Retirement at 68

[Flap10]

So...the crosswind limit is in place is due to cheaper insurance rates......doesn't that spell it out for you?

The reason the insurance actuaries and the insurance companies
place a premium on experience level should then be obvious to you..should it not?

errr..all it does Raven is it puts a blanket requirement not taking into account years of experience or anything else. Are you telling me a year one Captain is better at x-wind landings than a 12 year SFO??? Are you magically bestowed with superior x-wind skills once you go through a command course??? In fact as it happens so often, many go though the entire command course without ever experiencing any significant x-winds. There is absolutely nothing in the command syllabus that states you have to demonstrate a max x-wind landing to the trainer/checker. You would be released after your 4 bar into a typhoon and have no limits.....doesn't that spell it out for you?

You're trying to justify your point by constantly comparing a brand new inexperienced JFO to an experienced captain. We are comparing experienced SFOs to experienced captains, so lets keep the debate on the same playing field.

There is a direct actuarial link between lack of experience and aviation misshaps.

I hardly call a 10-12 year SFO as having lack of experience. In fact at Cathay the biggest blunders were made by the most senior captains, whilst the most talked about successful emergency landing was by a fairly new captain.....what does that tell you?

All 711 is rightly trying to say is that you can't use the excuse of experience for justifying your stay beyond 55. It's a poor and invalid argument. Frankly if you wish to stay to 65 and fly middle of the night BOMs, then by all means fill your boots. Personally I am out at 55, life is too short, as we were sadly reminded so recently.

[boocs]

How long Frogman???

b.

[711]

Raven,

I am an SFO, based. I do 1-2 landings a month. Do you really think I need more "experience" like this? And, by the way, I have close to 10 000 hrs total. Do you think THAT is enough? Clown.
10 kts crosswind limit? I have seen so many captains f@ck up a FIVE knot crosswind, you got to be joking..

[Frogman1484]

I'm waiting to hear if my grand son was given the job! He is 15 and his experience is that he knows me! Plus he flew once in economy class!...I think he will be ok with the cross wind limit!

[Frogman1484]

Not a day past 75!

[cxorcist]

Well, this thread has really taken a turn for the worse. I'm embarrassed by so many of the comments. I really hope other airline's pilots don't come on here just to get a good laugh at the silly CX pilots. Can't we all just be satisfied with our station in life and get on with it? You want the 30 knot crosswind? By all means, be my guest... I prefer day VMC with nil wind. Oh, and hot (female) cabin crews while we're at it.

Back on topic, I think anyone who thinks pilots should be allowed to fly a day past 65 is nuts. I don't care if you can pass a first class medical. We all know that requirement is a joke. The cockpit is "No Place for Old Men." 65 is OLD. My father turned 65 last year. He was a great pilot and is in excellent health for his age. Based on the way he now drives a car, I can tell you without hesitation that he absolutely should not be flying commercial airplanes.

But I'm sure all you older chaps on here are different, right?

[Ace Springbok]

Until I learned how to land the airplane in a crosswind with wings level and on the centerline....and until I could project the required level of comfort through demonstrated skill....and not by self proclamation...they were right to be careful

After so many many years in command, I am still not able to have my wings perfectly level in strong crosswind landings. I get on the centreline about 98% of the time, but wings level...er, maybe 50% of the time?

I think a lot of pilots have a really unbelievable high opinion of the capabilities but during my years of training and checking, I have seen all sort of stuff ups by the so called very best. Oh, the urban myths an legends we have to put up with...............sigh!

[treboryelk]

"Bottom line is....until you aquire the appropriate experience (in a big airplane...not a tiny one) and until you demonstrate your competence by successfully completing the command course (in a big airplane...not a tiny one) your crosswind limt remains 10kts/15 kts."

Raven

Sorry to burst your bubble of self-grandeur but I am a SFO Relief Commander with CX and my crosswind limit is certainly 30kts, as is the case with all of my peers. You are so up your own A*** you probably would not know why.

[cxorcist]

I believe Raven is right. 15kts for FOs and 10kts for JFOs unless this has changed recently. Of course, if a captain keels over enroute (not unlikely if he is 68) the RQ or FO will land the airplane in whatever the conditions require.

[Iron Skillet]

Come on, enough with this crosswind crap. There are above average and below average pilots of all ranks. In fact, it could be statistically argued that exactly half (minus 1) of the pilots are below average! Yet, they all manage to land all the time (ok, 99.999999999% of the time). I am at best just another average guy, and I think it was my 4th or 5th training sector when the STC had me land in a 30kt x-wind and never took his hands off his lap. Pilots with proper training and experience know how to fly airplanes.

Being a captain has very little to do with winning the flying contest, and very much to do with leadership, trustworthiness, qualifications and experience. Well, it should, anyway.

There are plenty of JFO's and SFO's and CN's who flew plenty of aircraft to their design limit while in their 20's: From 767's to F/A-18's to Hercs to helicopters on ships to ATR-42's to C-17s to Twin Otters to dodgy little light twins, and except for the 767, I bet all of them are trickier to land than a 747/777/A330, x-wind or not.

[PNM]

Good post Iron Skillet.

[Kasompe]

Iron Skillet....

[nitpicker330]

Unfortunately not all of us flew the Space Shuttle before joining CX, so reduced crosswind limits are there to "dumb it down" and hopefully make the overall operation safer.

Besides, if you're not getting paid for it then why do it? Let the bugger in the left seat take the heat.

[711]

Iron Skillet nailed it.

[geh065]

Honestly who cares about the crosswind limit?

[raven11]

711
How old are you?

I guess I'm not allowed to respond to insulting posts made by keyboard warriors like yourself who like to constantly pound their chest, stamp their feet and remind the world of how "good" they really are. I guess I'm not allowed to take exception to this. I'm not supposed to respond to your ilk calling the Captains they fly with "overestimated (old)...and quite limited in their operating skills and leadership..."

Just a guess, but I suspect that when you grew up everyone was awarded first place and a gold star?

What is it about guys like you who feel the need to tell the stories about your previous experience and how it is sooo underappreciated...while at the same time the experience levels of those Captains you fly with are sooo over-rated? If only life were fair, you would be recognized as the pilot you really are.....and not have to put up with ridiculous restrictions placed on your station in life. Boo Hoo!

Then there is Trebyourelk, who tells me...."Sorry to burst your bubble of self-grandeur....I am a SFO Relief Commander with CX and my crosswind limit is certainly 30kts "

I don't have any delusions. I'm happy with my rank and station in life. It's not me complaining of how poor the guys I fly with are. In any case, I'm sorry to burst your bubble Treb! You can call yourself a "Relief Commander" after a 2 hour Sim session if it makes you feel better...I'm sure the girls love to hear it....but your limit is still 15 knots until you complete a proper upgrade.

Many of us who have been in this business longer than 711 and Treb have been alive, take issue with being called names. We're tired of people like 711 who have this need to pull others down in a vain hope it will lift him up. We are tired of the childish insults.

Newsflash...we fly with you guys everyday. We know the vast majority of the good ones...and we know who the small minority of the weak ones are. Judging by your posts 711, it's my guess that you fit in the latter category. If you were really as good as you think you are, then you wouldn't have the psycological need to keep announcing it to the world.

You too would be comfortable with where you currently are in life......

[711]

Raven, you just don't get it,do you?

[raven11]

711
Oh.....I think I do.

[Steve the Pirate]

Zzzzzzz.......

Oscar Wilde would have said:

It is absurd to divide pilots into good and bad. Pilots are either charming or tedious.

STP

[Cheezi1]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Now that's funny, I don't care who you are!