"I was up in those clouds all night."

June 30, 2009 3:10 PM

"We were having dinner about four months ago and I was showing Clelia some pictures I'd taken in the air, and she said, 'Oh, that's so beautiful. I want to do that,'" Ben said. Easier said than done when you're 95.

Be sure to check out the slideshow.

posted by emelenjr (9 comments total)

Cool. My granny sky-dived for the first time at age 92. She just upped and realized one day that she'd gone her whole life without jumping out of an airplane, and decided to set that to rights.

I think if you make it to 95, you should be able to do any damn thing you want, if you're capable. It should be a rule, or something.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:21 PM on June 30, 2009

Well that's cool & all, but I know some people in their 80s who are still sharp enough to be flying sailplanes. It may not be easy to learn as you age, but they can hold onto their flying skills for a long time. Al Santilli is gone now, but he flew until he was 93.
posted by sea at 4:02 PM on June 30, 2009

Thanks, this is a wonderful story.
posted by meinvt at 4:20 PM on June 30, 2009

Thanks... I love these stories..

I turned 61 last week..

I remember, as a kid during the 50's trying to imagine living until the year 2000, it was a concept that was almost unimaginable.. we were steeped in science fiction, the future and it's technology was almost beyond our ability to conceptualize.

As I've grown older, as technology as advanced, as I've embraced the internet, cell phones, html, flash, java, os 7, os 8, os 9, os 10, iTouch, iPhone, facebook, wifi, and metafilter, I am constantly amazed that the world has yet to leave me behind...

But...I worry, somedays when the bones ache, when riding a Harley for 30 miles to work causes a bit of sore back and the fingers hurt from pulling in the clutch, I think...shit, I'm getting old...

Then I read a story like this... and, hell, I've got another 35 years to enjoy, if I don't screw it up!
posted by HuronBob at 7:03 PM on June 30, 2009 [2 favorites]

I think if you make it to 95, you should be able to do any damn thing you want, if you're capable. It should be a rule, or something.

Absofuckinglutely. Imagine a senior version of the Make A Wish Foundation. Make it to 90 years old, and they'll fulfill one dream for you. Except possibly the one about the blonde twins.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 8:44 PM on June 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

Except possibly the one about the blonde twins.

That's only an exception in the US. Everywhere else they'll do that one for you as well.
posted by The Monkey at 9:01 PM on June 30, 2009 [2 favorites]

Make it to 90 years old, and they'll fulfill one dream for you. Except possibly the one about the blonde twins.

Only thirty-three years to go! Nordic dioscouroi need not worry; other entities may begin trembling in their boots at thier leisure...
posted by pernishus at 2:38 AM on July 1, 2009

I approve of the recent rash of plane stories.

We had a flight instructor back at the airport I worked at that taught his 90+ year old grandmother to fly. We had a copy of the newspaper article about it framed in the office.
posted by backseatpilot at 5:29 AM on July 1, 2009

The slideshow was pretty nice until I saw the two pictures in which she's waving at the photographer in the other plane. Then I grinned.
posted by Madamina at 7:29 AM on July 1, 2009