The retirement age of 60 had been in place in the airline industry for pilots until about 5 years ago, where that age was then raised to 65. This was done to mitigate a pilot shortage that was happening after Covid hit and commercial pilots were laid off, never to return after finding employment outside the industry.
It was only last week that I read of a proposal for that retirement age of 65 to be further-raised to 67 to again mitigate the pilot shortage still being experienced across the world.
Where the age of 60 first got started in the airline industry is what followed from a 20 year test that had been conducted by NASA.
What NASA concluded was that the average life expectancy of a commercial pilot who flew a steady diet of overseas flying which included several years of constant time zone changes, yielded an average life expectancy of 62 years of age.
This meant that if a pilot retired at the age of 60, he would be dead by the time he hit 62.
What this also meant was that if a pilot retired at the age of 65, he would still be dead by the time he hit 62, but hopefully that would happen in his backyard while cutting the grass, not while on final approach to London Heathrow.
If that same pilot only flew at NIGHT which included overseas flying with multiple time zone changes and slept during the day while off duty, his life expectancy declined to 55 years of a age on average if his career involved a schedule of all-night flying as a steady diet.
For that reason, the maximum age that a pilot could fly as a Captain of a commercial flight became 60 years of age which was established back in the late `60's, early 1970's, at which point the law required that he retire from commercial aviation at age 60.
The thing is, nothing has changed from the original NASA tests that were conducted, yet the meaning of those tests have been tossed to the wind in favor of allowing pilots to now Captain commercial aircraft up to the age of 67 and co-pilot commercial aircraft up to the age of 71 before being forced to retire through mandatory retirement laws embedded within the Air Navigation Orders which govern global aviation!
So, "put up your feet!", you say?
Tell me that with a straight face while sitting beside each other in First Class and then we'll talk!
