In the UK, with the NPPL, there is no medical reason to stop flying if you can still drive a car. The worst option is that after April 2018 (the Brussels “EASA aircraft + NPPL” screw-everybody date) you will have to fly something like an RV 
I am 60 and a week and can’t see myself stopping, ever. It has been proven (on the internet) that flying keeps your brain active and dementia arrives later. With care homes costing £500/week+ here, you are looking at an immediate positive cash flow even if you fly a TBM700 And if you spend all your money on flying then the State will pay for the care home, so this is a win-win situation.
Peter wrote:
With care homes costing £500/week+ here, …
Wow, that’s really cheap! I think I better book one for myself right now… for Germany you can triplicate that number. But you are certainly right, there are some active pilots I know who are in their 80ies which would easily be taken for mid-60. If this is due to their flying or their flying is due to their good health I don’t know.
Peter wrote:
I am 60 and a week
So Happy Birthday to you – even if a week late (I am going to be in FAB on the 7th, 8th and 9th of August for a delayed pint of birthday beer)
Peter wrote:
It has been proven (on the internet) that flying keeps your brain active and dementia arrives later. With care homes costing £500/week+ here, you are looking at an immediate positive cash flow even if you fly a TBM700
Ok, so when are you going to propose to The Minister for Health that old age pensioners get sponsored flying to the tune of £500 a week in order to delay the onset of dementia? I’d love to hear the result of that conversation……
The old people’s home would be about 50% higher than Peter’s figure here, generally funded by selling a house which would pay the bill for about twice as long as typically necessary. That aside, I know at least one old guy who went that route and kept flying, in the end with his son flying right seat because latterly he got a little wobbly. He spent most of the time at the airport, just as before, but food was always available at ‘home’. He never stopped flying until he passed away at 90
what_next wrote:
I have taken him on all aircraft categories I fly (SEP, MEP and bizjet) but he didn’t enjoy either very much. Just one thing to do out of many and nothing that he was eager to repeat. Nothing that he can’t see better on Google Earth on his compter I’m afraid.
I think that is very much representative of today’s generation. It’s not wrong or bad, it’s just a different view on things given the options we have today. It might change again when we get autonomous people transporters. I almost never drive a car because I hate that it takes too much attention from writing WhatsApp etc. and I am looking forward to the first decent self driving car which I will buy immediately (4-5 years I estimate).
I doubt that I will keep my PPL until old age. At the right moment I will stop and then do other interesting things.
achimha wrote:
I almost never drive a car because I hate that it takes too much attention from writing WhatsApp etc.
If you didn’t have an electric car, you might enjoy it more!
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Sorry…couldn’t resist!
Not true. I have a 6-cylinder biturbo 400 hp sedan, and I was always into cars, … but occasionally i rent an electric car and I enjoy it a LOT. My next car might be a Tesla.
The day I stop flying I can finally get rid of the car as well. I really only need it to get to the airport. Everything else I can do better by bicycle, motorbike or public transport. And for all other travels will be easier and cheaper to rent a car than to have one myself. About the same as with an aeroplane…
Peter wrote:
I find that rental pilots tend to drop out of flying rather readily, due to the minimal commitment involved.
Sorry, Peter, that’s nonsense. I’ve been renting for close to 20 years, following the 3F rule…… it certainly has its downsides, but overall for me the better option. It depends on your annual hours and the set-up you manage to negotiate. That said, I would never do it in the UK – worst place to rent (or fly, for that matter) on the planet.
Ooops, and as I just see above – belatedly Happy Birthday!
dublinpilot wrote:
If you didn’t have an electric car, you might enjoy it more!
Sorry, no. The contrary is true. Electric cars are 10x more enjoyable. You will find that a lot of people today are not keen on driving cars anymore. I believe the UK was actually one of the trendsetters where youngsters do not obtain a driving license anymore. Now this is a very widespread trend throughout Europe.
I like cars like everything having to do with technology and mechanics but driving seems like a waste of time. I have so much to do, so many things I want to occupy my mind with that I consider the attention required to pilot a car to be a waste of time. The car should do that all by itself and let me pilot it whenever I feel like it. Just like my airplane where I always do something else enroute — read the newspaper, work on my laptop, etc.
Now going to walk 2 minutes to the metro stop to go to the office, electric and I don’t have to do drive but can read my newspaper
