02/09 - Don’t Let Age Stop You From Flying

02/09 - Don’t Let Age Stop You From Flying

By Steve Krog

“Don’t let your age stop you from flying,” states 69-year-old Earl Sessions. “In my opinion, if you can drive a car, you can learn to fly.” Earl added, “What stops a person from flying is never trying it! Think about what you can do on a weekend if you fly. Where you can go? What you can see? Who you can visit? What you can do?”

Earl Sessions’ love of airplanes and flying began over six decades ago growing up near Macon, Georgia. “When I was six or seven years old I’d sit on the front porch and watch Piper J-3 Cubs perform spins and stalls. This was right after World War II and there was a very active flight school near my house,” he said.

A few years later the sound of B-36 bombers piqued his interest. About 50 miles from his house was a U.S. Air Force base where several B-36 bombers were stationed. “The B-36 is a ten-engine aircraft, six turning and four burning, and it has a unique sound that caused so much noise and vibration that you could hear them fire up 50 miles away when the wind was right,” Earl said. “I grew up in this environment and knew that I wanted to enter the U.S. Air Force as soon as I could.”

At age 16, while attending high school in Macon, Georgia, Earl enlisted in the Georgia Air National Guard. He attended boot camp in Texas during the summer of 1957, returned to Macon, and graduated from high school in 1958. Thirteen days later he was transferred from the National Guard and inducted into the Air Force where he served for the next twenty years.

“I saw the Air Force literally transition from all propeller planes to all jet planes in my military tenure,” Earl said. “My area of training and expertise was electronics and avionics and I worked on fighters, bombers, and transports during that time.”

Following an active and enjoyable 20-year career in the Air Force, Earl retired only to begin a second 27-year career working for McDonnell Douglas and Boeing. He first served as a test interventionist engineer on F-15 radar in St. Louis. He then relocated to southern California to operate an F-18 avionic repair facility. Nine years later, Boeing, which had acquired McDonnell Douglas, had Earl manage an avionic support facility for the C-17. Seven years later he retired a second time and moved to Lemoore, California, where the experimental building and flight bug really bit him.

Not able to stay away from airplanes or anything else aviation related, Earl fell in with a group of military and industry retirees at Hanford Field. All were pilots; members of EAA Chapter 1138; and all were building experimental airplanes.

“I really caught the EAA bug and building aircraft from these guys, and I soon learned that airplanes caused irregularity—irregular work schedules, irregular eating schedules, etc., but I was bitten,” an enthusiastic Earl said.

“I looked at a lot of airplane kits and didn’t really like everything about any of them. But when I saw the Jabiru 250, I loved it instantly. Within a few weeks I foolishly ordered a kit thinking I could create my own brand of physics and then learn to fly the airplane,” Earl commented. “The thought of building my own airplane really appealed to me.

“As soon as I began building I thought I should also begin taking some flight lessons. I found a weak-minded ex-Navy instructor and convinced him to begin flying with me. He had a lot of reservations about trying to teach an Air Force guy how to fly, though,” Earl said.

It was about this time that the sport pilot/light sport airplane movement was coming on the scene. While Earl waited for the LSA Rules to become law, he proceeded with flight lessons and decided to get an FAA Third Class medical. Lo and behold, he failed the exam. Now what does one do? Earl continued to build while he worked on his next course of action.

“The sport pilot rules were, at long last, finalized,” Earl stated. “And all you needed was a driver’s license—unless you had failed a medical!” He continued building thinking that sooner or later he’d be able to pass the physical.

In March 2004 the airplane was finished and the airworthiness certificate was issued. Unable to fly the airplane himself, Earl had a flight instructor do the entire test flying. Also at this time Earl’s wife Gertrudt, from Frankfurt, Germany, was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. This necessitated a move to West Bend, Wisconsin, where Earl’s daughter and son-in-law, both doctors, could assist with the care of Gertrudt. A friend of Earl’s flew the airplane to Wisconsin for him.

The airplane sat in a hangar at West Bend airport until October 2007. “I was finally able to take and pass the Third Class medical! I immediately contacted the folks at Cub Air Flight located at the nearby Hartford airport,” Earl stated.

