tom11011

You mean like these cool kids?

gzsg

Next you will be telling us you get 2 intense FAA physicals a year like the age 65 guys did. My last one was 37 seconds.

Im fine with raising the age if we have real physicals with cognitive testing. That would eliminate half the pilots right now.

Total bs.

Avroman

Bull... the airlines will gobble up these guys with the caveat that because of the extra training they have to pay them 1/3 rd the rate to make up the difference... Take that crap and ship it out to the middle of the Pacific with an anchor...and tie yourself to it vilcas. Stop slurping the management schlong

ClickClickBoom

1500 hour rule is simple, it's a survival test, if you are gonna do stupid stuff in a plane, it will most likely be solo. If it kills you you are not a suitable airline pilot candidate. In years past it took a long and tortured road to the airliner, I personally know of at least 10 G/A deaths, due to stupidity. The military filter is tougher, getting through flight training is selective enough, add operational flying and the filter is finely tuned. 3500 hours of 135 freight gives one plenty of opportunities to get dead, the military offers as many if not more. It's about survival, nothing more,,,,

FlyJSH

You got it. Haul checks or boxes for a while, don't kill yourself, and then you can haul a bunch of people.

Unfortunately the 300 hour wonders don't get this.

I have 7 dead friends and another 5 coworkers. I miss them and hope they found peace. But they were not up to flying people.

The reality is a good private pilot with an instrument rating can pass the ATP checkride. But that doesn't mean they have the experience to fly an airliner.

rickair7777

Yes, they are. Up until a certain point it's a fairly weak relationship, and there are absolutely other factors, some controllable, which affect your health.

But your physical condition does degrade after about age 20...slowly at first, but the pace picks up later in life. After age 60-ish the risk of sudden incapacitation rises noticeably. Also alertness, stamina, etc falls off too. Eventually there is a very real likelyhood of rapid degradation occurring between exams and sim sessions

Look at the current FAA medical exam standards...the frequency and scope increases at age 40 (EKG, more frequent exams).

While there are probably genetic outliers who could fly airliners safely until age 99, there are several problems with eliminating (or even significantly increasing) the age limit...

- You would have to increase the both the frequency and scope of exams and sim/cognitive testing . Who's gonna pay for that? The hypothetical 99 year old pilot would probably need a full astronaut physical and a PC at the start of every trip.

- Older folks simply will not have the same stamina regardless of health, so rest rules would have to be amended again.

Bottom line the system needs to manage the health of pilots without going to ridiculous and costly extremes. Providing the occasional "genetic outlier" with the opportunity to keep flying way beyond the bell curve is probably not worth the cost and hassle to everybody else.

Std Deviation

Or 1040 hours single pilot at night in an MU2 for the Federal Reserve. Would not trade it for anything.

FlyHigh423

I truly hope this rule does not get reversed or reduced at all. I was not a fan of at when I was a low time (250 hour pilot). But now that I am close to 850 and 500 dual given I really respect it and glad I am building the experience as truly PIC. The amount of situational awareness and overall decision making I have gained is priceless and I will be glad to have it for future jobs.

FlyingKat

On my last physical, my AME told me they are looking at getting rid of the retirement age for the right seat, and keeping the limit at 65 for the left seat.

Packrat

Be careful what you wish for. Those standards could eliminate you. There a lots of young guys out there who couldn't pass a tougher physical.

Every single inflight incapacitation of an airline pilot was someone well below age 60.