Airline Pilot. Net

What should the retirement age of a pilot be?

It is 55, 60 or 65?

There is no correct answer. My colleage was 50 when he collapsed and died. He was a pilot, a captain for A330. Luckily for the airline, it happened at home, when he was resting. However, he was a heavy smoker.  

Now the maximum age for public transport pilot is 65. Some airlines are known to lower it to 60. It does create apprehension among the pilot, because a similar airline operating from the same airport retain until 65. So what happen is, the other airline profit by getting experienced pilot at no additional cost.

It is estimated that there are about 150,000 Airline Transport Pilots (ATP) in the US. About 15% are between the age of  55 and 59 years. About 17% are between 50  and 54 years of age and 5 % between 55 to 60. If the airlines continue to maintain cut-off age of 60, it would mean thatthe airlines are loosing experienced pilots earlier than required.

There is the other side of the coin. The older the pilot, the more is the pay. So, some of the decision makers in the airline can argue with his costing figures that it is better to limit the age to 60. The other argument can be the safety record. I do not have the figures currently, but it does make sense to say that as the pilots age, the risk to accident will increase. This is part of the aging process, like a tenis players have their peak at age below 30, the pilots too have their peaks.