42 in 1994. In addition, 27 percent of all US pilots with current medical certificates are over 50.

And while the FAA currently requires airline pilots to retire at 60, there is no maximum age limit for everybody else. Pilots can fly as long as they can pass a Class III flight physical, and many continue well into their 80s, and even 90s.

Nearly 63,000 pilots who are 60 and older hold current medical certificates. Their numbers have grown not only in absolute terms, but in their percentage to the overall active pilot population. From 1971 until 1994, the number of older pilots has increased more than 300 percent. Where they represented 2 percent of the total 22 years ago, they now comprise more than 10 percent of all active pilots.

So how safe does 83-year old Mary Williams feel up in the air? "I feel more safe in a plane than in a car," she said. "If you understand the plane, there's no fear."

Williams logged about 70 hours of instruction before she took off on her own.

"I just talked myself through it," Williams said.

"She's more full of life than people half her age," said Darlene Kellogg, Williams' instructor at Universal Air Academy. "She's such a pleasure to fly with. She's very sharp, she's very smart, and she really loves to fly."

Armed with her student license (she passed her medical; perfect eyesight), she still needs an instructor's endorsement to fly and, of course, must undergo a biannual flight review.

The first in her family to attend college, Williams studied physical education at USC, raised three children, and was a high school teacher and counselor for 39 years with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

After retiring at age 60, Williams stayed busy with hobbies including line-dancing, sailing and golf. And now, with flying.

"I've always been active," she said. "I think if you are active, you stay young at heart."

FMI: www.aopa.org, www.faa.gov