Jeez, if I had a quid for every time this subject came up....
That would be a crisp fifty then? I just love a good debate and this is certainly worthy
First thing to say is thanks for you support, it is easy and safe to say "don't bother." I think we by and large agree and I hope I am not appearing to drag this one out too much...
There is the proven deterioration of learning ability with age.
Not at 30 or 40. Even 50-60 I dispute from my observations of others. As with just about anything else in life, one's ability to learn is nearly always directly proportional to their motivation.
There is the perceived problem of re-educating a life-experienced individual into a company's mindset. Etc. etc.
Agreed when the key word is "perceived" and this will ultimately be the most frustrating thing for older fATPLers. Most who are inclined to sit on a rock and think this over for five minutes or so would probably reach the conclusion that this not a product of age, but of circumstance and duration. Anybody who has a somewhat singular working experience will be difficult to re-train...IMHO. Of course, this can work the other way, in that somebody can have a veritible myriad of working experiences and may not be suited to the more dictatorial environment of an operational Airline. Probably more a CV and interview problem than an age problem...prehaps?
Laters,
HWD.