Fact - ALPA is a business organization, who operates and receives its 1.9% in dues from members, and it needs as many pilots in cockpits as possible to fund its Association.
The union leadership knows the threat to the pilot profession is not raising the retirement age. Why? Drone technology is the threat and having more qualified aviators by increasing the retirement age reduces the demand on needing drone pilot sooner.
Per the articles I posted in the links above the facts are:
* The FAA has created a drone POI.
* Boeing and Airbus will begin testing drone flights this year.
* Cargo and transoceanic single pilot/drone commercial airline flights will begin in 2024.
* The plan and target year to eliminate cockpit pilots and replace them with drone pilots in every aircraft is 2040.
The salient question is what would you rather have? More years of two pilot operations by increasing the mandatory retirement age, which would help fund unions to fight single/no pilot operations, or aircraft flown solely by drone pilots?
ALPA knows everything I have written on this topic. Why do you think ALPA is not fighting the increase in the retirement age but is fighting drone piloting?
The union knows the best way to fight the pilot shortage, the lack of aircraft training for new pilots, and the industry wide understanding of of the problem of too many inexperienced aviators in current airliners is to increase the mandatory retirement age.
Nonetheless, the increase in the mandatory pilot retirement age is forthcoming, likely in early 2020, with regulatory action already underway in the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee for U.S. CAT pilots to fly to age 68, with a special issuance medical certificate and new FDL & FTL limits per the new regs.
The new FAR and ICAO Annex to raise the mandatory commercial retirement age has been marked and is earmarked for approval. They will be:
14 CFR Part 121.383, Amendment HR 4343, FAA INFO 08001.
ICAO regulation will be ICAO Annex 1, Para 2.11.10.1 and ICAO Annex 1, Amendment 167.
Last edited by Unicornpilot; 01-05-2020 at 09:31 AM.