The pilot with the highest flight time of anyone now alive just turned 100.
She has over 57,000 hours. And while no longer flying, she still sounds mighty sharp:
Ed your birthday has passed but have a wonderful 100th year. I don't know you but I deeply respect you. My old friend Doc passed last week at the age of 101. Last year at his 100th party which I attended Doc said he was always taught to respect his elders but it keeps getting harder and harder to find one. Its guys like you and Doc that keeps this old geezer wanting to keep going.
Congratulations, Ed, as a CW man myself I have to say "great going".....though it makes me worry a bit about my pension provision in retirement if I pound brass as long as you have
Born: 1909, still CW-ing at 100. What no one has said here, is you can't imagine what he has seen. When he was a teenager, radio was in it's infancy. He must have seen the changeover from spark gap to tube, the coming of the superhetrodyne receiver, the beginning of SSB, likely using a carrier insert oscillator or BFO to resolve the speech, the changing of primary mode from CW to phone on the HF bands, the heyday of AM broadcasting and high fidelity AM on the ham bands, the leaps and bounds in antenna technology, power amplification, solid-state technology, not to mention the general life experience he must have gained, the Presidents he lived through, the end of the gold rush, the heyday of the mob and the romanticized gangsters of the day, the stock market crash (both of them, really), two world wars.....the changes in cars, motorcycles, trains, etc, the coming of TV.....imagine the day to day things that have changed throughout his life.
Ed, congratulations. I hope and pray that you have many more. You're an inspiration to us all.
Many wishes for your continued success and use of our amazing hobby.
I'm a new comer to Ham radio, though I have been interested in radio and Ham radio for over forty years. In retirement, I've found my opportunity to get into the hobby and took it. This story has made me want to learn cw even more than before I heard about you, Ed. If it lets someone QSO with someone like you, it has to good. My best to you, Ed and may God bless and keep you.
We appreciate your support.
Re: W0OZJ, Ed Ross still active at 100
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