Brian,

First of all thank you for touching on this much needed subject. However I will start will a little defense on the "elders" part. We have to remember that the reason that the majority of older modelers can not fly with the same proficiency as the rest of the average pilots today is that they were around in the "good oledays" when anyone who could take off and land a model airplane within a 2 mile circle was considered an expert. The thought of taking off, flying a predescribed course and landing at will is as foriegn to them as mars!

The idea of practising to get better is not even a concept for them. Mearly taking off and "surviving" is the goal. But this can be said about a growing segment of modelers today. You have to remember that about 30% of the "local" club guys are gambling in their own minds when they fly as to whether or not they will actually aver see their model in one piece again or not! And of these, a large majority are in the older age group.

I agree that one of these old timers can kill an innocent bystander as surely as a young guy with a fast turbine but our task is to educate everyone as we evolve as a group.

BTW,

JWN, by the length and breath of your responses you seem to have a rather deep involvement here. Are you by any chance considered to be (how can I put this nicely) within the aforementioned group? And if so, how can you possibly deny what has been said? Lets all face it, we know that as we get older, that we lose some ability. I mean come on, lets not act as though we are delerious about this issue. We need to be responsible and address this issue correctly. You make claim to age discrimination in one of your posts. . .are you INSANE? Age discrimination is charging more for a dinner at a resturaunt based upon ones age. Should you eat for less than a younger man who is working his butt of to feed his family?