Miles To Go...
I'm a GA pilot and wish to apologize for intruding, but I'm amazed at some of the posts I've read in this thread.
Flying is my passion, and professionally I'm a 52 yo surgeon and professor of surgery in an University Hospital.
The bottomline in both professions is SAFETY, centered on PAX or patient.
Both in the air and in the OR, I've always considered safety depending on proficiency, strict adherence to rules, be it protocols or SOP, and physical and mental capability to perform.
But most of all, I deeply believe it's far beyond individuality and should be centered on TEAMWORK. Flight safety is, in my opinion a CREW thing and the team cohesion should be the ultimate goal.
It should, then, depend on respect, willingness to teach and learn, keeping an open mind to other's opinions, irrespective of their age, but bearing in mind that what we loose in the gesture (physical or mental) is gained in experience throughout the years.
It's also about letting go of our egoes and keeping the door open not to hold back sharing and criticism when needed.
The posts I've been eagerly reading in this thread sometimes appear to tell the opposite, and diminish the highest standards of the "pilot profession", that I so deeply admire and try to reproduce in my surgical teams.
As in surgery, age per se should not be regarded as a limiting factor, as long as the other criteria are present and verified.
Thanks and fly safe
JCM