It has been suggested to me that I should include a bit more of the background to my particular case. At this stage, for legal reasons I have to maintain some form of anonymity but to this end I have tried to include a bit more of my details than my original posting showed.
In the non-flying accident that I suffered, I severely banged my head. This has caused irreparable damage to my balance mechanism. My flying licence has been suspended and I am not even permitted to drive any road vehicles. In fact travelling on any means of public transport does induce severe balance disorders, so unless I am able to be very carefully driven I am effectively housebound. It also means that I am frequently bed-bound due to acute vertigo etc. To put it mildly my vestibular system is totally shot.
There is this on going legal situation with an Insurance Company, who to put it mildly, are doing what ever they can to worm out of any liabilities. This has been on going for the last two years. What is currently being debated is what I have lost by way of my loss of earnings due to this accident. In trying to determine what my loss of earnings actually is, it has now reached a point where they are categorically stating that in the current employment market there are no openings for any pilot, in a flying position, over the age of 58. Additionally, they are stating the employment situation is such that I would not even be able to have a non-flying operations or ground training post. They are stating that they have an expert witness’s evidence to this effect. (I hope it is not you Flying Lawyer!)
Apparently, it is so easy to show that there is very little employment in the helicopter industry generally and definitely not for pilots post age 58. It is further stated that no Helicopter Operators are prepared to employ them. In reality, this is known not to be true. This is the hard bit to prove and can only be shown by positive offers of employment. To countermand this expert’s opinion, that I would not be employable post 58, my legal advisors are trying to collate some hypothetical job offers with salary information to show that this is not the definitive case. My original posting on PPrune on this thread, has both directly and indirectly, lead or is leading to obtain four offers of hypothetical employment. Very many thanks to all the PPruners that have helped and made this possible.
There has also been mention to me by a lot of PPruners about self employment status, freelance work, short term contracting and ground/flight instruction. I accept that these are areas that the older pilots tend to move towards. However, to be able to sufficiently demonstrate that there is a market for these pilots is even more difficult. My legal advisors have suggested that if I can obtain statements from individuals that are currently working in these categories this may help my case. To this end they have drawn up a skeleton word document which I could send to anyone who can and is prepared to assist. This statement would have to also include an indication of the remuneration being achieved to relate to the loss of earnings question. If there is anyone out there who is prepared to do this for me it would be greatly appreciated. Please send me a Private Message and I will respond accordingly.
I did send personal emails through the PPrune email system to two of the more prolific elderly PPrune posters to ask if they would be prepared to provide statements. As yet I have not had a reply from either. I only hope that it is the PPrune emailing system at fault and not that they do not wish to help a fellow pilot.
Once again, very many thanks to those that have helped me.