[Miscellaneous]

...only go if the viz and cloudbase are above 8km and 1500 feet...

Doesn't sound too restrictive to me. I wouldn't go flying in the above (well, maybe very local) and I'm no where near your age

Here's to many more years of you flying.

[JR_MAS]

I’m always sad when I hear about people stopping as an elderly former pilot myself.

Why not take a safety pilot on your flights? You would be handling pilot but they would be in command.

There are plenty of youngsters with instructor ratings looking to build hours towards an airline job, it wouldn’t add much to your flying cost and you could fly in whatever conditions they deem acceptable.

Towards the tail end of flying life it doesn’t really matter that you are logging put instead of p1 - you are still flying.

[ozplane]

Thanks for your comments chaps. I was trying to achieve a balance between the "pipe and slippers route" and "it might be OK, let's go for it" scenario. WRT my cloudbase limit, most of my flying is in East Anglia and the only things I'm likely to hit in very low cloud are the Potton radio mast and Ely Cathedral. I do fly with younger experienced chums and I can rely on them to tell me if my standards drop.

[Mz Hedy]

Thanks for your comments chaps. I was trying to achieve a balance between the "pipe and slippers route" and "it might be OK, let's go for it" scenario.

Well known in the microlight world is this gentleman. 100 now and still flying when I last checked.
https://fun2fly.blog/2020/04/25/old-gold-and-still-bold-the-uks-oldest-active-pilot-ted-barrett/

OK, I accept we won't all last that long - but there's some inspiration and hope

[ROG]

MZ---you still need to pass your medical and your flying check up. Assuming your flying instructor checker rates you ok--and I know mine would say if he thought anyone was "losing it" then carry on.
I have known a perfectly competent 60 year old who talked himself into packing up.
In any event one can still go up with mates--do the R/T --help with nav etc. It"s another interest--and good for socialising.
My club has quite a few social members--some have lost their medicals--others are knowledgable entheusiasts . All adds to interest in aviation.
I thought that rather sad.

[T6Harvard]

There's a guy at my club who doesn't want to do his skill test and would struggle to get a medical (a physical disablement) but he flies most weeks in P1 seat with an instructor by his side.

As he says, he can't fly solo but he has a great time doing what we all do / aim to do, namely flying with a mate! He's perfectly competent on the controls, at nav, etc but the safety pilot fulfills the legal requirements.

So even if there is a deterioration in health there's no need to hang up your headset!

Personally I can see a huge potential for the services of a safety pilot for a range of people in lots of circumstances.

If it would help newly qualified pilots explore further afield then we may keep the drop-out rate down a bit too!

[Londlostdriver]

I seem to be out of kilter with most on here. After many years and a fair few solo hours, I decided that it was time to give up. Having reached two and a half score years and ten I was down to some 20/30 solo hours a year. Decided that although I could (just) keep up with the various airspace and licensing changes which I could keep up with, I wasn’t really enjoying it anymore. I had been reducing my personal flying limitations over the years, despite still passing the various tests en route to allow me to continue at the higher qualification, but was it really worth continuing for a quick VFR bimble a couple of times a week using the various lesser licensing options? I decided that I had been on a good run but it was time to hang up the headset. Never owned an aircraft or a share but always flew with an organisation that would keep a check on me and I never had a problem. Haven’t ever regretted it although keeping a close interest in aviation and really hope that I can use the same rationale when it comes to the car! That will hurt but for the greater good hope that I can.

[ROG]

2 SCORE YEARS PLUS 10 I believe is 60.
With ref to giving up your driving license I think that it is more important to retain it than your pilots license.. Before you do that why not get a check out with the IAM (ex police driving instructors ) or a local experienced driving instructor.

[ROG]

2 score years and a HALF plus 10-=--left out the half=60

[T6Harvard]

Is not being able to compute '2 and a half score years' a test in the medical?

2.5 x 20 anyone?

[NDB_hold]

I think the problem is nobody knows what a score (or a gross) is…

[lobstaboy]

Two beans, a bean and a half, half a bean and a bean...

[Shoestring Flyer]

I think the problem is nobody knows what a score (or a gross) is…

When buying cabbage plants I still buy them by the score!

[mick w]

Only has beans will know

[lobstaboy]

A colleague once was ordering promotional coffee mugs for our business. Nice chap, but sometimes away with the fairies like a lot of marketing people
Anyway the order form said "how many gross do you want?"
In the box for his answer he wrote 'one gross' - having checked with me what a gross meant.
It took a long time to unload the delivery truck. We were still giving them away when the company changed its name serval years later and couldn't use them anymore.
(It's 20,736 btw)