Originally Posted by
Cujo665
issues can - and do - happen at any age. A good friend of mine in his 20’s got grounded when he failed his first class medical after several years in 121. Another guy I know in his late 40’s is out for another medical reason. The first class medical does indeed catch people regardless of age. Checkrides do the same. The fact that those of you not working in the schoolhouses or with no schoolhouse instructor experience don’t hear about those simulator induced retirements doesn’t make them any less factual.
We are a performance based job. If you can’t pass medicals, line checks, and simulator checks you don’t fly. That should be the only way to be forced out of a job. Should there be increased checking after 63, probably so…
but age alone should never cost anybody their job…. YMMV
My airline instructor experience is pretty extensive.
Instructors (at least at my company) are not allowed to make any assumptions about someone’s physical or cognitive health. Trainees have a Class 1 and it would be a legal nightmare. Instructors are not doctors.
Training is just that. Training. Instructors are meant to get someone to a level of proficiency. They can recommend more training or unsat on certain events. However, the intent is to get trainees over an obstacle, not be an obstacle.
Training is NOT meant to be a screening process for cognitive decline.
You have to be beyond help in order to be retired by the training department.