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Senators Propose Raising US Commercial Pilots Mandatory Retirement Age

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A group of seven U.S. senators on Tuesday proposed legislation to raise the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age to 67 from 65, in a bid to address airline industry staffing issues. (www.reuters.com) More...

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bentwing60
bentwing60 75
I, on the other hand, would propose a maximum retirement age of 65 for the entrenched senate and house pros'.
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bbabis
bbabis 34
Agreed! A bunch of old people sitting around deciding when someone else should retire.
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ssobol
Stefan Sobol 19
There are lots of laws that apply to the unwashed but don't apply to Congress.
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CCW1
John Prukop 8
You mispelled it. For clarity purposes, "CONgress" - because like George Carlin said, "It's a BIG club - and you ain't in it!"
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vaderbloke
vaderbloke 4
Congress is a collective term for baboons:
https://www.myamericannurse.com/a-congress-of-baboons/
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jbsimms
James Simms 33
One of my Senators just retired @ age 80. Congress is one of the few places someone can make $100-200,000/ year & suddenly be worth several million when they ‘retire’.
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SkyAware123
SkyAware123 0
How about the presidency. Creepy joe did this and all of a sudden he's worth millions.
Well, we all know why.
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rbdancer
Randy Barron 0
There's no need to inject insults into the conversation. Stick to the topic: should there be a mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots, and if so, is the current one too low?

You can post that other stuff on Faux News.
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comp682
D Kaufman 13
I agree bentwing60. My Senator (Feinstein) will be 90 this year. That's a crazy need for power.
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SkyAware123
SkyAware123 5
nah, term limits is what we need.
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sparkie624
sparkie624 2
I would not be against a lower age!
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victorbravo77
victorbravo77 7
While France raises the general retirement age (not just pilots) by only two years.

Gotcha.
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waypoint66
David Rice 7
You beat me to it…I was about to comment “Careful, if you raise the retirement age by 2 years, you might see riots in the street and trash left on airliners (oh yea, that last already happens) /S”. Funny.
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trentenjet
trentenjet -6
Why because you're out of shape and you'd like to retire before you have a heart attack in the cockpit flying
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bentwing60
bentwing60 1
He's a well competent and acknowledged wrench boron!
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btweston
btweston 6
What’s a wrench boron?
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bingobanner
Russ Brown 1
Maybe he meant wench?
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bbabis
bbabis 0
You didn't follow the conversation.
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crewdoggy
crewdoggy 9
As a retired airline captain for a major U.S. carrier I would not oppose raising the mandatory retirement age to 67 with one caveat. I retired at age 60 and if contractually an airline pilot could retire with no penalty/full benefits then and have the option to stay then I would be okay with that. Unless you’ve done the job you have no idea how wearing it is on the body. I know plenty of my fellow retirees who would love to have stayed but I know equally as many who were not only happy to go but many who would have liked to go earlier.
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Propwash122
Peter Fuller 4
Many years ago I met a senior Eastern Air Lines pilot (OK, I was hitchhiking, he gave me a ride.) We got to talking, I observed that because of his seniority he could pick any trips he wanted. He replied been-there-done-that, and that he now chose to exclusively fly the Air Shuttle routes between Boston-NY-Washington: no adjusting to different time zones, lots of interesting takeoffs/landings, less boring enroute time, able to go home and sleep in his own bed every night.

