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Sunday, October 23, 2005 - 12:00
AM Photo:CARMINE GALASSO / THE RECORD (
John M. Miller,
99, of Older
fliers insist they're OK for takeoff By Shannon D. Harrington The Record The only thing standing in the
way of Miller's flying solo on the big day: medical clearance. Miller, an aviation
pioneer who has flown everything from biplanes to commercial jets, insists
he's fit to fly. More and more pilots are flying
past the age of 80, Federal Aviation Administration statistics show, a trend
that has even inspired a national study of their safety records, in the hope
of challenging insurance-industry practices of penalizing older pilots with
higher premiums. More than 3,800 of the nation's
roughly 618,000 licensed pilots have reached 80, according to Federal
Aviation Administration reports. The 80-and-older category has jumped 73
percent during the past five years, even as the total number of pilot
certificates held has declined. Like "A few years ago, people
just didn't think that anyone would bother to think about flying after 60 or
70 or 75," said Herbert Sloane, a 91-year-old pilot from "People our age were
supposed to sit in rocking chairs," he said, attributing the growing
number of old pilots to "men taking better care of themselves and
insisting on doing things that, a few years ago, were denied them." Ed Hoffmire,
a pilot in his 90s from Clifton, N.J., no longer flies solo, and no longer
owns the V-tailed Bonanzas that took him to all four corners of the
continental United States. But the retired telephone-company engineer still
takes offers from friends to go up in their planes. "I'll continue as long as
my health permits," said Hoffmire, who this year
was awarded the FAA's Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for 50 years of safe
flying. Bill Voorhis,
a With fuel and insurance, he
said, "it's too damn expensive to me." Miller, whose Bonanza is in a
hangar at Dutchess County Airport, five miles from
the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., home he's lived in for the past 85 years, agreed that
money is the biggest impediment to flying these days. Miller is a walking aviation
museum. He cut classes in 1927 to watch Charles Lindbergh take off on his
legendary flight across the He made the first successful
flight in a wingless autogiro, the forerunner to the helicopter — and even
beat Amelia Earhart to the punch by making the first transcontinental flight
in the craft. And he spent 25 years as a captain for Eastern Air Lines. But when it costs a minimum $20
just to practice his landings, Miller said, even he has taken to flying coach
rather than piloting his Bonanza to It's not the only thing keeping
Miller from getting behind the yoke, however. His medical certificate expired
in July, and the doctor who has signed off on him for years is reluctant to
do so now, he says. "He knows I'll pass it;
I've been passing it every year for years," said Miller, who still flies,
but only with another pilot next to him. Miller is trying to find another
doctor who will vouch for him. "I've just been given the
runaround," he said. Just like older drivers, aging
pilots have long been a safety concern in the aviation world — at least on
commercial flights. The FAA requires airline pilots
to retire at age 60. And insurance costs can rise dramatically for general
aviation pilots still flying past 70. Sloane, the octogenarian group
official, said an 83-year-old pilot he knows in Sloane has been helping the
national Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association gather information for a
study on the safety records of 80-and-over pilots. Of 125 pilots surveyed so far,
he said, four aircraft incidents have been reported that could be considered
age-related. "That's an incredible
percentage," he said. "So there's very little reason for the
increase in premiums that some of the insurance companies" are charging. Copyright © 2005 The Seattle
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