Keep ‘Em Flying at 60–the Sky’s the Limit

Lance Thompson - Contributing Editor
02/06/07

The FAA is considering raising its mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots to 65 from the current 60 years, according to a 30 January 2007 story in the Wall Street Journal by Andy Pasztor. Opposition to this rule change by the Air Line Pilots Association has softened, but other groups may have objections and concerns. Nonetheless, this change has much to recommend it.
In the cases of professional athletes, firefighters, and Vegas show girls, the three score limit seems quite reasonable. But for airline pilots, the attributes which deteriorate with age can be corrected (vision), augmented (strength) and monitored (health). In counterbalance, attributes such as judgment, experience, decision making and problem-solving ability all improve with advancing years.

There is an economic argument as well. A sixty year-old commercial pilot has thousands of hours of flight time, hundreds of hours of costly training, and a wealth of experience in handling a myriad of situations. Surely at that age, he or she is at the apex of knowledge and skill. To waste five years of this expertise is prematurely to deny the flying public a valuable resource.
The question brings to mind the talent we might have wasted if other prominent figures had decided to hang up their hats at age 60.

Benjamin Franklin (17 January 1706) When Franklin was 60, he was an American diplomat in London. He addressed the House of Commons to explain colonial resistance to the Stamp Act. He answered questions for two hours, impressing all present with his knowledge and arguments. The Stamp Act was subsequently repealed. Franklin helped draft the Declaration of Independence when he was 69, and secured France as an ally in the Revolutionary War when he was 72. He served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention at the age of 81. We’re lucky he didn’t retire 21 years earlier.

George Washington (22 February 1732) When Washington was 60, he was re-elected as President. During his second term, he rebuffed French attempts to pull America into a European war, reaffirmed federal authority by putting down the "Whiskey Rebellion," weathered a scandal involving a member of his cabinet, secured the release of American prisoners from Barbary pirates, and voluntarily left office beloved, admired, and honored–at the age of 65.
Winston Churchill (30 November 1874) When Churchill was 60, he was a minority party member of Parliament, writing a multi-volume biography of Marlborough. Hitler had just declared himself Germany’s new Führer. When Churchill was 65, Germany and Russia had invaded Poland, Hitler’s war machine seemed invincible, and Churchill himself had not yet become Prime Minister. His determined defiance of the Nazis and his uncompromising leadership during World War II all came after his 65th birthday.

Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880) When MacArthur was 60, he was Grand Field Marshall of the Philippines, preparing the region to defend itself against Japan. World War II had yet to involve the American nation. His battles against the Japanese invaders and his campaigns to retake the Southwest Pacific all lay ahead. When MacArthur was 65, he supervised the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay and subsequently conducted a masterful administration of occupied post-war Japan. When he was 70, the Korean War began, and his triumph at Inchon was still in his future. MacArthur served his country well in the ten years after his 60th birthday.

Ronald Reagan (6 February 1911). When Reagan was 60, he was wrestling with a Democratic legislature over welfare reform–as governor of California. When he was 65, he was vying with President Ford for the Republican presidential nomination. He was just shy of 70 when he first took the oath of office for President of the United States. Restarting America’s economic engine, winning the Cold War and, speaking of airlines, busting the illegal air traffic controllers’ strike were all in his future. We’re lucky he didn’t retire at 60.

All of these figures displayed good judgment, grace under pressure, and confidence born of experience well after their 60th birthdays. These are exactly the qualities one would hope for on the other side of the cockpit door.

These exemplary individuals also encourage us to continue to aspire and achieve, even in what film maker Clint Eastwood calls "the back nine" of life. (Eastwood, by the way, won his first directing Oscar at age 62, and his second at age 75.)