90-year old RV-6A pilot died yesterday in crash

Dude got his license at 89 y.o. Impressed. Super impressed.
 
Dude got his license at 89 y.o. Impressed. Super impressed.

They didn't say that, they just said said implicitly that his most recent certificate was issued in 2018. We do not know if he got his initial certificate at 89 or not.
 
They didn't say that, they just said said implicitly that his most recent certificate was issued in 2018. We do not know if he got his initial certificate at 89 or not.

Or that might have been when he passed his last flight review and the reporter didn't know what that meant.
 
Might be an interesting conversation with the FAA and the CFI endorsing his last flight review.
 
RIP. Better than dying a slow death from pancreatic cancer. I’ve seen it and prefer a quick death as it’s easier on everyone.
 
And they are requiring you upgrade to plastic if you have an old paper certificate.
 
English proficient, address change, plastic, etc or just passed checkride for Private, Commercial or Seaplane. Could be anything. Gotta take what the news reporters come up with with a 5 lb sack of salt.
 
According to the obituary he'd been an avid pilot and member of the CAP most of his life.
 
Loss of situational awareness with ensuing spatial disorientation while yelling at a cloud.
 
They didn't say that, they just said said implicitly that his most recent certificate was issued in 2018. We do not know if he got his initial certificate at 89 or not.
I have a 1998 copy of the FAA Pilot Registry. Glen Ray Galloway of Waverly, Ohio is listed. Undoubtedly the same guy.

The January 2019 registration database lists his airplane as a Jerry Bass Vans RV-6A, with a model year of 2000. It's shown as "Sale Reported" in my December 2013 FAA registry, with Mr. Bass owning it prior to that, and Mr. Galloway subsequently.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Loss of situational awareness with ensuing spatial disorientation while yelling at a cloud.
Get off my sky?

We had an instructor at our field who was 89. He turned 90 and decided it was time to hang it up. While he taught a lot of students, he realized it was time to not only quit instructing, but to quit flying. The biggest issue he had was hearing and it really started to impact his instruction.

On the same field, I have a friend who is 81. He built an RV-9A then decided to slow down because he felt his reaction time was slowing. He built an RV-12. He wanted to leave it to his son who is taking flying lessons. He's now decided his son is too big to fit comfortably in the 12, so he's building an RV-14A. At 81 years old, I would fly with him any time. Not only that, I would fly in any airplane he built. He's a true craftsman and I think building airplanes is what has kept him going after losing his wife. If I live that long, I hope I'm as passionate about something as he is.

I guess my point is, some will assume the pilot shouldn't have been flying at 90 years old and this contributed to his accident. It will be interesting to see what they find out during the investigation.
 
I had a friend at the Gallup airport that flew up until a few months before he died at age 88. He was a B-17 and B-29 Commander in WWII.

He didn't have a medical so he always flew with another pilot. And I mean he flew. He sat in the left seat and did it all. His landings were always mains down within one foot beyond the threshold. In the air he was always on course and on altitude. Gusty crosswind landings did not bother him one bit.

Not long after I started flying in Gallup, I landed and parked the plane. Jack pulled up in a golf cart and said get in. He took me out to the runway and showed me my tire marks, about a foot right of center line and a good 20-25 feet beyond the threshold. Now it was a windy day, about 30G40 and 30 to 40 degrees off center line.

Jack got on to me about that. I'll never forget what he told me: "I understand you were a bush pilot before coming here, so I expect better landings than this.''

He saw that while sitting in the FBO.

Every landing I do, I land as if Jack is watching me.
 
The guy who originally built my airpark was 93 when he passed and still flying (with others as PIC). He lost his medical after a heart attack when he was 64. We've got guys in the airpark in the 80's still with medicals and still flying.
 
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