I couldn't agree more the mandatory retirement for 121 is and was a crock. It was born under the era of the CAA so that senior captains couldn't bid the jet originally.
Regardless, this pilot broke the rules. Quite frankly I'm sick of this whole notion that the rules apply to everyone but me. Having flown with I can also say he broke more than his fair share of the rules and regs. Despite all of that I like the guy. But when you get caught regardless of the oh so good intentions, face the it like a man or don't commit the crime.
Originally Posted by
FlyingKat
You need to get a clue. Mandatory retirement for pilots has had much more to do with getting rid of senior pilots at the top of the pay scale than it ever did with safety. I'd rather fly with Hoot Gibson any day than some of these cheesesteak eating goobers in their mid 30s and 40s that are overweight, big as a house and one step from a coronary. Whether you can fly should have more to do with how well you take care of yourself and perform on flight checks than an arbitrary limit. The examples you cited are an agency or company placing limits on its employees, not an industry wide limit. And more and more of these are falling due to age discrimination lawsuits. Comparing what an FBI agent does to what we do in the cockpit is very different. Last time I checked there were some Supreme court judges will into their 80s, so I don't know what you are talking about. All the judges where I live are pretty old, and they keep forcing them out of retirement to cover for younger Judges for whatever reason.
The only business of the FAA is how I perform on flight checks and my flight physical. Anything else is none of their business. When you give a government agency an inch, they'll try and take a mile. Just look at the TSA.