I hung up the headset at 64.9 yrs old and would have loved to go on for another coupla years, as I was apparently physically fit, mentally I could b**ls**t my way through onto the flightdeck and get airborne before the F/O realised what (s)he'd let themselves in for!
Alas the FTLs in a certain country at the end of the St Pancras Eurostar railway line appear to have been drafted on a fag packet during a very tired and emotional evening by the company boss and the relevant xAA.
As a result I found myself getting TIRED of the whole business, though I loved the flying and the team with whom I worked.
Others of my vintage have given up, NOT due to the strains of the job but the hassle of getting TO the aircraft through the company briefing room, security, crew transport and the inevitable delays because last season's beancounters have culled significant numbers of the support ground staff.
So it's not just a matter of passing the medical, our leaders and managers have succeeded in making it a much less attractive job than 42 years ago when I first frightened myself in a RAF Chippie.