Pilots to Fly to Age 65

[beachboy]

CBS Evening News broke the story tonight that the FAA will raise the pilot retirement age to 65. Announcement tommorrow 1/30/2007.

 

[Walmartgreeter]

"One of the items that Administrator Blakey raised was the Age 60 Rule. She advised me that the FAA will put the current Age 60 Rule into the internal rulemaking process at the FAA, which will result in a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) sometime during the second half of this year."

from the John Prater's BOD Update 22 Jan 07


Yep, its coming. I am not sure, but a NPRM can take as long as 18 months to implement. That would put the event somewhere in 2009. But I am only guessing. Probably a lot of dots to connect first. One thing seems sure...if you are already gone, you are not coming back. (John Prater is the President of ALPA)

Greeter.

 

[nostradamus]

CBS Evening News broke the story tonight that the FAA will raise the pilot retirement age to 65. Announcement tommorrow 1/30/2007.

FAA to Propose Raising
Pilot Retirement Age

By ANDY PASZTOR
January 29, 2007 5:34 p.m.

LOS ANGELES -- U.S. aviation regulators are expected to announce as early as Tuesday that they will formally propose raising the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots to 65 years from the current limit of 60 years, according to industry officials familiar with the matter.

Federal Aviation Administration chief Marion Blakey's anticipated proposal allowing older pilots to stay behind the controls reverses decades of strong agency support for the 60-year retirement limit. The shift comes as international aviation rules increasingly permit such changes. Meanwhile, the leadership of largest U.S. pilot union is moving to abandon previous hard-line opposition to raising the retirement age. And recent research on brain functioning could provide ammunition to counter arguments that older pilots would mean increased safety risks.

By opting to begin formal rulemaking -- a process that will solicit a wide range of views and potentially could be controversial enough to delay a decision for 18 months or longer -- the FAA is relying partly on the notion that there isn't any solid scientific evidence to justify maintaining the current limit. Indeed, recent discoveries of brain functions suggest that for many older people, experience and ingrained patterns of thinking actually can help keep them at the top of their game as pilots, air-traffic controllers and in other professions. Some tests, for example, have revealed that older controllers in their 60s were able to handle simulated emergencies as well or better than younger ones.

A hotly contested rulemaking could last for 18 months or longer. But if pilot unions and other groups adopt a conciliatory stance and don't lob in a barrage of objections, a so-called fast track rulemaking could be completed more quickly, according to industry officials familiar with the issue.

The Air Line Pilots Association, the largest U.S. pilot union, had been a staunch opponent of raising the retirement age, with surveys showing that a majority of its members supported the 60-year limit that makes it easier for younger pilots to move up in seniority. But John Prater, the recently elected president of ALPA, campaigned on pledge to rethink and perhaps abandon that position. Tough economic conditions for the industry have eroded pilot pensions and wages, prompting more veteran pilots to look to extend their careers and add to their earnings.

The International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations agency that sets nonbinding global safety standards, last November determined that airline pilots could safely stay behind the controls until they turn 65, as long as the other pilot in the cockpit is younger than 60. FAA officials have told industry officials that their proposal adopting the same principle will be laid out tomorrow, when the FAA chief delivers a speech to the National Press Club in Washington.

And FAA spokeswoman said that the agency has been "looking very closely at whether we should adopt the ICAO standard." Last-minute discussions with White House officials threatened to delay the announcement, but industry officials said the FAA is now ready to announce its new position. The decision follows weeks of FAA signals and news reports, starting with a story in the Wall Street Journal last December, that the agency was leaning toward a change.

The 60-year rule was established nearly 40 years ago, based on political and economic considerations, rather than scientific research. But reflecting the divisive nature of the issue, an FAA-created study group of airline and pilot representatives in November failed to reach consensus on changing the retirement age. The only thing the group agreed on was that any change, if it comes, shouldn't be retroactive because it would be too hard to reinstate retired pilots into the crew rotation and seniority systems.

 

[EMBFA]

Can we get one for cabin crew.

 

[hula-flyguy]

Can we get one for cabin crew.

a 65 rule for f/a's?? Have you flown international lately???

