Who is oldest glider pilot

[Casey]

Just saw this on the news. Oldest power pilot.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) -- It's a classic saying: There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no "old, bold pilots."

Last week, the Guinness Book of World Records named 98-year-old Ernie Smith, of Red Oak, Iowa, the oldest active pilot in the world.

"(They said) you need to come out here. I got something important to talk about. So I stepped in the door and, 'I know what, they found somebody older,' and he said there is nobody older," Smith said.

Back in January, the Red Oak airport manager and some of his friends nominated Smith for the title.

In April, witnesses watched Smith fly the airplane solo, recorded his effort on video, all to document that he is still an active pilot.

Smith beat the previous record by five years. He says he plans to keep flying a rented plane a couple of times each week, weather permitting.

http://www.witn.com/content/news?article=393908181

[David Salmon]

A long, long time ago I saw a TV program here in the UK, that included a
man who wrote, edited, printed, and distributed a "local" newspaper,
somewhere in the prairie states I thiink. The distibution method was to
load them into his small plane and fly around, throwing the copies out at
all the farmsteads etc. He was 90 at the time, and said he hoped to be
still doing it when he reached 100. I've often wondered if he made it.
There was also a story about a pilot from the first world war, his name I
remember was Chabot, again 90 at the time and still flying. He told a
wonderful story, of being caught behind enemy lines, lost, and it went dark
and couldn't see a thing. So he kept practicing approaches and flare outs,
until there was a rumble, and he landed. When it started to get light, he
found he was in the only place clear of shell holes in the area, and took
off again to fly home.
Dave

[Casey]

I love hearing the everyday pilot stories. The feats of staying in the seat for a long period to get a goal is a feat in itself, but the everyday pilots and their feats are truly awesome.

[Bruce Hoult]

Paraparaumu club member Ian Barber passed away in January last year aged 98. If I recall correctly, he was still instructing at 91 and flying his Cirrus for another year or so after that.

Many years ago, Ian held for a period the model glider world duration record of 9 hours and 4 minutes set on the local ridge behind the gliding club in 1960. He used a valve (tube) transmitter and receiver working on carrier wave with each pulse triggering a relay and allowing a rubber band powered escapement to cycle through a set of rudder/elevator settings.


My late grandmother's brother is 93 (hopefully 94 in December). He joined the RAF during the war (not as a pilot), later ran a small airline in west Africa, and then for decades worked for Nathans (later Lion Nathan) in NZ. He stopped driving (still often 500 km nonstop) about a year ago aged 92. One day while he was 89 he read about the imminent reopening of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow after a six year rennovation, thought "I've never been to Russia!", and promptly booked flights and nearby hotel and several opening week performances. I stink he stopped wading into rivers for fly fishing at 90.

[son_of_flubber]

I saw an older pilot in his glider on the runway today. Yesterday, his wife told me that he is almost 90.

Based on his frequent landouts and the altitudes of his 'low saves', he is both old and bold.

[cern...@gmail.com]

Until a few months ago, in Italy there were two over-100 years old airplane pilots. Great stories, great people. Unfortunately we lost them. One of them last flew solo at about 99yo. He lived on his own, so sometimes drove his car to pick his daughter up from the "silver years" residence she lived at, and took her for a short flight in the MotorFalke or Morane.

And no, there were no mistakes at birth certificates in Italy.

Aldo Cernezzi