You should run for office! High Office.

 

I just cant imagine wanting to work that long. I have 20+ years to go and I am already counting the days.

 

Many would retire anyway because they don't want to work any longer, and had 65 set as the arbitrary finish line.

Some will retire early, even before 65 because they've met financial goals.

Some will work as long as they can because they need the money, either through poor planning or bad luck.

A few just like their jobs and will keep doing it if they can.


But what everybody forgets is ICAO... can't do international over age 65, and I'm pretty darn sure that that includes MX and CA. So widebody CA's would have to take a paycut, retrain, and fly NB's. I believe they would also have to be accommodated to stay domestic (really domestic). Many would not be interested in doing that. Also it's entirely possible that airlines would not be required to "accommodate" them by giving them domestic schedules outside of seniority. Airlines might be able to require that all pilots be legally eligible to fly to all destinations for a fleet they bid into.

Between high longevity, WB=>NB flowdown training events, and higher health and disability benefit costs, airlines will not see this as a windfall. They might go for it anyway if they think they need a bandaid to mitigate some of the pilot shortage.

As far as life expectancy, pilots on average live longer than the population average simply due to being higher on the socio-economic ladder. Yeah we take a hit due to OTJ environmental factors but not that big of a hit. Except maybe cargo people.

 

Yup, I thought about that but couldn’t remember what office, then I tripped and it all came back to me for a minute but ice cream was a HIGHer priority.

 

Unfortunately there is quite a large group out there who agree with you and it would be really dismal to be counting the days. There are different types of folks, flying gigs and obviously compensation packages. Long haul, short haul, big jets, small jets, passenger, cargo, corporate, military, etc. as we all know. Most chase the universal #1 priority (highest is $ as a norm obviously) and hopefully are able to match it with their chosen flying/career/schedule/domicile, etc. Most do not match up financially and mentally solid/fulfilled or whatever, but as seniority is gained they become more content for the most part. I wish them all the best to get their family time, fun time and clams saved (upgrade, aircraft, schedule, domestic routes, international routes, etc.) as quickly as possible to get to their finish line and get out smoothly.

*Life jabs such as divorce, health, death, less amiable offspring are not added into the equation above. Fairly recent hires who didn’t know what this lifestyle might bring is not included obviously as there is a plethora of information out there. Granted, actually waking up at 3AM for a 6AM go day after day, multiple legs, long legs, time away from your home/family, time zones, etc. are hard to explain until you face them yourself. For many it’s just a job or work and others will miss it so I hope you find your way to the later.

**Having 20+ years remaining and feeling like your looking down a barrel can’t be fun or healthy. Like rickair7777 mentioned: “A few just like their jobs and will keep doing it if they can.” Met one Delta guy and heard of several early retirees returning to the line; however few, they must have been fortunate to enjoy this lifestyle to roll back in. May we all have the best days forward.

 

“Gonna be a good day. I’m gonna grease that landing and not poop my pants.”

 

for the record I am not sure how I feel about 67 or 68. Once you are senior though there are high time trips which if you fly three you fill your month up. 9 days of flying with four pilot crews ain’t that bad even for an old guy. Again that’s if you are senior. So I imagine if there are those that end up working beyond 65 after retiring today they would probably stick around given the option. Not all but I figure most.

 

I wouldn't count on 'many' retiring at 65; if they can burn their sick time slowly and fly a lighter schedule, a lot will do that. Finances won't be the primary factor unless the markets count melting down from here.

As far as ICAO, the current Chief of the Aviation Medical Section, Dr Ansa Jordaan, has not put out any studies about flying past 65 since she took over from Dr Anthony Evans when he retired October 2015. Dr Evans was a huge proponent of raising retirement age and put out multiple papers on the subject - it appeared that he was targeting age 70. I don't think that Dr Jordaan/ICAO would change the age 65 rule until after the US made a change.
That would restrict US pilots to only flying in the US. However, the only reason right now that Canada has 65 as the upper limit is due to the US retirement age so that would probably change quickly, based on this article: https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-ca...re%20different.
Would Mexico also increase pilot retirement age to match the US? Probably.
So that would put US pilots over the age of 65 to be restricted to the US, Canada, and Mexico. That would make scheduling over age 65 pilots fairly easy so I don't see a huge roadblock from airlines.
Would widebody Captains be willing to downgrade to the 756 fleet or narrowbody fleet? That's hard to guess.

I'm in my early 60s and could financially retire tomorrow. I have Tricare for my medical so I don't need to worry about reaching age 65. But I don't retire now because my wife is 8 years younger than me and wants to work into her 60s. When I approach 64, I'll get a comprehensive medical exam to see if there are any medical issues that should be taken care of and put me on LTD.

 

That would assume the rest of the world will go past 65.

 

But you can't do those trips after age 65... ICAO. Except maybe east coast <=> HI/AK.

As pointed out above ICAO could change too, but that's not as easy as the ICAO chief medical officer just deciding to do it, there would have to be member state concurrence to allow older foreign pilots fly into THEIR airspace. I'm guessing that would take time, if at all.

I can see CA and MX aligning their rules with the US, so one way or another the golden oldies could probably do domestic North America ops.