Age 70 for international pilots?
 

Heard a rumor that some South American Airlines are lobbying for a change in pilot retirement age to 70.
Any truth to this?
Thanks:confused:

Age 70 is already being quietly discussed in the halls of the U.S. Congress and ALPA. There was a lot of whining about Age 65 but in the end, there was not one vote against it when it sailed through legislative approval in the States.

In the EU there is talk of eliminating the manditory retirement age for pilots altogether to comply with "human rights" laws.

As always, there will be a two phase process if the retirement age changes again.

Phase One:

Don't worry, that will never happen, the feds won't go for it, ALPA will block it.

Phase Two:

It's a done deal, our hands were tied, we had to go along with it to have some say in the matter.

Over the years this two phase process has been used many times to approve such things as CVR's, locked cockpit doors and drug and alcohol testing. And seniority list mergers...:)

I hope it happens. it would help my finances out quite a bit

Phase 3

Was that for us? I gotta pee. Can I take a nap. I remember when..............

Wrong.
It's normally...'you have control, time for my snooze...and don't break anything.':}

Just Great. Sounds like another anti-labor law is coming down the pipe.

What this really means is Congress is going to steal our pension plans since we won't ever need them, since by the time we get to 70, they'll raise it to 80, 90...


Back when I worked for a scumbag outfit, an major airline pilot saw our bizjet come in and stared at the old fossil I was with. He asked us: "what kind of retirement plan do you guys have?"

I replied "FTD".

He asked, "FTD?"

I said yeah, "Fly-Till-ya-Die" :hmm:
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Helluva first post.:D I'm sure all the folks ahead of you will be persuaded by your eloquent appeal.

Like I said, all these forum crybabies and whiners couldn't muster one vote in Congress against the Age 65 legislation. Not one.

I'm set to retire at 60 but after reading some of these idiotic rants I think I may stick around a while...:ok:

I hope I have better things to do, at 60, than stay awake all night. I can think of nothing more hideous than still flying at 70.

Beyond 65 I suspect it will be no easy task to keep a medical.

Strange.
I have friends who are still flying Gulfstreams at 70, and they have a great time.
No problems with medicals, either.

Retirement age
 

Age should never be the determining factor. Medical fitness and flying competence should be all that matters. I know plenty of guys well short of 70 who should be made to retire and many nearing 70 who are still as fit and competent as those younger.

live and let live!
 

if any man or woman can pass the medical, can pass the checkrides, actually fly the airplane and most of all-actually still want to-he, or she, should be able to fly.

hell, look at the age of some of those who are really running the countries! Ha!

i never begrudged the older pilots-they had nothing whatsoever to do with 'holding' me back. hell, they showed me loads of 'jewels' never found in the books and now i am starting to be one, i don't begrudge the younger ones for increasing my workload with some of the things i see them do, or not do, due to lack of experience. it makes me laugh and i tell them there's no mistake they can do that i haven't seen or done several times myself.

but some people do think they are the center (or centre-depending upon where you are from) of the universe regardless of whatever industry is under consideration and everyone else is in their way!

Stator Vane has said it all. Personally, I'm sure I'll go past 60 but how much longer depends on how much fun it is, how much I'll make and what I'll replace flying with. Whilst staff discount at B&Q might be very generous, I don't think restocking the rivets, dealing with surely builders and mixing paint will have the same buzz. But there again, Domestic Control may attempt to get some jobs done around the house done - so maybe I won't retire - ever.

PM

70, are you guys kidding? Who would ride in a plane flown geriatrics?

Darkman, You got it right man.

Time for these old generals to move out and get out of their Vietnam era dogfight mindsets in the cockpits. 65 is surely more than enough. I've known quite a number barely at 60 handing controls to the f/o after gear up. Just to wake up for the meals and an occasional fart and pee.
CRM as far as they are concerned means Captain Running the Mothership!

If they haven't got their money and retirement plans in place by 60, then they better plan to go rob a bank!
Just give the younger guys a break as well OK?

Djeskine and Darkman
 

You guys need to crawl back into whatever cave you crawled out of. Experience and expertise comes with age and maturity which I suspect you guys are surely lacking. Fitness to fly, medical status and ability should be all that counts to occupy the seat. Now sit back down sonny and wait your turn.

True querido but at 65 you gave enough to aviation , don't worry we will miss you but we will move on without any problem :ok:.

I believe 65 is more than enough

As long as they have an upper age limit for FO's. We don't need simultaneous heart attacks.

Congress has already decided 1500hrs minimum for FOs.
Why not age 60 minimum for captains, with no deadline for retirement ?
Then nobody could say pilots lack experience. (They could eventually "leak" experience...:O)

There certainly is one ;)

Honestly, even if you are still fit to fly at 70 - your chances of a sudden heart attack or a stroke rise exponentially with age, and I don't think we should accept the higher risk caused by that - it's like taking out a(nother) layer of swiss cheese

Btw: WCHC is no longer "Wheelchair Cabin" - it's now "Wheelchair Captain"

darkman and djeskine...

you should advance and that's fine. but everyone promised a pension should get the whole thing...you see we can't go back in time and fix things retroactively. so, in your next contract say to your union: we will take a pay cut to make sure the people set to retire get their full pension. of course that would also work for YOU when you reach retirement age.

prior to 911, my airline would have paid me 132k a year in retirement...that's right...retirement at age 60. now, its pennies on the dollar...most of you guys know the deal so I won't repeat it.

put your money where your mouth is young guys. I'd say 2 out of 10 ''young guys'' that I flew with were worth their salt in the cockpit. the flight attendants thought the same thing in other departments!

I hate to say it, but if you feel these Vietnam War Admirals and Generals are being unsafe, start filling out FSAP/ASAP/FOQA/NASA/ROSI forms and point it all out to the proper authorities. Don't just go on the internet and whine about it.