 

[EMBFA]

I have, and that's why.

 

[N924PS]

The only reason to drag the process out would be political and to ensure that hundreds more pilots that should be be permitted to continue flying are forced out.

Hopefully, since this has been so topical and controversial, there will be an expedited rulemaking process so people that have fought so hard to make this overdue change can continue flying before they hit 60.

And thanks for your tireless work to overturn this arbitrary, discrimintory FAR. IT'S ABOUT TIME!

 

[foreright]

The only reason to drag the process out would be political and to ensure that hundreds more pilots that should be be permitted to continue flying are forced out.

The sooner the better, for all concerned.

so much for a recall in this decade!

 

[A320 Driver]

The only reason to drag the process out would be political and to ensure that hundreds more pilots that should be be permitted to continue flying are forced out.

The sooner the better, for all concerned.

Not all. For every one that stays, a First Officer is denied a Captain position and a healthy raise.

A320 Driver B)

 

[dusty]

Just last week a 59 year old pilot died in the cockpit of a Continental 767 in flight. My condolences to his family. This time the flight landed safety because another training Captain was flying as the first officer. The age 60 rule has helped make the US air transportation system the safest in the world and now the government wants to change it. Hopefully your family won't be on the first flight that crashes due to a medical issue of an Airline Pilot who dies at the average age of 62 1/2 and is now allowed to be is at the controls.

 

[hula-flyguy]

It could have happened to a 49 or even 39 year old pilot. One situation should not and will not be enough to prevent this from passing.

 

[BuffaloJoe]

It could have happened to a 49 or even 39 year old pilot. One situation should not and will not be enough to prevent this from passing.

Look at that guy out in California, He was 80+ and still driving a car. You can be a pedestrian and still get killed. There is always the Co-Pilot/First Officer on board capable of landing and flying.

What the heck, I'll just buy Microsoft Flight Simulator and get some practice so I can back up the Co-Pilot/Flight Officer.God forbid anything should happen. :mf_boff: :elvis: :cop: :bleh:

 

[dusty]

It could have happened to a 49 or even 39 year old pilot. One situation should not and will not be enough to prevent this from passing.

Very True. I had a 45 year old keel over next to me while in-flight. He didn't die but will never come back.If age 60 is age discrimination then so is age 65. Lets not have a mandatory retirement age and the skies will look like the palm beach roads in February with all the blue hairs flying instead of driving.

 

[hula-flyguy]

I might be a skeptic, if it wasn't for the medical exams the pilots are given.

 

[N924PS]

Just last week a 59 year old pilot died in the cockpit of a Continental 767 in flight. My condolences to his family. This time the flight landed safety because another training Captain was flying as the first officer. The age 60 rule has helped make the US air transportation system the safest in the world and now the government wants to change it. Hopefully your family won't be on the first flight that crashes due to a medical issue of an Airline Pilot who dies at the average age of 62 1/2 and is now allowed to be is at the controls.

If you were to review every Air Carrier accident back to 1939 and check the ages of the flight crew involved, I believe you would find most accidents occurred with younger pilots at the controls.

There has never been an airline accident attrubuted to the age of the flight crew, old or young. Changing the age to 65 will have no detrimental affect on the safety of the traveling public or the citizens below the flight path of the aircraft.

Personally, my family and I would rather fly with a fit 60+ year old with 20-25 THOUSAND hours flown than an overweight, McDonald's raised 25 year old with 25 HUNDRED hours as PIC.

Look at that guy out in California, He was 80+ and still driving a car. You can be a pedestrian and still get killed. There is always the Co-Pilot/First Officer on board capable of landing and flying.

What the heck, I'll just buy Microsoft Flight Simulator and get some practice so I can back up the Co-Pilot/Flight Officer.God forbid anything should happen. :mf_boff: :elvis: :cop: :bleh:

He might have been 80. But when was t he last time he his drivings skills were retested? Did he take a Class I medical every six months? Was he at peril for a random drug/alcohol test every time operated the vehicle? Could a spot "checkride" be administered any time at all.

There are plenty of checks and balances in the existing regulations that will make the transition to age 65 a non-event.