A Very Sad Day (for me)

oldman

oldman

Well-known Member
Location
PA
Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 28, also know around here as "Fat Tuesday" and "Fasnacht Day" will be a very sad day for me. It will be the last day that I will be permitted by law to fly a passenger jet because FAA laws prohibit pilots from doing so once they reach the age of 65. This will end my career, which has spanned 40 years in a cockpit.

I have been so fortunate to have never had an accident or a re-portable incident. I am not the type of person to brag, but I have had a stellar career and have enjoyed every day of it. Being a Senior Captain and also a Training Captain has been my life's dream come true and now it must end. I finished my last flight last evening when we landed in Harrisburg, PA at 10:00 p.m. from Dallas. I couldn't help but to have some wet eyes after landing. After putting on the brakes at the terminal and doing the check list for shutting down the plane, I looked over at my First Officer and said, "Well, that's it." He shook my hand and gave me a hug.

Although I have been offered a job with my former airline as a classroom trainer, I have decided to hang it up and move on to doing something more productive. I got a part time job stocking shelves and doing random jobs for a big grocery chain here in my part of the state. It's just something to do, but I will do it well.
 

Thank you for keeping us safe. Enjoy a well earned retirement.

I hope you will still enjoy flying but as a passenger.
 

Oldman, I imagine it's very bittersweet for you...hugs. You've been blessed to have such a fulfilling career that you're so passionate about, not many people have that. Enjoy your retirement and cherish your special memories. Early Happy Birthday wishes from me too. :happybday:
 
You were so lucky to have a career you loved so much. Enjoy your retirement oldman. You will find another passion, I bet. Happy birthday!
 
Hope you decide to keep those aviator skills earned over such a long distinguished career by continuing to fly the little planes like the Cessnas -- or even give flying lessons! Best of luck in your retirement in finding your happiness and contentment with the New You. (P.S. In contrast, my last day flying as a stew for TWA was a happy one, as I'd had enough after five years of being the lightning rod for all those passenger frustrations.)
 
Happy Birthday Old Man & enjoy your retirement,
in a few months you will be wondering how you
ever managed to have time for work.

Mike.
 
Thanks, everyone for the happy thoughts and birthday wishes. I had damp eyes by the time that I had finished reading your posts. Prepping for retirement has been full of very over-whelming emotions. Leaving aviation is like losing a very close friend. Aviation has consumed my life. Without including the birth of my children and the marriage to my wife, the best days of my life were spent in the cockpit. I would often tell people that I knew that I could never imagine not flying. Even on my days off, I would sometimes sit at home and track flights (that I normally flew) on my computer.

My worse day of flying was when I took off from JFK in New York on an evening flight down to Miami back in July of 1996. We were number one behind TWA Flight 800, (B-747), which had exploded just minutes after takeoff with about 230 passengers and crew on-board. I did not see the explosion, but when the plane went down, we heard the news over the radio. There were (I don't know how many) several high school students on-board flying to Paris with their high school French class. It was a horrific accident. That accident really bothered me for a long time.
 
You are a lucky man oldman and I mean that sincerely. You know how they talk about 'having regrets when you get older'? Well I've pretty much had a good life, but the one thing that has been bugging me lately is that I never got really good, no, great at any one thing. One thing that I could point to and say 'I did that'. I am an inveterate 'jack of all trades' kind of person and I've had fun doing it, learned a bunch of disparate things, but I never focussed on anything ...... like you did, and you get to say 'I did that'. So you are a lucky man!

And I hope that you have a great time with your retirement and the job that you are going to do and I hope too that in the years to come, that you find a new thing to ignite that amazing passion!
 
Congratulations on your Retirement! Try to look at it as a Happy Landing!:eek:nthego:
serveimage
 
I know what you mean about enjoying your career choice and having no regrets. I see this with my son. He has his own cabinetry business. He is only 41 but I asked him if he had it to do over what would he do? He said I am doing it. Not many people can say that. I'm happy for him and you are proof that it is possible to have a wonderful career for many years and never grow tired of it.
 
Retirement isn't for everyone especially for someone who had an exciting job like yours.

But you have already decided you are not putting yourself out to pasture yet and are staying active.

That's the way to go about it. Congratulations on your career. That's the way to look at it. A great accomplishment.
 
Happy birthday Oldman, loving your job, and doing-what-you-do for all these years may be tough to leave behind. Best wishes to you.
 
Aww Oldman, you are not an old man at all. You are just starting a new journey in your life. Embrace the profession you had and look forward to what lays ahead! Happy Birthday and thanks for getting all those passengers to their destinations safely!
 
A friend of mine that no longer works for the Air Force now flies radio controlled model airplanes in his retirement. Sort of like drones only for fun.
 
I watch a TV show on the Smithsonian Channel named "Air Disasters." My wife won't allow me to watch the shows on the TV in our great room because she says that I go bonkers and yell at the TV when a plane is in trouble. I guess that I do get excited and yell instructions to the pilots.

Just recently, the show that was on was about a Canadian airline that had a flight to the very north of Canada in the Arctic. The plane was flying to Resolute Bay. In Resolute Bay, the only airport is managed by a military site. The plane had crashed and I think 9 people were killed and 3 survived. It was a very foggy day and they had to land using their ILS for final approach. The ILS when used along with the autopilot will guide the plane to the center of the runway up until touchdown.

The F/O (First Officer) kept telling the Captain that they had wandered off course, but the Capt. was certain that the ILS would move them back on course. What they didn't realize was that the ILS had somehow been turned off and as the plane heads farther north, compasses will tend to change by themselves. To correct this problem, the pilots would have needed to calibrate their compasses (each has their own compass) using their GPS.

When they came out of the fog and just before touchdown, the master alarm went off using the verbal command "Pull Up!" When they were able to see the runway, the plane had drifted some 5 or so degrees from the center of the runway, so they tried to accelerate, climb and go around for a second attempt at landing, but it was too little, too late. There was a small hill in front of them that they were not able to climb above in time and so they crashed. This accident was 100% preventable.

I was yelling at the TV telling the pilots to "Go Around" just before they came out of the fog, but they didn't hear me. Had they aborted the landing sooner, everyone would have lived.

Here is a short synopsis of the show that I am referencing.
 

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