Fourth quarter financial reports continue to roll in. The mandatory retirement age for commercial airline pilots has not been raised since 2007. Employers often offer severance package to highest earning employees, typically beyond age 50. The reality is no one knows what would happen with large numbers of 65-year-old pilots in the cockpits of modern commercial airliners operating in todays demanding environment. FILE PHOTO: U.S. United's single daily flight to Mason City also stops in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and is that small city's only flight each day, too. No evidentiary information backs this up at all. Stay connected with the latest travel, aviation, and credit card news. Now, according to a number of reports, Sen. Lindsey Graham is considering legislation that would raise the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots to 67 from 65 as another way to slow. Five hundred parked aircraft equates to a deficiency of approximately 5,000 pilots. Additionally, at what age does Senator Graham or other supporters propose some additional measure of cognitive testing to eliminate the risk of age-related cognitive decline in the cockpit? On paper, it seems like a good solution for solving a . NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Under this legislation, approximately 5,000 pilots would have the opportunity to continue to fly for a further two years. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. In most other countries around the world, the mandatory retirement age of pilots is also 65 due to international aviation rules and not necessarily any regulation set by the government. In the next four years, 14,000 pilots will be forced to retire because of the mandatory retirement age of 65, Graham said Monday. The proposal, which would require pilots over age 65 to pass a rigorous medical screening every six months, follows complaints of pilot shortages by many regional airlines. Travel + Leisure is published by Meredith Corporation under license from Travel + Leisure Co. It is clearly in the publics best interest to get these experienced pilots flying again," Tetlow added. Thats just one airline. "There is no reason to change the retirement age and doing so would only increase costs for airlines and introduce unnecessary risks to passengers and crew alike," ALPA President Joe DePete said Monday. "Its time to close the book on age 60," former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said in a Jan. 30, 2007 speech. 16 bentstrider83 4 yr. ago I'll have to look up what falls under that, but that's good to know as well. Ahead of Planned 5G Rollout. "This would be maybe a short term, extra bubble of pilots, but it's not going to fix the long-term issue of needing more pilots. SCHAPER: Elizabeth Bjerke is an aviation professor and associate dean at the University of North Dakota. Nine airports have lost service completely, he said. So when you have less pilots, you got to pick what routes to fly. The U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved the measure earlier in the week. "There are approximately 500 fewer regional aircraft operating today than at the end of 2019," says Drew Lemos of the Regional Airlines Association. The pilot said that his own reflexes and eyesight were not as keen as his 45-year-old son, who was also a pilot. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), however, said Monday that it opposed any attempts to increase the retirement age for professional airline pilots. The proposal, which would require pilots over age 65 to pass a rigorous medical screening every six months . And while this new dynamic was creating challenges for many airlines, some are seeing this wave of retirements as an opportunity. There is also a Restricted Airline Pilot Transport License (R-ATPL), which can be issued at a minimum age of 21. Outside of raising the retirement age by two years, the bill does not make any major changes to current law governing pilot retirements. Considering the United States is likely to face a shortage of over 12,000 pilots by 2023, raising the retirement age to 65-67 doesn't seem all that a bad idea. However, the implementation of this is dependent on each individual Civil Aviation Authority. But IMHO, ATC would be automated and humans will be redundant in the future. Japan's civil aviation authority raised the mandatory retirement age to 67 in 2015, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China, which currently sets the maximum retirement age at 60, is considering extending that age, too. You want more years flying? At around the 15-year mark in my airline career, I decided there just had to be more to life than climb, cruise, descent and landing. At that point, he started on a doctorate in rhetoric and literature at Texas Christian University, which he completed seven years later. SCHAPER: But the unions representing airline pilots disagree. On January 30, 2007, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced that the federal agency will propose amending Part 121 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) to raise the mandatory retirement age for pilots who fly for Part 121 scheduled air carriers from age 60 to age 65. Because the international mandatory retirement age for pilots is also 65, if the age was raised in the United States, pilots 65 or older would no longer be allowed to fly overseas. ELIZABETH BJERKE: I do think it might be a distraction to the bigger issue of needing to increase and inspire the next generation of pilots. