Originally Posted by
Clearedtocross
Public safety decisions shouldn’t be done on guesswork with a “see how it goes” approach. That’s what’s being proposed.
Even ‘til this day the F/O(if over 40) requires a 6 month interval on Class I physicals to accommodate the age increase to 65.
If the other pilot’s medical requirements need to be bolstered to accommodate this, you’re admitting exactly what you’d like to disprove - that the aging pilot is less safe. Either that, or you just don’t know. And if you just don’t know, then we shouldn’t be doing it.
So now its a matter of safety? That's not what I have been consistently been hearing. The first class medical is required for captains and typically first officers. The captains have to get a new one every 6 months, 12 months for first officers. At age 35 an EKG is required, and then again at age 40 and once a year there after. I don't recall any of that being tied to age 65 when it happened, but then again I'm one the old fogies. By the way I'm old enough to have seen exceptionally good and bad pilots of all ages.