Oldest Regional New Hire
 

Asking for a friend......I’m interest in how old the oldest new-hire FO is.

I’ve flown with a 62yr old new hire FO, but I’m sure there are 64yr olds out there that were just hired.

Age doesn’t matter, what matters is can you pass training? I’ve seen some older guys that were way in over their heads not taking it seriously. It’s not a flying club or pt91 gear swinging, it’s an airline. You’re expected to be up to CA standards at least to pass the checkride.

Majors have hired 63, 64 year olds for sure, no doubt regionals have as well.

Years ago my XJT class had two over 55.

Neither made it to the line.

One didn’t even make it to sims.

Too bald to re-tread?
 

I totally agree
“My friend” still has a few miles left to run and happy to demonstrate that

I just want to throw this out there that ExpressJet has a reputation for working with trainees harder than other airlines to get you through.

Regardless though, you have to be willing to work your butt off. You can do it but as we get older it becomes more difficult. It’s like our tolerance for learning information not immediately relevant goes down and the mind just filters stuff out and throws it away.

One of ours didn’t have the drive to do it. He had made his fortune, sold his companies, had planes of his own and just wanted to give it a shot. Never studied with us, but bought everyone’s food every study session. That sort of thing.

Like I said, didn’t even get to sims. Oh well. Nice guy but predictable results.

Agreed. I recently talked with a 30+ year senior captain from United who said a 62 year old was in their latest class.

I wonder how R Kelly feels about that song nowadays?

I just trained a guy going through initial for a corporate job that did 1 year at a regional then had to leave because he hit 65. He just wanted to say he did the airline thing. Was a late career changer.

I think that there are a few older people (mid 50s and up) in almost every class that are career changers and/or want to say I was a airline pilot before the door closes permanently. Up until about five years ago there were very few pilots in their 20s coming online but now lots of all age groups are jumping onboard since they can pay their bills on regional pay just to test the waters.

I would venture a guess that less than 50% of people making it through 121 initial will still be flying 121 in 5 years due to various reasons (age, medical, being fired, or just hating the 121 game). It feels like I run into a few pilots everyday that flew a few years at the regionals then got out for various reasons. It will be interesting to see the changes that will happen in the airline industry by 2030.

Skywest won't upgrade or transition you between planes if you've got less than 18 months before mandatory retirement. More than 1 Brasilia pilot had to retire early when that plane went away.
Don't know about anything in the PPM about new hires and age, and it could be an age discrimination lawsuit if someone wasn't hired at 63 yrs 7 months, but I'm not sure commuting a year as a jr reserve at 64 would be worth it.

I thought they got paid to sit home until age 65, vice "retired" which is only a plaque and travel benefits?

The unprecedented opportunities at the legacies will keep them coming for a while longer. But after the retirement wave, there may not be as many kids willing to pay dues for 20 years to have a great gig later in life.

My newhire class had a 63.5 year old. Did not make it. He tried his butt off, always the first in last out of the study room, but just could never keep up with the speed of operations.

Several years back Republic hired someone who was so close to 65 that they had to leave before even finishing training. Some HR people were taken task by management for that little mishap.

Otherwise that would be a huge lawsuit. Much cheaper to pay them to stay home.

As long as the guy is 63.5 or 64..I knew one guy that was 64 and straight up said he just wanted a year as an airline pilot for a year and was on his bucket list his entire life. Some companies might not hire someone that age but others are hurting for pilots. Not sure if he ever made it through training but he was initially hired I believe at Xjt.

Tell your friend all they can say is no. It’s worth the shot!

Right. But that's not retired. That's getting paid to stay home... good work if you can get it.