Fly past age 60, WHY?

[skykid]

My question is: IF flying beyond age 60 isn't about safety then why does the F/O have to be less than 60??

Good question. I investigate aircraft accidents for one of my jobs. You would be amazed how many general aviation accidents involve pilots over 60. I don't have any doubt that over age 60 pilots account for more than their share of the total GA accidents.

Obviously age 60 is a somewhat arbitrary number - as would be 65 or 63. We have to draw the line somewhere.

 

[bman]

Why fly past 60?

1. I can't manage money worth a $hit.

2. I get absolutely no respect from anyone in my private life. I think I get some at my job, but really don't.

3. I have absolutely no life. I have to go to work for enjoyment.

4. I don't have a wife (ran her off), and if I do, we can't stand each other.

I can think of others. I won't have my 25 years when I retire either, but I save for retirement and don't want to work after 60. If you idiots think work is a vacation, you really have problems.

Amen

Cept for I'm betting you prob. got a little mil retirement commin ur way to augment things.

The funny thing about this is 10 years ago the people ringing the bell for this were probably not as concerned. Now the end is near, the pension is gone, and the saving never happened.

An awful lot of people under 40 in this biz never had the high salaries (or the opportunities to invest or save large portions of that) or the A/B funds promised. Now after many who are approaching 60 have benefited from the policy (ie advancement due to guys retiring) they want to further benefit. (Typical boomer me, me, me!)This rule has been in place since before you guys started. We were all hired with the knowledge that this was the case now its unfair?!

Why work past age 60? Because I failed to prepare for what I knew was comming, but was too short sighted to see.

Aviation isn't the only industry has age limits (look at many govn't jobs).

 

[lostplnetairman]

Amen
Aviation isn't the only industry has age limits (look at many govn't jobs).

Please tell? Which are they?

Just curious...

HR Diva

 

[furloughed dude]

Diva,

How bout ATC controllers? Do you want more?

The simple fact is that with age there is a degradation in performance. Is it 60? Is it 62? 65? 90?

You have to draw the line somewhere. We all know AMEs that give very easy physicals. It wouldn't be too difficult for someone 90 years old that could pass his class I physical.

The bottom line is that the old fogeys that didn't take care of their retirement now want more time to save for their retirement. They took full advantage of the age 60 policy throughout their career. Now they want to extend their careers because they couldn't take care of their retirement. Sorry, I am not too sympathetic to their cause when there are thousands of young guys with families that are on furlough. These guys should be ashamed of themselves....

 

[Tim47SIP]

Not the same!

How bout ATC controllers? Do you want more?

The simple fact is that with age there is a degradation in performance. Is it 60? Is it 62? 65? 90?

Furloughed, I know you are bitter about the whole thing, and I would be to if I were in your shoes. The difference between the Gov jobs age requirements and the 121 age requirements are two different things. The Gov mandates Law enforcement, ATC, Mil, etc because there is a guaranteed pension that is provided and absolute physical limits. Some of these don't pay into SS (Mil does) and will not get SS payments. As you know the airlines provided their own retirements (mistake) with no real guarantee of pensions for life. The original reason for the age requirement was based on no definitive data. After numerous years with this rule in place, we still have no definitive data. It has alway been nothing more than age discrimination and now individuals want it rescinded not because of medical issues, but personal needs. This rule wont effect me for another 15 years, and it will slow advancement down for a couple of years, but things will get back to normal very quickly.


My question is: IF flying beyond age 60 isn't about safety then why does the F/O have to be less than 60??

Because that is what the ICAO standard is. Our rules will mirror these standards.

 

[sandman2122]

So the ICAO folks ADMIT there's a safety issue about guys flying, part 121, beyond Age 60. Otherwise, there wouldn't be a restriction on guys less than 60 having to "babysit" the over 60 pilots.

Schedulers are going to love trying to plan around the over vs. under 60 year olds............what a can of worms these knuckleheads opened...

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

Pilots over age 60 have a better accident record than pilots under age 60.

If it was about safety, the age 60 rule would have disappeared years ago.

CLiff
GRB

 

[furloughed dude]

Tim,

I have to disagree with you on this one. There has to be an age limit in this job, just like military, atc, police. I don't know if 60 or 90 is the correct age, but like I said earlier, it isn't difficult to get a class I with the right AME. And we all know one.

There have been great advances in aviation since the age 60 rule went into effect. But, along with these advances, there has been a quick decline in work rules. This job will become much harder than it is today.

While pilots gain incredible experience with age, performance also declines as well. I don't think this is up for debate. The question is when does it decline? You can have study after study, but there is no way to really determine this age.

Age 60 works. Tough luck for those that didn't take care of their retirement. I worked my 20 in the military (active and military) and a very large group of these old whiners could have done the same. I would say the vast majority of near 60 pilots are ex military.

You mentioned mirroring international rules. The question is why did they make this rule in the first place? Is it unsafe to have two 65 year old pilots flying together?

And lastly, is the age 60 rule discrimination? Wouldn't age 65 be discrimination as well? Why do you think the old timers can take care of their retirement if they fly 5 more years? Most of us have noticed the industry in free fall for the last 4 years. Are they just noticing? They had 4 years of excellent wages to add to their nest egg.

Bottom line is this: These old timers benefited from age 60 throughout their career. Now they want it changed to benefit them again. I don't think so.

And remember this hasn't passed the entire senate and house. And even if it does, it will probably be years before this goes into effect.