Thanks F/O Curreri

[EMB170Pilot]

Loose Lips Sink Ships

 

[plattsburgher]

along the same lines

This was in the 11/20 AW&ST letters:

Capt. M.D. Piampiano Newark, N.Y.I do not want to raise the mandatory airline pilot retirement age. I am 48, and I am not a junior pilot on the seniority list.
Having said that, the Age 60 rule will change sooner or later, International Civil Aviation Organization, or not. With almost every airline pension plan non-existent or frozen due to inept management, bankruptcy or both, the need to extend the retirement age exists for many pilots.
Personally I'm tired of hearing retiring pilots whine about how unjust the rule is, when 10 or 15 years prior, they didn't see the need to change it. Junior pilot says no, don't change the rule. Senior pilot says the rule is unfair, and needs to be changed. This has been going on since 1959, with the rule's inception. I wonder what Capt. David Skilling said about the rule when he was 35 or so (AW&ST Oct. 30, p. 6). If the rule does change, the area that needs to be addressed is the issuance of the first-class medical.
I don't care if you fly until you are 65 as long as you can truly pass a genuine physical exam. This is not only for the over 60 pilot, but for all pilots.
Pilots generally keep themselves in good shape. However, some sitting time in any terminal most likely will provide an observer with the view that pilots don't look fit. Like the population as a whole, many are overweight or obese. Some could not fit through the cockpit window in the event of an emergency. How many of us know aviators who "pass" their first-class medical by walking into a doctor's office and writing a check? Also, the electrocardiograph results prove little. How many stories have you heard of pilots passing their medicals, only to have heart attacks a few days or week later?
I somewhat remember a response in this column that described the medical in Europe for an over 60 pilot. It seemed much more thorough than the U.S. medical, and was priced accordingly. Maybe a European pilot could enlighten U.S. cockpit crews to requirements in the European Union.
With a change in the age rule, will these requirements also shift? Is two times a year enough to verify a pilot's health as we age?