Domiciliary patients with a cognitive disorder

In the course of my parallel career as a commercial pilot I was asked to take a retired Wing Commander for a last flight. He had suffered a stroke and also had terminal cancer and wanted one last experience before the end came.

I was told: ‘He has not been able to speak for over a year but has indicated that this is something he would like to do.’ We took off and during the initial the climb, much to my great surprise, a voice said, ‘This reminds me of when I first learned to fly.’ My passenger was talking. He then continued to tell me how he had started his flying career on Tiger Moths and graduated through piston Provost to jet Provost aircraft, then Meteors and finished his flying career on supersonic Lightnings.