“I began my flight training with Kandace Rawling, who foolishly agreed to take me on as a student. But the weather soon turned sour so we waited until the spring of 2008 to resume the training. During this time I completed a sport pilot ground school class and took and passed my written exam.

“Spring finally arrived and I soon proved to Kandace what total incompetence was all about. I’m sure she reconsidered the challenge of flying with me many times but she is a brave lady and continued to persevere,” Earl joked. “We had some real adventures with cross-wind landings. She saved my bacon a couple of times when I first started working on crosswind landings. I had confidence in her and she instilled confidence in me.”

Earl soon gained his confidence and mastered crosswinds. He and Kandace then moved on to the cross-country phase of the flight training. “I was really excited about this phase. Having worked with aviation avionics all of my adult life, I had installed not one but three GPS units in my airplane and was anxious to use them.”

“Imagine my surprise when we crawled into the airplane for the first dual cross-country flight. I reached for the GPS knobs to turn them on and Kandace said ‘no’. Before you use a GPS for navigation, you have to prove to me you can read a map and find your way using pilotage,” said a laughing Earl. “I wondered if she had ever heard of modern navigation?

“I really liked the cross-country phase of training. I was worried that I wouldn’t do well and would get lost. As it turned out, Kandace was a very good instructor. I never got lost and found that cross-country flying was really a lot of fun,” Earl said. “Cross-country flying really gave me hope and confidence. It was like a huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders!

“Then you folks at Cub Air really surprised me, when suddenly one day a week or two after my last cross-country flight you sat me down and said, ‘we’re going to set you up for your checkride next Sunday.’ I thought I’d still need hours of instruction and I began to reconsider your judgment,” chuckled Earl.

“The day for the checkride came and I remember sitting there awaiting the arrival of the examiner. I was thinking of the thousands of things that could go wrong with a terrified examiner sitting next to me. I went through things over and over in my mind,” Earl stated, “and finally, I said to hell with it. It’s no different than preparing for battle. You do everything you can to prepare and then just go for it!”

The examiner finally arrived and he and Earl got down to business. A little over an hour later, they walked out onto the ramp and the examiner asked him to do his preflight inspection so they could fly. “I felt very confident. I was either very well prepared or the examiner was easy. I felt I nailed every question he asked,” Earl stated.

“By the time we went out to the airplane, I was ready for the flight portion of the exam. Actually, the flying part of the checkride was easy. Either that, or the examiner was really scared and wanted to get back on the ground in a hurry.

“Thirty minutes after landing and a piece of paper later, I was a sport pilot. I was in shock. You come to that day when it all happens, and then you’re all done. I was stunned! I devoted six years toward the effort of flying and it seemed it was over in an instant.

“Suddenly, it really hit me. I could now go flying on my own. It was a wonderful moment. I just sat there in the hangar and soaked in the feeling. It was such a long effort and it was a magnificent moment for me. It was a great satisfaction.”.

Following the completion of his training and satisfactory checkride, Earl acquired several more hours of dual instruction to obtain the logbook endorsement for flying in control tower environments. “I will take the opportunity now to do a round-robin trip from Wisconsin to Georgia, then on to California and Montana to see and visit with the many friends I’ve made,” Earl said.

Although Earl loved airplanes from a very early age and has been associated with aviation most of his life, he didn’t complete his flight training and earn a sport pilot license until age 68. When asked what advice he might offer to someone else of retirement age regarding flight training, he made the following comments.

“Don’t let age stop you! If you can drive a car, especially in heavy traffic, you can fly an airplane. Actually, driving in heavy traffic is a lot harder and places you more at risk than learning to fly.

“If you have an interest, go to the airport and take a short introductory flight. If it feels like it might be a fun and interesting challenge, then sign up to take three or four lessons, enough lessons so that you get to make a take-off,” Earl said. “It’s a great feeling the first time you make the take-off. Then, if you don’t like it, give it up. But by that time you’ll know if you have a real interest, and I’ll bet that you do.”

Editor’s Note: While building his airplane, Earl also earned his light sport maintenance certificate allowing him to do all of his own maintenance on the Jabiru 250.

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