I seem to have upset a couple of you. For that I sincerly apologise.
I have however come across ageism a lot, perhaps because I am not a "pipe & slippers" type myself & mixing with younger people with similar interests I expect to be treated as just as capable as anyone else. I also find a lot of disrespect for the capabilities & experience of those of us who have been round the block a while. My son in law falls into that slot. And as mentioned earlier this comes across as "no young whipper snapper is going to teach me". Which it really is not. The suggestion of a safety pilot got up my nose considerably.
So I am sorry if I have come across as agressive bull headed but as v-tail pointed out. Why was the original question asked? Yes we are all different. I took 65 hrs total at the age of 66. But if I were to suggest (which I didn't) that I think the navigation bit was a bit "padded out" (25+ hrs of it) & I know the area, ex gliders, what are the instructors among you going to say? I never got lost, but more to the point, I was never "made lost" by an instructor.
Sorry I have such strong views on the subject.
The fact remains that fundamental flight safety issues were demonstrated on the two flights to which I refer, and I would not hesitate to putting advanced age down as one of the major contributing factors. And this is not only my opinion, but also of others who were present on the flights concerned who were over the age of 60 !
Mixture.
I agree with that, but then I can cite at least two incidents of flight safety issues by people in their 20s/30s.