Sitarro
11-24-2007, 09:28 AM
I watched my brother taxi his 737-800 to a stop for the last time as an airline pilot last night, he was not happy, he wanted to continue flying for a few more years. Here in the United States, we force pilots to retire from the airlines at 60....... he will turn 60 Sunday. With over 40 years experience flying, he is told that he has to end his career 5 years earlier than pilots in most of the civilized nations around the world. Currently, we have that distinction along with France, Pakistan and Colombia. Pilots that are over 60, from other countries, fly across the U.S. every day. We are losing our most experienced pilots to overseas airlines and the FAA just sits on their collective hands, all while allowing their own pilots to continue to fly past 60.
60 is an arbitrary number pulled out of someone's ass many years ago that has no meaning today. Airline pilots are required to take physicals twice a year along with vigorous proficiency tests in simulators to prove that they are airworthy. This rule has more to do with politics than anything else. The pilot's unions have fought the change because they are full of younger, less experienced pilots that want to see older pilots retired so they can move up in seniority. I have seen a lot of these younger pilots, another brother is in the training department of a major airline and works with them....... be afraid, very afraid. Some may be competent at getting an airplane in the air but many are push button, video game playing dimwits that are overly dependent on autopilot functions and are much less able to actually fly the plane...... that scares me enough to not get on regional jets.
I know many of the younger people out there are probably saying..... good, get those old shits out, let our generation take over. Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it and it will be your lives at risk.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2006-11-12-pilots-usat_x.htm
Most nations stop retiring pilots at 60
Posted 11/12/2006 11:21 PM ET
By Dan Reed, USA TODAY
A pending change in international aviation rules could soon lead to older pilots at the controls of airliners flying within the USA.
Next week, commercial airline pilots in all but four countries will be allowed to continue flying until age 65. In most nations, pilots now must retire at age 60.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets world aviation standards, issued the policy change two months ago. It cited the lack of evidence that pilots in their 60s are more prone to mistakes than younger pilots, provided they're in good health.
Since the dawn of the commercial jet age, airline pilots in the USA and most other nations have been required to step down at 60. With the change in the international standard, effective on Thanksgiving Day, only the USA, France, Pakistan and Colombia will hold fast to the age 60 retirement rule.
But that could change soon. Pilots facing what many view as premature retirement have fought for years to push the retirement age to 65. But Congress, the courts and the Federal Aviation Administration have refused to order the change.
They argue that economics, not human physiology, underlie the rule. With the ICAO changing the world standard, U.S. opponents of the current rule gain a powerful argument for change. A report from a panel of experts is due later this month to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey. Blakey formed the panel in September after ICAO adopted its new standard.
FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette said Blakey is awaiting the panel's recommendation. If Blakey decides to order a change in pilots' retirement age, a new rule could take effect by spring. And if she doesn't, Congress may order her to do so.
A measure sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and attached to the Senate's transportation appropriations bill, stands a good chance of surviving a Senate-House conference report expected to be dealt with in the upcoming lame duck session.
Since the late 1980s, the FAA has conducted at least five formal reviews of the mandatory retirement rule. The agency says those studies have not disproved its position that the skills and judgment of the average airline pilot diminish after age 60. But neither do studies prove it, opponents of the current rule say.
"There's no medical evidence" supporting (the FAA's) position, says Ike Eichelkraut, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association. SWAPA has broken ranks with most other pilots unions and advocates a retirement age of 65.
My brother's plane getting the water cannon salute upon his arrival last night.
60 is an arbitrary number pulled out of someone's ass many years ago that has no meaning today. Airline pilots are required to take physicals twice a year along with vigorous proficiency tests in simulators to prove that they are airworthy. This rule has more to do with politics than anything else. The pilot's unions have fought the change because they are full of younger, less experienced pilots that want to see older pilots retired so they can move up in seniority. I have seen a lot of these younger pilots, another brother is in the training department of a major airline and works with them....... be afraid, very afraid. Some may be competent at getting an airplane in the air but many are push button, video game playing dimwits that are overly dependent on autopilot functions and are much less able to actually fly the plane...... that scares me enough to not get on regional jets.
I know many of the younger people out there are probably saying..... good, get those old shits out, let our generation take over. Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it and it will be your lives at risk.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/biztravel/2006-11-12-pilots-usat_x.htm
Most nations stop retiring pilots at 60
Posted 11/12/2006 11:21 PM ET
By Dan Reed, USA TODAY
A pending change in international aviation rules could soon lead to older pilots at the controls of airliners flying within the USA.
Next week, commercial airline pilots in all but four countries will be allowed to continue flying until age 65. In most nations, pilots now must retire at age 60.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which sets world aviation standards, issued the policy change two months ago. It cited the lack of evidence that pilots in their 60s are more prone to mistakes than younger pilots, provided they're in good health.
Since the dawn of the commercial jet age, airline pilots in the USA and most other nations have been required to step down at 60. With the change in the international standard, effective on Thanksgiving Day, only the USA, France, Pakistan and Colombia will hold fast to the age 60 retirement rule.
But that could change soon. Pilots facing what many view as premature retirement have fought for years to push the retirement age to 65. But Congress, the courts and the Federal Aviation Administration have refused to order the change.
They argue that economics, not human physiology, underlie the rule. With the ICAO changing the world standard, U.S. opponents of the current rule gain a powerful argument for change. A report from a panel of experts is due later this month to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey. Blakey formed the panel in September after ICAO adopted its new standard.
FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette said Blakey is awaiting the panel's recommendation. If Blakey decides to order a change in pilots' retirement age, a new rule could take effect by spring. And if she doesn't, Congress may order her to do so.
A measure sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and attached to the Senate's transportation appropriations bill, stands a good chance of surviving a Senate-House conference report expected to be dealt with in the upcoming lame duck session.
Since the late 1980s, the FAA has conducted at least five formal reviews of the mandatory retirement rule. The agency says those studies have not disproved its position that the skills and judgment of the average airline pilot diminish after age 60. But neither do studies prove it, opponents of the current rule say.
"There's no medical evidence" supporting (the FAA's) position, says Ike Eichelkraut, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association. SWAPA has broken ranks with most other pilots unions and advocates a retirement age of 65.
My brother's plane getting the water cannon salute upon his arrival last night.