As far as the BMI thing goes, if you don't fit the required specifications for the job then you may well not be able to do it for physical reasons. Air forces around the world impose these limitations on perfectly healthy people because they just don’t fit in the plane. Can you imagine the hassle required by a company to replace the pilots’ seat every time you fly? Let’s say you’re too tall, even if they lower the seat to its bottom stop your head may still touch the roof!
And if your a bit to wide (and may still pass medical) then your girth could affect the control movement, and infringe on the co-pilot side (Basic trainers c152, c172 are a tight fit even for regular size people). [Slightly off topic, there is a story of a large lady suing Robinson Helicopters because she is to big to fit in the R22, and exceeds the seat limit]
As for age, yes it does take longer to teach older people to do new things (old dog, new tricks) and you may argue 'but they are the ones paying for it themselves' however what about promotion? System upgrades? New aircraft? All these require more training paid for by the company, why should they employ an older pilot who well cost them more when a younger pilot with the same experience can be trained at a cheaper cost?
As for base training being cheep, not only do they have to employ you to sit in the right hand seat, but they employ someone else to sit behind you to take-over if/when you stuff up. That’s one extra wage.
Sure something’s seem unfair, but there are reasons for them.
Just to stir the pot here is a quick question for you: A company refuses to employ a man/woman (not a sex issue) because they refuse to remove their head gear while flying, is that the companies fault and a racial issue? Or the pilots fault for not respecting the dress code?
Safe Travel
