Some of the older pilots take advantage of NJA's fairly generous Medical Leave. You get 3 years total. The first 6 months are a % of your salary, the remaining 2.5 yrs is capped at $60K/yr. You continue to receive full benefits during the 3 years, including the awesome medical. Also, the Union sponsors a LOM plan via Harvey Watt although benefits are very limited once you hit the upper 60's/early 70's. Most pilots 70+ can come up with a reason to medically retire and coast for 3 years. And in my case I went out at age 60.5 and will be drawing from the LOM plan until age 68.5. So a number of pilots won't even make it to 70 before having to bail.

I got lucky on the hiring lottery. I was hired in March 2005 and made Captain in 2.5 years. With the rapid growth right now I can see upgrade times coming way down, assuming the economy doesn't tank.