Older pilots....

[Foggy Bottom]

I just went north of age 60 and wondered if I should bother looking for a new employer. It seems that most operators will not hire age 60 or better. I have a job, but am really bored doing the same thing for about 6 years now. I have an FAA class I medical, ATP and current in IFR operations. Have all my own hair and teeth as well. Am I wasting my time sending out resumes?

[SASless]

There are guys well into their 70's working in the GOM....by the time you reach 60....perhaps you might be considering retiring and enjoying life more.

[TipCap]

Thing is SASless, you are but a youngster :)

[Foggy Bottom]

I am enjoying life! If I retired I dont think that I would enjoy my life near as much as I do now. I enjoy the flying and meeting new people. I enjoy sitting around with fellow pilots and playing "what if" or "there I was". I think that I would go slowly insane "retired". I have enough money so that I would not starve of get thrown out of my house, but what would I do? Don't have enough to travel extensively, which I do now with the income.

[Fareastdriver]

It is difficult getting a job with another operator at that age. They prefer to recruit their own retired pilots. I retired officially at 58 but the best flying in my civil life was between that and 69.

[stevestpierre]

Foggy Bottom (great handle by the way)

Last year my father passed in his 98th year... enjoying his life's chosen occupation to the end (sharp, energetic, happy...)

Needless to say he was my idol/roll model. I plan on another 35 years
from now to match him ;->

I was retired at 60, and am very much enjoying short term contracts
since. You are just getting started! Blue side up or down your choice.

Cheers

[heliski22]

To quote Billy Connolly......

"Growing old doesn't bother me at all, it's growing up that scares the **** out of me!"

And to quote my father......

"If a man is happy at his work, he should be left at it!"

[SASless]

Tippy....there are mornings my body would argue with you!

I got on the wrong end of a shovel the other day....in a fit of madness...and paid dearly for the mistake over the next few days. I ached in places I forgot I had!

I am reconsidering my hard nosed position on Illegal Immigration currently...and am beginning to think there may be more to the story than I have admitted in the past.

Gardening is a great pastime....especially if one has a Gardener!

Recently made the decision between a Harley and a Riding Lawn Mower....the mower won out!

[topendtorque]

best to not start on illegals. not surprisingly the ones most peed off about it in this country are those that did it legally. they pay for literacy tests and all sorts of things to keep legit, the rest get it handed to them on a platter. we can afford to be hard nosed about it, there is plenty of support for that.

re the thread, I am also only young at 63, Every time i translate I know where my natural habitat is, take an animal out of it's natural habitat - not a good idea.

I often think about natural habitat when I think about a story of my dear old dad, written by an american crew chief of one of their Kittyhawks in Darwin. Dad's mob had been tasked to fly a heap of worn out american aircraft south.

"I jumped on the wing and strapped his lanky frame in, he hit the prime three times, the Alison roared into life. A slow smile spread across his face under his big ginger moustache as it settled, he lifted off and disappeared in the early morning mist."

I think the crew chief was also in his natural habitat.

[Letsby Avenue]

My dad worked quite happily into his sixties and passed away peacefuly - at least he didn't die screaming like his passengers:):)

[Jack Carson]

Foggy Bottom, you can pass the best of physicals and check rides but are you the best the industry deserves. You have to look at the complete picture. Is transitioning from NVGs to the cockpit instruments as natural as it once was? Does arthritis inhibit your egress after 2.5 hours in the seat? Are your reaction times at 2:00AM as good a they once were? It is the little things that pile up after a certain age. Each one alone is not an issue but the sum total should not be ignored. Take a good look in the mirror. The reflection is in real time.

[Desert185]

With the exception of one airline I worked for 1977-1986 (out of five total), I'm having the best time ever since I retired from the airlines. Life is supposed to be enjoyed, so why quit?

Desert185 (1944 vintage)

"Life is being on the wire. Everything else is just waiting." -Karl Wallenda

[SASless]

Funny how one needs artificial aids over time....Army Dentists caused me to need a bridge for a missing tooth, Chinooks took my hearing....use hearing aids now...and when I go to bed with my 24 year old girlfriend... I have to wear ear plugs and a nose clip along with that other safety device.

Lordy....I just hate the smell of burning rubber and the whining of a sniveling Woman!

[Foggy Bottom]

I will be happy to admit that my reflexes are not those of a 40 year old, but the 40 year olds are not those of an 18 year old either. I believe that my decision making skills are just as sound, if not better then they were when I was 40. Not to brag, but if a particularly difficult missions comes down the line I am usually the one asked to do it. I routinely put in 7-8 hour days and have no problem getting in and out of the cockpit or climbing up on the roof. I am no superman, but am a good pilot who just happens to be 60 years old instead of 40.

[TipCap]

Good for you Foggy. If there was a job around for me I would still fly. 45 years flying is a long time but I know I could still fly. Problem is the CAA bins you at 65 so no joy there.

Had the pleasure, yesterday, to be shown around G-LAWX when it popped in to Withybush (EGFE I think) for fuel. I have always been a Sikorsky man (S61N, S76 and I guess if you count Whirlwind and Wessex under licence) although majority of my flying time was on AS332L's. The VIP S92 was a joy to behold. How the other half lives :)

John

[Fareastdriver]

No stamina, Tip Cap. You should be an obstinate Ba@@@@rd like me. When my CAA licence age expired I got an Australian Licence when I was 65. Later on I got a Chimese ATPL(H) when I was aged 66. I was probably, almost certainly, the oldest commercial pilot in China. Not bad out of 1.3 billion.

