Originally Posted by
pinseeker
So, you are saying that some age discrimination is OK, as long as it doesn't effect you.
Yep, us young guys are being greedy and should listen to you older, wiser guys.
Those of you who continue thinking that the forced retirement of senior pilots is your God given path to seniority progression, I say that you had better re-evaluate your own selfish attitude. The age 60 rule has always been wrong, you know it, I know it and it is high time that we all put an end to it.
Many of us fly for some of the best airlines in the world. What made today’s profitable air carriers successful, is the work ethic of their employees. Then there are the junior pilots at ALPA and APA who only want to continue screwing their senior members. They should keep that isolated in their own dysfunctional house. ALPA/APA’s current system is not about seniority, it is all about "juniority". Do not impose your institutionalized age discrimination on the rest of us.
I chose to work at my present airline job in 1989 over flying for a legacy airline for two reasons. First, is my desire to live in my hometown and not have to commute. Second, I chose my airline company because at that time, it was a very a stable Part 135 carrier and I was counting on flying until retiring at age 65. Then in 1995 the FAA forced us to convert to Part 121, thus destroying my plans of flying to 65. My airline has never provided its pilots a pension. We only have a 401K. I have planed my career as best as I can. I served in the military, 11 years over seas including Vietnam. Now that I am finally earning a decent living, I would now like to help my parents who recently moved into an assisted living care home and my daughter with college. The financial obligations only increase for most people around the age of 60.
There are too many such situations where pilots have been trapped by rule changes, failed companys, one way or another, that screwed up their careers. I don't even want to read any more C%#&P that "senior guys have benefited from the Age 60 rule as they moved up the list". For too many pilots now days, being forced to retire early means poverty. This is while junior pilots are able to continue flying and enjoy a decent income, medical coverage and the satisfaction of flying for a living.
Most important, I truly love my job and I am damn good at it.
The curse that began in 1959 will soon end.