So very sad. A well written account by a friend.
A lot of us have been in the position of having to take the car keys away from an aging parent, and this appears to have some parallels. A couple of CFIs refused to even give him a crack at a BFR because they thought he would fail.
When the tower tells you that your main gear appears to be dangling, that can certainly add to the pucker factor, but you have to keep flying the plane.