[DennisK]

Well ... this COF is 80 next year and still happily flying. Two PPL(H) courses completed this year and a little over 100 hours flown. Mainly due to the writing, I've been able to fly the ... B429, Gazelle, EC 135, (Police ASU & Hermes version) 119 Koala, R66, Enstrom 480 and the delightful Cabri G2. The nice thing is ... as has been said here already ... I'm getting more enjoyment from rotary flying now than in the previous 60 years and 14,000 hours. Yup I did say sixty! Also hoping to have a go at the WHC in Russia next year. Mind you, I'm a youngster compared to Wing Co Ken Wallis who is well into the 90s and hoping to break his own airspeed records shortly. We're all as young as the woman we feel you know! Dennis K

PS. Last month managed to pass the stress ECG and the 'over 70s' COF's Gatwick Class One medical.

[Savoia]

Well done Dennisimo!

Just saw a video of you in a post (http://www.pprune.org/6719145-post207.html) the Rotorway thread.

Brgds

[skadi]

In my opinion its absolut nonsens to judge over someones abilities just on the basic of his numeric age!!! Rule 60 :yuk:
People are different despite their actual age...

skadi

[topendtorque]

My dad worked quite happily into his sixties and passed away peacefuly - at least he didn't die screaming like his passengershttp://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gifhttp://images.ibsrv.net/ibsrv/res/src:www.pprune.org/get/images/smilies/smile.gif


Could well be the case, Letsby, yesirree, it could well be.

BTW have you studied up on this gentleman much?
Duane Edgar Graveline.

Swallowing statins as a hobby whilst doing SP oldie work would be like a bit of a risk methinks. Any inexplicable CFIT, that's the first place I would look. In fact it crossed my mind again just recently.

[Bertie Thruster]

My single pilot public transport medical certificate runs out on 21 April 2012 but I'm 60 on 1 Feb 2012. Think I might claim on the 'loss of licence' for those 2 months?



PS. No statins here and not a shift lost, due sickness, since I left the mil in '97.

[regency]

:D:D
You may be a real pilot I assure your dad was, ha..

[Big-Windy]

Talk to any psychologist and they'll tell you that there are many 'ages' to a person:

Psychological age (mental age)
Biological age (how your body has aged)
Chronological age (how old you are in years)

..and there are a couple of others that escape me for the moment. Yet it doesn't matter about the first two. All the CAA care about is the latter of course. Such a shame because it really counts for very little these days.

:(

[Bertie Thruster]

Here's my estimate, Windy:

19:E

45:ok:

59:confused:

[LATINWING]

:cool: to all the young pilots out there,..
It is the first time I write on the forum; because this is non-sense to denigrate older pilots.
I have flown and went in approx 30 countries and I had in my career 5 engine out on singles, one engine out on a twin, a transmission out on a single, almost lost a blade on a 205, and many other things in 40 years of flying, no crash except the transmission out for which I survived. I know how to navigate without a GPS in the Artic or in the deep jungle or in the desert or over the water, I know how to stay cool in a emergency and act rapidely because of my experience, I know how to not put myself in trouble, I know when to say NO to my boss or my client, I know my limits in the bad weather, I know a lots of things that , yessss it take 40 years to learn and yet I don´t know all.
Do you young guys out there know that much; so please don´t tell us that at 60 years of age we need to get out of this business or we don´t have sufficient reflex to react or else.
On the contrary; the industry should be glad to use us, because at the end they can send us to any job and the boss do not ear a damn thing about us.
As far as I am concern, the only thing that should stop us older guys to fly is in fact or medical and nothing esle.:cool:
Cheers all

[SASless]

LW sums it up in a single sentence.....

they can send us to any job and the boss do not ear a damn thing about us.


Until one reaches that capability....you are not a real asset to the operator. As a Chief Pilot....there is nothing as nice as having a group of folks workinmg with you that need only to be assigned a task knowing it will be done, done right, done safely, and the customer will be happy with it all.

Sadly....it takes a long while to get to that status....and at some point....you lose that status....but it should be an subjective decision based upon perormance and some artificial construct like "Days since Birth".

[ShyTorque]

..and there are a couple of others that escape me for the moment.

That's caused by old age..... ;)

[TipCap]

Well done LW

Summarising

Been there, done it, wore the Tshirt, frightened myself and learnt from it and at nearly 65 still alive to tell the tale (If I can remember the tale :O)

JohnW

[Geoffersincornwall]

.... and hoping to keep going till I drop but maybe I'll quit if I win the lottery. Mind you the midnight shifts are getting harder to take and I can no longer drive 6 hours, put in a 12 hour shift and do another the following day.

G. :)

[crop duster]

My dad is 72 and he flew 145 hours in August. :D Hope I'm still able at that age.

[500e]

Low blow ShyT
CropD
only a year behind your dad, wish I could afford 145 hours a month:E

[SASless]

CD....he have trouble remembering where the airport is? That part of his total hours....:E

[Foggy Bottom]

I get paid fairly well to fly and not sure I got 145 hours all last year!

Good on him....

[Thud_and_Blunder]

...we're pushed to get that on HEMS in any one year. Very best to him - lucky tyke!

[Bertie Thruster]

About 220/year for me on HEMS. (2200 hrs MD902 in 10 years of ambulance work)

I'm just getting the hang of all this military and parapublic low level hands on single pilot* stuff (8600hr in 31 years) and I get 'retired' by some outdated age rule!

(Even more frustrating now I've just found out that my single pilot medical certificate remains valid after my 60th birthday!!!)

(* Apart from 5 years instructing SAR on the SK)

[Mr_G_Box]

I noticed on the teletex this morning that with effect from April next year in the UK there will no longer be a stautuory retirement age......unless of course you are a pilot having regular medicals!!! :mad: