I wonder if today will indeed go down in history along with such events as the Wright Brothers first flight, the first manned space flight by the Russians, or landing on the moon. I’ve just watched (again) the web cast of SpaceShipOne’s first of two planned flights to capture the Ansari X Prize for the first reusable civilian space craft to launch twice in 14 days and carry three people to the edge of space. For me this is a milestone date in history. It will soon be possible to buy a ride into space and not long after it will be possible to spend a night in a hotel circling the earth. I hope to live long enough to see it happen. Congratulations Burt Rutan, Scaled Composites, and astronaut Mike Melvill! It’s interesting to me that Mike is piloting this space craft at age 63 — three years older than what our stupid government will allow airline pilots to fly.

Many years ago, the first time I started to get my pilot’s license, we were living in Lafayette, Indiana. We received an unexpected tax return and I used that money to begin taking lessons. Most of the instructors out at the Purdue Airport were young kids with freshly minted instructor licenses trying to build flight time until they could get a job with one of the airlines. On my first flight, the kid who was my instructor (he was younger than I was!) didn’t pay close enough attention to where he was taxiing the airplane. He caught the right wingtip on the side of a hanger and the airplane swung like a pendulum right into the side of the hanger. Fortunately, he had just killed the engine before the wingtip hit the hanger, or there could have been some serious damage done to both of us. As it was, we both were able to climb out of the airplane and walk away. The instructor was fired on the spot (and he probably never got a job flying with the airlines with an accident on his record). I was pretty unnerved. I decided to go for age and wisdom rather than youth and exhuberance! I didn’t have enough money to go beyond solo that time, so getting a license had to wait another 15 years or so.

Eventually in the mid 1980’s I went back to get my pilot’s license at the Cuyahoga County Airport in Ohio. I looked around for the guy with the most white hair and hooked up with Jim Young. He had been a milk truck driver and flew on the side for recreation. He had learned to fly in the Air Force in one of their flying clubs and later got his instructor rating. He was an excellent instructor who stressed safety and prudent operation at every turn. "You really want to be down here wishing you were up there rather than being up there and wishing you were down here!" was something he repeated at least twice every lesson — once before and once after. He was also well past 60 and past the age that the FAA requires airline pilots to retire. Jim Young became one of my Heroes. I added another one today. Way to go, Mike Melvill! Age and wisdom will always prevail!