Article in 29 Oct Forbes magazine
At a time when skittish travelers want the best, most experienced pilots possible in aircraft cockpits, Congress should immediately repeal an idiotic, 42-year-old rule that forces commercial pilots to retire at age 60. There is no credible medical evidence that pilots above that age are any less healthy or less physically capable of discharging their responsibilities. Numerous other nations, including Israel, Great Britain and Germany, have raised the mandatory retirement age to 63 or 65. We should follow suit and do so without affecting pilots' pension benefits.
These individuals undergo thorough physical exams every six months. They also must pass mandatory simulator tests to ensure they are capable of handling routine duties and unusual or emergency situations. As Dr. Robin Wilkening, former chief resident in occupational medicine at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, put it in congressional testimony earlier this year: "Forty years of medical scrutiny reveals that no justification exists for maintaining the Age 60 Rule based on the fear that the pilot of a multi-crew aircraft will compromise passenger safety due to his or her sudden or subtle incapacitation, regardless of age. Age does not influence the manner in which disease manifests itself diagnostically."
Although airline layoffs are in the news now, the time will come when air travel again reaches the levels it had before the economic slump and the terrible events of Sept. 11, and carriers will be scrambling to hire new pilots. There is no need for us to suffer an artificially created shortage of these essential individuals.
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