Originally Posted by
lightningstriker
Hello everyone, at what age do fighter pilots generally stop flying fast jets other than their own choice to move on, and is there an age limit after you have completed advanced flight training that you are deemed to old for fighter training even if you have the right stuff?
The second part is easy. In the RAF, because you can give 6 months notice to leave after the age of 50 they won't give you an OCU after 50. Even a 48 year old could go before his training was amortised.
In practise 45 was the cut-off point for a new OCU, as opposed to retreading on a type that you had previously been trained on as the failure rate for retraining was deemed too great.
Returning to the first part, when I was posted to Cyprus the captain on the Brit was ex-Lightnings. He had flown 12 brilliant years on them and earlier fighters and felt it time to move on. I guess he was mid to late 30s.
A nav, posted as a flt cdr on F4, a type he had previously flown, VWd at the age of 40 as all the aircrew on the sqn were so young.