The points being that someone shouldn’t be forced to retire merely because of age if still able and wanting to fly, and that airlines could design lower-stress trips that senior pilots could bid for if they chose to.
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wwitt66
Walter Witt 4
I agree. If they can pass the mental/physical assessment and still want to fly then give them the less stressful flights. I'd rather be flying with a healthy stable 68 year old experienced pilot than with some 43 year old, going through a stressful divorce and self medicating with alcohol and/or pills.
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smkummer
Michael Kummer 4
Agree
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Flightdog
Roger Curtiss 2
I would be more sympathetic to the wear and tear except Delta's new pilot contract tops out at $495,000 for narrow-body captains and $595,000 for widebody.
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CCW1
John Prukop -4
Quit chasing the stewardesses and cut back on the alcohol consumption... THEN it will be less "wearing" on the body! LOL.
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amentor
a mentor 16
clean your own house first -- should reduce OLD congress{men,women} to same age imposed on others :-)
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JStew
John Stewart 7
What I wouldn't give for term limits.
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deanbog1
Dean Bogdanowich 7
but they wont look at the other side . they make controllers retire at 56 .
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JC86Pilot
Jay Cee 6
Perhaps they should have cognitive, skills, and reaction tests that pilots can take past age 65 to keep flying as an ATP rather than a mandatory age. People do not age and deteriorate at the same rate. The First Class Medical exam could be expanded after 65.
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M20ExecDriver
M20ExecDriver 5
NO! The CEO's flunked Economics 101 and so did the general public. It took some time but the cheap seat chickens have come home to roost.
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JPrill
John Prillaman 4
Raise the required retirement age, with testing. Too many experienced pilots are being taken out of the cockpit based on a bureaucratic decision.
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briansfreeman
Brian Freeman 4
Sure, if its good enough for the president, its good enough for pilots (cough, cough...)
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CCW1
John Prukop 2
Just think about Dementia Joe! What's good for the Goose is Good for the Gander - if you get my drift. You'd think Walter Reed Hospital Doctors would've figured out by now that old Joe isn't fit to lead a dog down the street on a leash! LOL
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warrior41882
Jeremy Stuckey 3
Now that I'm 60 and have heart stints there are aviation jobs everywhere. Sigh.
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clarkmusgrove
Marvin Musgrove 3
Everyone ages differently, age should have notting to do with when one retires. One's health should be the determinding factor. As long as you are able to pass the FAA Medical exam, you should beallowed to continue to fly. I never did understand having an age requirement as to when you should quite flying, if your in good health then you should be able to continue to fly.
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Bursk
Randall Bursk 2
Great to have a chance to work longer a job you enjoyed. I had 35 years with airlines. Some of us enjoy working. Life is short. Good flights.
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admiral506
wayne holder 2
Could pilots that are mandated by law to retire be hired back on a per diem basis....not sure if the law says mandated retirement or permanent retirement
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CCW1
John Prukop 2
When you have time, go look-up the word MANDATE in Black's Law Dictionary - BECAUSE - English is NOT Law!
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sgbelverta
sharon bias 5
Since most folks can no longer collect Social Security benefits until they are 67, they should be allowed to work full time and collect a salary, if capable.
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dwight666
D Chambers 1
You should say "no longer collect FULL benefits" until 67. But you can still start at 62; they just decrease your monthly amount by 25%, permanently. Similar ages (63,64...etc) with less of a ding. I am proof. See SSA.GOV
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guwan89
Jayantha Gabbalage 1
I was thinking you can collect SSB at age 62...
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franciemr
Fran Moreno-Randle 1
You can collect SSA retirement as early as age 62 if you have low enough earnings. But at your "full retirement age" (for those born in 1958 it's 66 yrs and 8 mos. - SSA has this info for each year of birth), you can get all of your earnings plus 100% of your SSA benefit with no reduction in SSA because of your earnings.
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captrags80
Michael Ragsdale 1
I voluntarily retired at age 62 over 7 years ago. Healthy, fit and having the time of my life. As another commenter said: "Life is TOO short!".
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raphillips5
Richard Phillips 1
As long as they are given the tests required to confirm that they are still fit to work two more years I would not have any issues with that.
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CCW1
John Prukop 0
Should be extended farther than that! How about 75? On second thought, as long as a pilot can pass the First Class or Second Class physical exam and do the tasks required,why should there by ANY "MANDATORY" retirement age declared by suck-up bureaucrats? But make DAMNED SURE none of these pilots are injected with the poisonous needle with DARPA's mRna gene therapy, disguised as a 'vaccination' that have been causing Myocarditis, blood clots and cancers. The FAA has played along with this Covid charade long-enough.
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BillOverdue
Bill Overdue 0
Given the rash of near misses and actual collisions by "today's workforce" ... the FAA has to save face somehow. I don't know the real number of pilots that walked away instead of getting the #clotshot, I'd imagine in the 1000's, which didn't help the current shortage and skill sets required for a safe and efficient workforce.
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CCW1
John Prukop -2
Yeah, and many of those who DID give in to irrational thought processes and beLIEved the bureaurats and other assorted clowns like Fauci, Gates, and your local public health departmennts pushing their "VAX TO THE FUTURE" bullshit, are now pushing up Daisy's. They listened to morons for their health advice and paid their life for that decision!
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kevinkeswick
Kevin Keswick 0
Yeah great idea. Raise the retirement age now that so many pilots have had their hearts injured by the "vaccine" they were forced to get and with in flight pilot incapacitations occurring every week on average - what could go wrong? (sarcasm)
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royalbfh
royalbfh -7
they should simultanesly reduce the ridiculus 1500 hour minium.
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MikeMohle
Mike Mohle 14
No way! A 300 hour Commercial Pilot should not be ever right-seating in an airliner. Training or not.
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jbsimms
James Simms 7
Agree. That’s just asking for trouble leading to a disaster
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madrockradio
James Cross 2
Look at Lufthansa. One of the safest airlines/airline groups in the world, and EASA only requires 250 hours for ATPL I believe.
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EtienneDaniels
Etienne Daniels -3
Many Asian countries just do that without any problems. In many Asian countries pilots can not build up the required 1500 Hrs due to all restrictions put in place by the authorities. Yet again Americans don't understand that they are spoiled with flying opportunities. On the other hand the US is the only country to allow people without a license to fly small planes and helicopters, totally insane if you ask me.
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BillOverdue
Bill Overdue 1
Flying an LSA is safer than driving a car, not only in America, but most of the rest of the World! In fact, that's the primary function a Sport Pilot "If you can safely drive a car, you can learn to fly a plane".
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E1craZ4life
Edward Bardes 2
That rule is written in the blood of the victims of Colgan Air Flight 3407.
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CCW1
John Prukop -1
Colgan Air Flight 3407 is NOT what you think it is. Do you remember the name Beverly Eckert? In a similar vein, do you remember the name Senator Paul Wellstone? Better do some SERIOUS research into those two crashes. The truth is well hidden.
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