I'm sorry for your experience CBeak!CBeak wrote: ↑Sat Apr 20, 2019 2:24 pm Have to agree. I’m getting to be an older human @55 but still a newer pilot of 13 years. Always wanted to fly, but it took me a long time to acquire the time and treasure necessary to do so. My least favorite are the guys who have 15,000 hours in various planes, and truly can fly, but talk and behave as if no other human being should be permitted to fly, or will ever approach their own level of piloting expertise. And they never miss an opportunity to work it into a conversation, no matter what the actual topic may be.
That being said, I miss my friend, customer, and CFI who died a few years ago, still a sharp and active pilot, at age 94. He was a retired United Captain and flew because he loved to fly. His life story was fascinating in itself. Best of all, he wanted to share that love of flying with anybody he could. Flight reviews with him were the best. Right before he died, he was starting to teach me celestial navigation that helped him get around the Pacific in WWII. Every time we climbed into an airplane, he’d turn to me and say “Flying is supposed to be fun. If we go up and aren’t having fun, we’re coming back down.”
As one of those "...least favorite...... guys...." (with a fair amount of time above your 15,000 hour number) I find your post "interesting". By the way, I'm a 61+ year old who has been flying for 46 years (Sorry to say, I guess I fit into the Old codger "wisdom" group )
I hope you don't know many "...guys who have 15,000 hours in various planes, and truly can fly, but talk and behave as if no other human being should be permitted to fly, or will ever approach their own level of piloting expertise".
Hopefully, the one's you know are an exception to the rest of us.
I agree with your friend's "Flying is supposed to be fun. If we go up and aren’t having fun, we’re coming back down (not always possible though, right ??)".
I love (for the most part) flying with new guys, along with "not so new guys" - we can all learn something from the "other guy or gal", whether a "new" pilot or "old"! Please don't throw all of "us" into the SAME pile!
As far as I know, most old (experienced) pilots want "...to share that love of flying with anybody... " we can (as you said about your old CFI)!
That being said, as in all of life - there are JERKS out there!