Stan Bydike,
I think you're generalising a bit much there, I know a lot of really good operators that have been promoted to sqn ldr and fallen into the age trap. Moreover, whilst I agree that there may be some aircrew that do all the good officer "ticks" and manage to get promoted quite quickly, they do tend to be quite sharp operators as well. I think what you are trying to say is that there is no substitute for experience - if so, I agree with you!
Biggus,
That's the problem with the PA Spine; it was all written with respect to the old pension plan. The only reference I can find regarding PVR from the PAS (AP 3393 Vol 2 Leaflet 1810) suggests that if you PVR, you will receive only the "Service Retired Pay paid on PVR that is specified annually by MOD". To me, that indicates an intention to penalise you for retiring early. However, I like your point about the new pension being based on the best year of the last 3 years of service - I can see some interesting disputes over the horizon.
Climebear,
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that candidates are boarded for the Advanced Staff Course (ASC) prior to being boarded for promotion. The results of the ASC board are then a major factor used in boarding for promotion to wg cdr. If people are excluded from the ASC because of their age, then surely it follows that it affects how they score on the promotion board too. So their promotion prospects must be adversely affected! Yes, I know that places on the ASC are in short supply - but that's not really relevant.
But as I said, I know that we are exempt from legislation on ageism - for now.
Last edited by LFFC; 11th Jun 2005 at 09:21.