Fighter Pilot Longevity ?
 

The risks of flying aside especially in the early jet days, I have noticed what I think may be a trend of jet pilots, particularly fighter pilots, to live very long lives after retirement. Obvious factors such as physical fitness and remaining very active obviously play a role, but I wondered if some of you ex-squadron pilots would mind doing a quick mental roll-call of how your mates fared in terms of general health and longevity after a career of FJ flying.

Pickled products tend to last longer :ok:

Imagegear

But a rumour in the early days of AI radar was they tended to sire girls rather than boys

AI, no; it was the 'g'.
Girl when on the squadron, boy on the OCU - restricted combat training.

H2S, girls.
Between us we had 10 girls. Copilot subsequently had a boy but only did one tour. Pilot friend had one of each.

My wife had a little girl whilst I was serving as an instructor on a FJ OCU - lots of air combat training too! :ok:

As for longevity - this past 12 months there have been 4 funerals of FJ mates (past and present) that have been linked to low mental well-being. Also, quite a few seem to be copping the Big C at the moment as well... So I would suggest that you may need to rethink your hypothesis. :(

As for myself, when I grow up I'll let you know when I plan to die, but who knows I might be the first to live forwever! :cool:

LJ

I'd be interested to hear if the OP has any numbers to support that; the figures I've seen tend to suggest the opposite (lies, damn lies etc...). Statistically we ought to live longer than average since one has to be in perfect health to become a pilot in the first place.

Life insurance companies would have a good idea

I've got zero evidence, purely anecdotal. The suggestion has been made that those who served pre 1965 tended to fare better than those in the post 1965 jet era. Once again, too many factors to draw any conclusions, more for interest than serious statistical analysis.

Why girls...?


The theory behind aircrew on a flying tour having more girls than boys is backed up by some facts - the sex of a child is determined by the sperm that fertilises the egg, and therefore if there is a hostile environment then a population survives better with a higher proportion of females than males. The female carrying sperm tend to handle a poor environment better - hence more girls are born in a hostile environment. There are many factors in determining the hostile environment which produces more surviving female than male sperm in aviation: low oxygen levels; low pressure; changes in G; more exposure to UV radiation at altitude; electromagnetic fields/radiation caused by increased electrical installations - etc etc.


Boys can be born, but girls are more likely. If you want a boy, then beware of coming home from a flying detachment where the second bang is the door closing behind you when you get home!


W. (Two daughters - both born on a flying tour).

Me too !! Both on jet tours.

I gather it applies to people like deep-sea divers and racing drivers too. Something to do with stress? Two girls, both while in a flying post (and don't tell me airline flying isn't stressful)

You can probably weigh your anecdotal evidence yourself, fonsini. Average uk male age at death is 81.5 (2012 fig); if your buddies are beating that figure, perhaps your theory holds water

Fonsini, no, pre-1965 was the period when there was more flying at high and very high altitudes and still significant nuclear fission products from atmospheric testing. Post 1965 there was more use of low level training and less emphasis on very high level training.

Thanks for the clarification Pontius, I confess I was thinking the opposite.

Interestingly the fighter pilots I know personally do all have daughters.

Someone must know.....
 

....and I suspect it might be whoever pays our pensions. In 1965 the average length of time for a full career officer retiring at 55 to draw his pension was - THREE YEARS!!!
My just about to be my F-i-L showed me those figures from the (as it was then)
Officers' Pension Society.
At one of my resettlement financial seminars in about 1996/7 I asked the question again but no-one seemed to know the answer.

The Ancient Mariner

(F-i-L lived to 91,chuffed to bits that he'd beaten the actuarial odds)

Salute!

I have to subscribe with the mortality tables that are based upon fighter pilots. Any clue where those might be?

If you can pass an astronaut physical for 30 or 40 years and routinely fly stressful maneuvers until you are 50 years old, then seems to me that you have good genes.

Glenn and Cernan just died, and Aldrin just made a low pass over launch pad 39 at the Cape in the back seat of an F-16.

I had to stop in mid life after 25 years of the astronaut physicals and then took the physicals until about 10 years ago. Other than corroded lungs due to smoking for over 50 years, things seem fine. A couple or three combat tours prolly added some stress besides being away from wife and kids, but whatthehell.

If I had the $$$ back then, I would have started a life insurance company for old fighter pilots. How many average bears can pass all those physicals and not have serious mental or physical problems for 20 or 30 years? Most of my classmates have been married to the same person for 40 or 50 years, and the ones that flew fighters have usually gone west due to weird cancers or such and not heart problems.

So I blame my existence on good genes, despite my poor health habits like drinking and smoking and chasing women.

Gums opines...

Just to skew the correlation between FJ ops and having daughters, I know of a RAAF boggy who sired two daughters before commencing his basic flying training.

Perhaps having the attributes to succeed in the FJ world includes a propensity for having daughters. :confused:

"Fighter pilots always have daughters.....

....and I had yours last night!" :ok:

Dad was a night fighter pilot 1942: he'll be 95 in August. One of each so the daughter bit would have been fazed out during his time on shipping strikes.

As a helicopter driver I'm still current ATPL with Class 1 medical, it must be in the genes.