89 Years Young and Walking on Wings

January 15, 2010 — If you’re only as old as your feel. At least that’s how the saying goes. Tom Lackey must not feel very old then. Following the death of his wife in 2000, Lackey, now 89 and a retired builder from London, looked for ways to keep busy and deal with his grief. He tried wing walking. According to a New York Times article on adventurous senior citizens, Lackey has made 20 wing walks, the latest a trip last summer across the English Channel atop the wing of a biplane going 160 mph. “My family thinks I’m mad,” Lackey said in a telephone interview with the Times. “I probably am.” Lackey said he is preparing for his 90th birthday in May with an attempt to be the first person of any age to wing walk both directions across the English Channel. A friend from Lackey’s church, Sue Pitham, 49, said the first wing walk seemed morbid to her, coming as it did from grief. “I think the first one was a bit of a death wish, to be honest,” she told the New York Times. “But then he realized he was an adrenaline junkie.” Pitham said a stroke that Lackey suffered about six years ago slowed him down some, but not much. “He just needs a little more help getting on top of the plane now,” she said.

Tom Lackey, 89, took up wing walking as a way past the grief of losing his wife. Here, he is flying across the English Channel. Photo credit: Caters News via Bulls Press Tom Lackey is planning to wing walk for his 90th birthday in May. Photo credit: Caters News via Bulls Press

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