N2264J said:But in every instance you mentioned, age is not the only criterion for the decision. ... The Age 60 rule has only one arbitrary threshold to meet.
There's no difference. Both criteria are based soley on age, not the individual's actual cognative abilities. The recent research on brain development actually shows that age 16 or 17 is too early for driving as the part of the brain which foresees the posibility of negative outcomes is severely underdeveloped at that point. Those brain functions are not fully matured until around age 25. Driver's accident rates support those findings and resulted in most car rental companies establishing a minimum age of 25 for renters.
But we do. Cognative ability is checked on the semi annual proficiency ride/LOFT/line check. Medicals, also twice a year.
There is no such check on pro-checks, loft or in the FAA required medicals.
As an example, take the crash last November of the Gulfstream attempting to land at Houston. What would have happened to a crew who crashed in such a fashion on their pro-check or LOFT? They would have received some additional training and would be right back on the line unless they were so far gone that they crashed repeatedly.
There simply is no quantitative measure that a check airman can use to evaluate the cognative ability of a crewmember.