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. SCHAPER: Another proposal aimed at quickly increasing the number of airline pilots is to reduce the 1,500 hours of flight time required for airline pilot certification. They and others also bring up safety concerns, citing research showing that cognitive abilities decline as people age. The FAA didn't immediately comment on the bill. And yet air traffic controller's in the US are still forced to retire at 56. Those prongs included lowering the hour requirement for new ATPs, allowing consolidation to reduce duplicate flights, and temporarily raising the pilot retirement age to 67. U.S. President Bush on Dec. 13 signed a bill to raise the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots to 65, allowing senior pilots to fly an additional five years. We really need to focus on inspiring, exciting and supporting the next generation of aviation professionals.". We are facing a chronic scarcity that will last for years given the known retirements and the projected numbers of new pilots entering the system. Not a subscriber or a registered user yet? Management did not plan for this recovery. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has not come out in favor of the hike in pilots' retirement age, and he told Fox News earlier this month that the regulation is in place "for safety reasons. Since 2019, 71% of airports have lost flights, said Drew Remos, senior director of government affairs with the Regional Airline Association, at the news conference Monday. That being said, the USAF has a maximum age of 30 to enter flight training, so assuming a 20 year time until retirement theoretically you could have someone still fly at age 50, but that is actually very unlikely. About a third of the airline-qualified pilots in the U.S. are between the ages of 51 and 59, and 13% of the country's airline pilots will reach retirement age within the five years,. Copyright 2022 NPR. Joe DePete, ALPA's president, said in the news release. On the other end of the experience spectrum, earlier this week it was reported that legislation could soon be introduced to raise the mandatory retirement age for pilots from 65 to 67. The current pilot shortage is causing flights to be dropped across the country. Now it should be raised again. The current 2x/year medical exam for older airline pilots does not test cognitive ability AT ALL, and you can argue that the periodic check rides will not catch that either. Airline pilots over 65 will still need to maintain first-class medical certification that must be renewed every 6 months. Advertiser Disclosure: Some links to credit cards and other products on this website will earn an affiliate commission. The International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) sets the maximum retirement age at 65, which the FAA has adopted. But beyond that, first the FAA would need to move beyond tech from the 80s and 90s. Let pilots who are over 65 keep flying, Skiles says. So, if youre very senior, its hard to give up the airline career. Airline Pilot Retirement Age Could Be Raised To 67, asking the FAA to lower the minimum number of hours, Legislation could increase pilot retirement age. 5 Corbec023 4 yr. ago After decades supporting a rule requiring commercial airline pilots to retire by their 60th birthday, the FAA earlier this year signaled that it now supports raising the retirement age to 65, matching the new ICAO standard. "This legislation is critical to help address the pilot shortage and prevent air service loss in communities across the country," added Lemos. [25] Air traffic controllers: Mandatory retirement age of 56, with exceptions up to age 61. Perhaps at 65 you want to exit the widebody and go back to NB domestic only? It costs about $92,000 for pilots to get their initial license in a full-time seven-month program at ATP Flight School, the largest flight school in the country. Now, major U.S. airlines are scrambling for ways to attract pilots and get them trained faster. With near certainty I can tell you that the vast majority of airline pilots under the age of 55-60 are a hard Hell No on extending the retirement age further. While the specifics depend on the individual airline, retired pilots can generally fly for free as long as they worked for the airline full-time for a minimum of ten years, and retire in good standing. Review: EgyptAir Lounge Cairo Airport (CAI), Another Year On The Executive Platinum Hamster Wheel. While it is legally possible to fly until 65, pilots at airlines that have a mandated retirement scheme will be forced to leave at this lower age. Five-hundred parked aircraft equates to a deficiency of approximately 5,000 pilots.". In response to the FAA Administrators announcement, Prater established the ALPA Age 60 Blue Ribbon Panel "to study the long-range effects of potential changes to the FAA Age 60 Rule and to identify issues connected to possible changes to pilot mandatory retirement age.". (From 'No mandatory retirement age but pilots must pass FAA review every 2 years' Chicago Tribune, 30 Sept 2014) References. Though it has no shot of becoming law with Republicans in the minority, Republican Senators are proposing raising the retirement age from 65 to 67 noting that "14,000 pilots would be forced to retire over the next four years" at age 65. Email Lindsay at lvb@skift.com. Hardy, D. and Parasuraman, R. (1997) He is active, healthy and sharp. Your argument is flawed by SHORTSIGHTEDNESS. 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