Age 60 informal poll

[Phaedrus]

chirp, chirp

 

[3BCat]

chirp, chirp

He..he..You said chirp, chirp. Thats the sound little birds make after they crap.

Age 60 is not as complex as you believe. If you don't understand my reasoning, don't get mad. Get an education.

I've stated my position before. Age of the pilot is not a deciding factor in pilot competence between the ages of 23 and 59. At 60 it becomes the only factor. Age 60 is not about flight safety. It's an arbitrary limit.

So, lets try this. How about establishing a pilots age equivalent, based on his physiogical health? People have failing health regardless of age, and we all age until death. This would place the onus on current and everchanging science, and the flight surgeon to establish the overall capacity of each airman, individually. The problem of course is you never know when you might fall below the guidelines. Age sixty is way easier to plan for. Most guys that medical out don't get to plan for it though, so I think it's no greater harm.

You and I may not make it to 60. Then again, we may both be too healthy to meet Dr. Kevorkian until well past 70. Longevity, medicine and overall health of our population has improved markedly since this law was put into effect. It's time to overhaul it.

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

Longevity, medicine and overall health of our population has improved markedly since this law was put into effect. It's time to overhaul it.

Very well said..

 

[Sluggo_63]

...deleted...

 

[Phaedrus]

Age of the pilot is not a deciding factor in pilot competence between the ages of 23 and 59

So which is it 3B? A couple posts back and you were arguing that "no age limit = no discrimination". Again, prima facia, if the discrimination boogie man is your real problem you're going to have to allow 18 year old FO's and 90 year old captains if they qualify. Your problem is you're so mired in your facade of discrimination that you can't even admit to yourself what your true motive is.

 

[Sluggo_63]

Very well said..

Really. I think the American Heart Association and the American Medical Association would beg to differ with you on the statement that Americans are overall healthier than they were 40 years ago. There have been advances in medicine which drive the longevity higher, but you just have more old, sick people vs. 40 years ago when they died with their illness.

Maybe this is why British pilots are able to fly to 65, but US pilots to 60. Published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/295/17/2037
Highlights:
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Results The US population in late middle age is less healthy than the equivalent British population for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, lung disease, and cancer. Within each country, there exists a pronounced negative socioeconomic status (SES) gradient with self-reported disease so that health disparities are largest at the bottom of the education or income variants of the SES hierarchy. This conclusion is generally robust to control for a standard set of behavioral risk factors, including smoking, overweight, obesity, and alcohol drinking, which explain very little of these health differences. These differences between countries or across SES groups within each country are not due to biases in self-reported disease because biological markers of disease exhibit exactly the same patterns. To illustrate, among those aged 55 to 64 years, diabetes prevalence is twice as high in the United States and only one fifth of this difference can be explained by a common set of risk factors. Similarly, among middle-aged adults, mean levels of C-reactive protein are 20% higher in the United States compared with England and mean high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels are 14% lower. These differences are not solely driven by the bottom of the SES distribution. In many diseases, the top of the SES distribution is less healthy in the United States as well. [/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Conclusion Based on self-reported illnesses and biological markers of disease, US residents are much less healthy than their English counterparts (emphasis mine) and these differences exist at all points of the SES distribution.[/FONT]

 

[johnsonrod]

No way. I don't want a 64 year old cop or fire fighter protecting me either.

 

[Phaedrus]

johnson, you big meanie.

 

[UndauntedFlyer]

To: Sluggo 63:
The report you have reference is a comparison of the USA to another country. My statement compared today’s population with the American population of 50 years ago. As I had said, today’s population is healthier. The 60 year old of today is only middle aged.

 

[Phaedrus]

Middle-aged? Funny. Lets' see, the middle, otherwise known as the center, sometimes known as halfway. I didn't know that most people live to be 120. Thanks for the education.