Roscoe L. Pearce ("Bill") is 87 years old and Rich is teaching him to fly in his old Cessna 150 airplane that He sold him. This blog will be their journal for a flying trip from Macon, Missouri to Alaska in that airplane. They are leaving on May 29, 2008 and will spend approximately 3 weeks flying to Alaska and back. This trip was Rich's dream. When he sold the airplane to Bill he mentioned that he had always wanted to fly it to Alaska. Bill liked the idea too so they decided to make it one of Bill's long cross country trips for his private license. (and we do mean Loooong!) This will be a once in a lifetime trip for both men since Bill is 87 and Rich is 60.

Bill has had 6 flight instructors and his last flight instructor gave up on teaching him. The flight school chief instructor implied that he was too old and told him he would never get his license. This naturally was a tremendous let down for Bill until he met Rich. Rich was inspired to teach him and the two came up with creative ways to over come the difficulties of learning at an advanced age. Out of their successes and failures came the the "Last Chance" logo for the airplane. Bill came up with that name one morning after a difficult and trying flight lesson and it struck a chord in both men . Bill and Rich flew aggressively all last summer and then they took the plane to Houston Texas for the winter so Bill could continue his lessons there with a local flight instructor. Rich was worried that Bill might lose his hard won skills by a long winter lay off as Bill winters in Texas and summers in Missouri. Bill has logged 83 hours and soloed the airplane in March with Juan Bran his Texas flight instructor . That was a momentous day for Bill. He now has more than 15 solo landings and his confidence is growing daily. He has made 3 long cross country trips with Rich to Oklahoma and Texas. Many thanks to Juan Bran and his patience and encouragement in getting Bill to solo. It's true! You can teach an old dog new tricks, it just takes looooooonger!