Approaching 65?

[Veteran Hawk]

Approaching 65? 20k hrs plus? Class 1 Med.? How do the CAA propose to address the question of ageism:ooh:

[Arfur Dent]

Not quite 'approaching 65' but time does pass quickly when you're having fun!
I guess if you pass your Sims and Meds then you'd have a case wouldn't you - unless there's some exemption.

[kotakota]

I don't work in UK anymore , 62 next month , quite a lot of work out there , but the extra medical bull**** is getting a bit tiresome .I understand the 6 monthly requirement , but some of the annual / biennial checks are overdoing it . I still have almost perfect hearing , the docs always comment on it , but any credit ? Nada . My eyesight , long distance , all still outstanding , any credit ? Do me a favour . Some eye boffin insisted last year that I had a cataract and that I must have black spots in my vision ! Much heartache and 2nd opinions later , it was nothing as usual , just something the boffin was looking for , expected to find etc. BP fine , now the only thing they can pin me on is slightly elevated cholestorol . I know a 42 year old , pretty fit bloke , whose cholestorol is off the clock , but because I am 20 years older its a HUGE deal ! Some things are hereditary and none of us are the same .
Blood sugar also a big concern these days , mine is ok , but not that of a 25 year old .
I want to fly on but cannot be doing with all this rubbish . They will win in the end . They will medical us out by sheer boredom.
Sim checks ? Doddle .

[hueyracer]

As far as i understand (haven´t seen it black on white yet), with the upcoming of "EU-Op´s" nobody will be allowed to fly over the age of 60....?!

[411A]

How do the CAA propose to address the question of ageism
No idea about the CAA, however...some regulatory authorities have approved up to age 68.
Age 70...under discussion, now;)

[Sir H]

Fighting for our rights to die in the cockpit, are we ;-) The authorities and the younger generation is not too happy about it. Maybe better to retire in grace.

[GlueBall]

If you expand your reality level somewhat, primary concern above age-65 should focus on retirement. . . and about how much unspent money you are prepared to take into the grave with you. :rolleyes:

[763 jock]

Only a matter of time before someone takes this to court. The UK Government have already decided that an employer cannot force someone to retire at 65 from October and the pension age rises to 66 in the not too distant future. The way things stand, you can pass your Class 1 on a Monday and have to retire on the Tuesday.

[Tinribs]

I am in exactly this situation reached 65 in Nov 2010 and obliged to go. OK in the sim and no medical problems.

The best excuse I have heard is, while medical examinations discover most potential problems they miss some. The proportion of undetectable problems increases with age and so there should be a cut off

The last medical crisis I know about was my FO who had a heart attack in the hotel during the night, he was about 35

That is what the French used as a an excuse for their 60 cut off until recently but they had to change

[Exaviator]

Now 70, and having decided to retire from a major airline at age 57 I can highly recommend it. Some contract flying until 60 - just enough to ease into retirement. Simulator instructing until 63, Coastguard Air Patrol until 67 and now modern sport aircraft, and lots of time for other satisfying activities.

There is more to life than cutting holes in the mid-night sky :ok:

[Centaurus]

Like most of my generation I was forced out due age 60 rule and well remember the sinking feeling as I cut the start levers in the Hapag Lloyd 737 for the last time and looking at my watch and thinking "Christ I'm too bloody old tomorrow".

Returned home to OZ and got into general aviation charter and instructing as there is no regulatory age limit for pilots in Australia. Due good genes still hold an instrument rating on the 737 simulator. Enjoyed flying school work apart from getting the DCM from a couple of flying schools for daring to be legal and writing up defects in the maintenance release. That turned me forever against general aviation where pilots are forced to break the rules time and again in order to eat.

Good fortune in the form of an old friend in a position of influence got me into simulator instructing and at now at 79 I have found my niche where I mix daily with young pilots and hopefully pass on the good gen. I may be seen as a sad old git to some - the wealthy airline pilots on huge superannuation and a boat in the harbour - but with a few hours up on sports aviation types at the local grass airfield and teaching people how to to fly the 737 sim when called upon for contract work - I couldn't be more content. :ok:

[aviatorhi]

Fighting for our rights to die in the cockpit, are we ;-) The authorities and the younger generation is not too happy about it. Maybe better to retire in grace.

You don't have to be happy about it but you're gonna be that age someday too... personally I'm a few decades from being forced out and even if I am forced out of a 121 outfit I'll settle right into 135 flying. And, yes, I wouldn't mind "dying" in the cockpit (not literally ofcourse for the sake of the plane).

[Prince of Dzun]

(1) " Every man desires to live long but no man would be old." (Jonathan Swift, Poet )

(2) " The man who works and is not bored is never old" ( Pablo Casals, Cellist)

(3) " Work saves us from three great evils; boredom, vice and need " ( Voltaire)

Retirement---- put it off

[chevvron]

Re Tinribs posting no 9: In the UK, NATS expect you to retire as an ATCO at 60; they don't compel you though. I passed my last Class 1 medical about 2 months before my 60th, hence it was valid for 10 months after I was 60. For some time, I had found a slight difficulty climbing the stairs to the VCR, but assumed it was just me getting old. About 4 months after I retired, I went on holiday to a place with a lot of steps. I found I got out of breath very quickly, plus my ankles began to swell. Reading this might signify potential heart failure, I visited my doctor, who prescribed a blood test, something not required for a Class 1 medical. A check of haemoglobin indicated I had a level of 8.5 where the 'norm' would be 13 to 18, so I was dangerously anaemic. This would not be discovered by a Class 1 Medical exam because you're not tested for this sort of thing, and when it was discovered, my medical was still valid for another 4 months.

[GlueBall]

My class 1 CAA medical included a haemoglobin blood test!

[chevvron]

There must be a difference betwen ATCO Class 1's and ATPL Class 1's because as far as I'm aware, the ATCO Medical doesn't include a blood test