Originally Posted by
newKnow
ALPA now supports flying to age 65 with no restrictions. Does anyone have anything good to say about this?
IMO, instead of "Taking it Back", ALPA is whimping out, once again.
Instead of insisting on the airlines with terminated pension plans to compensate their pilots with a suitable subsitution, ALPA's choice is to allow the pilots to make it up themselves. This comes at the expense of decreased life expectancy and diminished career expectations for the younger pilots.
I have never been a big fan of APA, but at least they have guts.
Age 65 is not safe and ALPA is being short-sighted. ALPA, as usual, is only looking as far as the widebody international flying.
Sure, age 65 might be ok when you can take a nap for half of your 12 hour flight and then go to a nice hotel for a 24 hour minimum layover.
But how does age 65 look when you are flying the DC-9 or B-737 for 13 hours a day, five and six legs, with no crew meals, to go to your 10 hour layover?
I think it looks dangerous. BIG MISTAKE ALPA. APA stay strong.
This was inevitable. ALPA has been, and will always be, a Union for the senior one-third of the senioriy list. The majority of senior pilots want this, so it is happening.
In regards to flying 13 hour 5 leg days to a min rest the best advice I can give is to negotiate for a European CAP 371 style flight and duty time limitation scheme. It has so much more science behind it than the FARs do. But again, that will only happen if the senior boys want it.
TP