At 66 Mr Alfred Humphries, of Ainslie, has just experienced "the grandest sensation" of his life. Mr Humphries flew solo in a light aircraft for the first time, having taken his first lesson about five years ago and having since clocked up about 52 hours' flying time.
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"Everybody is more excited about it than me," he said. "On Friday the instructors and everyone had a get-together and they all congratulated me. And I said to my instructor, 'How come everyone is so excited', and he said, 'It's not every day we send a man of 50 years of age on a solo'. And I said, '50 years ... How old do you think I am?' And he said, 'I've wanted to know but I haven't liked to ask'. And I told him, 'I'm 67 ... 67 in August'."
It was clear that no one was as excited about the flight as Humphries. He shared that his passion for flying began back at just six years of age when he saw an aircraft for the first time. However, his desire to fly was pushed to the back burner due to the war.
Humphries shared "before the war - that's the last one - I made what's called a Flying Flea, a light aircraft, and I also made a three wheel car. They wouldn't let me fly it ... three weeks later we were at war, so I had to smash it up."
He joined the Canberra Aero Club in 1971 for his flight lessons and had no qualms about learning from an instructor who might have been nearly one-third his age. Humphries said "for me, personally it wasn't a problem. I said to my instructor, John, 'You're the man and I'm the boy'. It didn't worry me, I've learnt from schoolboys before".
The journey to flying solo was a difficult one that required loads of work and studying and only people who have done it would know what the process was like. Humphries reflected on flight saying "you're completely and utterly in control of everything yourself and there's nobody to interfere. But at the same time there are all those people in the control tower watching. It's a grand feeling of belonging. Even though you are all alone up there, you still belong".
Humphries still had to take an exam to get his license but he felt he had already proved it to himself that he could fly. John Pinfold, his instructor, said teaching Humphries was a rich experience as his students were usually between 20-30 years old on their first solo flight.
