Originally Posted by
busdriver12
"Belated birthday wishes
Capt. Harry Donnell celebrated his 100th birthday on August 3rd, 2014 and John Willmott celebrated his 100th birthday on November 18th, 2014. A very belated happy birthday to Harry and John."
That is awesome!
However, I actually meant I'd prefer reading about FedEx pilots dying in their nineties instead of their fifties (not that there would be many at this point even if they all survived since retirement, anyways). Those guys would have been about 75 when FedEx acquired Tigers, so they never flew one day here.
I think you will find it difficult to find many FedEx pilots reaching their 90s because the company is so young.
I suggest you email RK FedEx ALPA Aeromedical guy. I had a conversation with him about the issue about 5 years ago. According to Ross ALPA did have a study done, but for some reason they have not published it. The result showed that pilots lived a long time, better than the general population.
The two Seaboard pilots that reached age 100 did most of their flying at a time where only a few weird guys were runners. Hotel gyms were unheard of. If you happened to be a non smoker you probably shared the cockpit with three smokers. If you were flying passenger flights the F/As came to the cockpit for a smoke break.
Yes we all read about the guy that dies of a heart attack at age 52 or the guy that dies of cancer at age 32. They are the exception.