To ME, it IS about Safety, PLUS it is about FAIRNESS. IF it is NOT about SAFETY, why the need to have a pilot younger than 60? To be fair, if there is a regulatory requirement to have a pilot under 60, than an over 60 pilot does not meet the requirement to be the PIC. Fine, over 60 guys go to the right seat. Oh, no, they don't like that idea.
Fairness: EVERY pilot in the last 50 years has benefited from the age 60 rule. Without retirements (or massive growth) there are no upgrades. The military is similar, except that it has an up or out pyramid as well as an age based pyramid. Even flag officers have to finally leave at a certain age. This is to allow those at the bottom of the pyramid the chance to eventually advance.
Since there is no performance based removal system from the top of the airline pyramid, the only way to make room for advancement for those at the bottom of the pyramid is to have an age based system to do so. Age 60 protects pilots and their passengers from the decline in mental and physical abilities that occur with age. Is 65 any better? No, it is still an arbitrary number that is there as a safety net. Will some folks retire before they have lost it? Yes. That is the price to protect the flying public from even one who makes a deadly mistake in a senior moment. The greater good is to protect the many.
In addition, there are still thousands of pilots on furlough who FINALLY stand the chance of getting recalled now that the economy and the industry are picking up. THESE are the guys who will get the dagger right in the middle of the back if the age changes. How about their lost pensions and furloughs? The old guys don't care about them, they just want to hang on as long as they can and screw the guys who have patiently waited for the industry to recover so that they could maybe get their chance at flying for their legacy again.
Of course there are economic issues on both sides. What the pro-change crowd refuses to acknowledge even slightly is the fact that a change to age 65 would be a windfall for them and a screw job for the junior and furloughed pilots. Their sheer arrogance and insistence that the industry will collapse if they are allowed to retire is appalling. They should be ashamed of themselves. Sure you are a better Captain now than you were 15 years ago, but the guy sitting next to you those 15 years is also better, and it is their turn to become the Captain now. It not like the 60 year old Captain is being replaced with a 23 year old Riddle grad. Give us a break.
Personally, all I want is a chance to upgrade based on the same criteria that they enjoyed for the past 50 years, and I am not a young guy. I might be able to hold a left seat in a widebody for 5 years. I don't want to have to fly to age 65 to get "MY" 5 years in the left seat. I'd prefer to be hitting the beach or a golf ball the day I turn 60, not trying to max my high 5.
More importantly, to ME, is that the fair and righteous thing for the most people involved is to keep the rule the way it is. Fair for the furloughees and to those at the bottom of the pyramid at every carrier.
I also realize that us wasting bandwidth here will not change anything to do with this legislation. The change will likely be forced upon us regardless of what the pilots want, and that is a shame. The pilots at ALPA at least, have stated loud and clear, however, that the majority of them are in favor of the rule remaining in place. That should give our union leaders clear and concise marching orders on how they should proceed on capitol hill.
FJ