I have talked to several older pilots and none have said they would retire at 60.

 

You can withdraw from IRA'a and 401k's before age 59 1/2, if you follow certain guidelines, substantially equal periodic payments based on your life expectancy.

 

Of course not............why not work till you die and leave all your money to someone else to spend???? Sometimes airline pilots are their own worst enemies......... I've seen so many YOUNG pilots go out on medical leaves and never return. Sure some have great health, but who wants to work forever? Hell, go out and buy a small plane and fly it till the day you die, but for crying out loud, enjoy what God has put out here, and believe me, it can't all be found in a cockpit.............

 

I have talked with every Captain I have flown with this year about age 65. Out of an entire year, less than five said they would fly past 60. Those that would fly past 60 only wanted to go to around 62 or so. It depends on their 401k, etc. That said, we'll see if they change their tune when they have to give up the paycheck. However, those that have been smart with their money in many cases are looking to retire earlier than 60. Many are just tired of the paycuts, etc. I'm not sure how much age 65 will change things. I think DAL lost around 100 pilots at least this year due to inability to hold a medical.

I forget if they were going to change the requirements for holding a 1st class medical past 60. If so, many may be unable to qualify as a result. We shall see. In the meantime, I think FedEx and UPS will be the most hurt as they have many FE's that will go back to the left seat when openings become available. I think FedEx has nearly 400-600 of these guys.

 

Maybe or maybe not? Fedex and UPS are also among very few airlines with intact and solvent A and B retirements plans. Initially I think many >60 guys will hang out hoping for some kind of buyout offer from the respective company...

 

The greed of the worst generation crowd will drive them to stay in overwhelming numbers...that's just the way they think, act and live their lives...most will leave nothing 'on the table'

 

For decades, many pilots have stated that they were going to retire at 57 or 58, and then just couldn't bring themselves to do it, even with a big pension waiting for them. It became "just one more year" or "just one more upgrade". Only a serious threat, such as incipient loss of lump-sums, proved sufficient to cause large numbers of early retirements.

 

No buyout. Increases pension obligations. Buyouts only make sense when you have NO pension and you can replace the bought out person with a lower paid person. Not the case with pilots for several reasons.

The longer a pilot works before retiring the pension obligation is reduced. ON AVERAGE. Denial of one's own mortality makes a majority think they will live longer than average. By definition that's impossible. Whatever the average ends up being the majority cannot end up on the right side of the curve.

Consider if the retirement age was removed. No upper limit. Many would work until the day they died. Significantly reduced pension funding required. Adding 5 to 60 simply indexed the company to a lower pension obligation. Why in the world do you think they would want to index it the other way?

Answer: You are in denial as well.

65 is the new 60.

 

Answer: You are in denial as well.
65 is the new 60.

Not sure why you are so hostile, I'm not in a denial of anything, just purely speculating here, just like you are...

No buyout. Increases pension obligations. Buyouts only make sense when you have NO pension and you can replace the bought out person with a lower paid person. Not the case with pilots for several reasons.
The longer a pilot works before retiring the pension obligation is reduced. ON AVERAGE.

Very true however you are leaving out the huge retraining costs and most of all the lack of instructors and backups in the training pipeline. That's why I am speculating about a buyout - might be a much cheaper option for Big Brown.

...but I guess I'm in denial about the backed-up training department too, I'm probably imagining pilots in training sitting home for months while waiting for their sim. training and/or ioe...

Imagine there're no old guys
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the pilots
Flying for today...

Imagine there's no APAAD
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no Retirement Age Act too
Imagine all the people
Retiring to live life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one...

 

Age 65 is the last nail in the coffin of the pilot profession. It will lead to capacity cuts and furloughs. A few at the top will benefit at the expense of the majority....the American Way.