It might be against the law to discriminate on the basis of age but that just means companies can't
officially state that applicants above a certain age need not apply. There are always means of stating why a person is not suitable for a position which has nothing to do with there age. So it doesn't matter what skills you have outside of aviation if you are older than 50 forget it you will find it difficult to change careers. Given the change of government rules regarding retirement age I would not be relying on the government for any sort of pension. Fortunately in what many consider an aviation backwater (Australia), a somewhat enlightened government in the 80's made it compulsory for employers to pay into a superannuation fund currently at 9% of salary. Not a perfect system as various governments since then have changed the tax rulings regarding super, but they realized a long way back that the government could not afford to keep supplying indexed pensions to a rapidly ageing population and a shrinking workforce.
actually there was a time not very long ago, when early retirement was encouraged by politicians and a lot of folks retired at 57, 58, 59 ish...
That statement is precisely why you don't rely on the government to provide for you in old age.