“I used to make models when I was a kid and I always said ‘When I get older, I'm going to build my own plane and fly it,'” Wolfe said.
“Then I had to ask myself at 83 why I decided to do something like this.

“If my health gets bad, I may never fly it, but I figure just the concentration and focus on this will keep me healthy.”

Wolfe is also building his two-seater RV12 from Van's Aircraft because it is in a new FAA category that allows him to operate it without yearly medical checkups. Under the Light Sport Aircraft category, he will not be able to fly at night and can't go any faster than 120 knots.

Wolfe got hooked on flying when his father paid for a plane ride when Harold was a boy growing up in Vincennes, Ind. He learned to fly in 1947 and then gave it up three years later when college and the Korean War loomed.

After the war, Wolfe graduated as an engineer from the University of Illinois and Iowa State and went to work with Douglas Aircraft in Los Angeles, which is now part of Boeing.

He also did a stint with Aerojet in Sacramento before retiring to Nevada County in 1989.

In 1996, Wolfe became manager at the county airport and was talked into flying again by flight instructor John Bauer.

Since then, Wolfe has enjoyed recreational flying and even took his Cessna 152 back to the Midwest to visit the airports around Vincennes where he learned to fly.

“I said after 60 years I wanted to go back and land at those airports again,” Wolfe said. “My wife said, ‘You don't think you're going back without me, are you?'”

The couple, married 57 years, eventually embarked on a month-long journey to visit relatives and fullfill a dream.

“It was a wonderful time,” said Wolfe's wife, Pat. “I enjoy riding with him and never get scared.”

As far as her husband's plane building goes, “I think it's quite a feat,” Pat said. “I'm proud of his trying this at his age. He's always been a builder. He built our home 18 years ago by himself.”

Until his new plane is completed, Harold continues to make good use of his Cessna 152.

“It's a challenge for me,” he said. “If you're going to be a decent pilot, you have to be on your toes all the time. It's not like driving a car when you're talking and looking around. It's also a hobby. To me, it's a different perspective on entertainment and recreation and it's also a means of transportation.”

His advice for others his age? “More people at this age need to do things like this,” Harold said. “If I don't fly it, at least I will have satisfied a life-long urge to build a full-size airplane.”