Lawmakers are celebrating a bipartisan agreement to fund the Federal Aviation Administration for the next five years, which they say will also tackle major issues like “addressing workforce shortages in the aviation sector,” according to Rep. Don Davis (D-NC).
The legislation cleared the House on Thursday and now heads to the Senate. It includes a provision to raise the pilot retirement age from 65 to 67, a move that Senator Lindsey Graham says will “allow thousands of experienced and well-trained pilots to stay on the job.”
However, Captain Dennis Tajer says while the idea sounds good, the reality is different.
“Issues that may not keep someone from working as an attorney or as a doctor, keep you out of the flight deck,” Tajer said.
Tajer has been a pilot for over 30 years and is the spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association. He says the proposed retirement age increase would create other challenges.
“The real killer in this, the international group that handles flying, ICAO, does not allow flying outside of individual countries beyond age 65,” Tajer explained.
Tajer says that means international pilots may be forced to re-train on smaller domestic aircraft once they hit 65.
Additionally, pilot associations oppose increasing the retirement age. Along with Democratic Texas Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, who vows to try to stop the changes.
“I will continue to work with the Senate to ensure that we listen to our pilots,” Jackson Lee said.
Lmao
The most simple and effective answer to this would be to train new pilots. They can't even manage something that simple.
"Hey, you want to go to university and study to be a pilot? We'll pay for it!" I mean, they do this for the army already.
The brain worms are insane. They can't even fathom solving the problem in any way other than harming people.
Mind you 'pilot shortage' is probably just an excuse to avoid paying pensions
lmao they always tout BIPARTISAN as something to applaud when it's almost always ghoulish shit like this
AaaaaaaThe problem is it costs like 100k to get a commercial airline license, and the pay sucks, the hours suck, you're always away from home, you can't admit you have any mental health problems or you'll be grounded, it's enormously stressful.
And instead of addressing any of that the airlines and government are trying to raise retirement and change the rules to allow planes to fly without a fucking co-pilot.
It's infuriating. The airlines are trying to strip the copper out of the walls of essential infrastructure. Capitalist innovation!
The same problem exists with so many important jobs. There are ridiculous artificial barriers to entry - massive education costs, limited class seats - that industries use to reduce costs and jack up prices.
Just pretend I did the screaming man emoji and typed "I hate capitalism" in all caps 20-30 times here.
Oh, plus all the pilots and aircrew injured by covid. Good luck operating a commercial airliner with executive dysfunction and brain fog. But it's cool! Delta's president asked real nicely and now you can go back to work after just 5 days!
Capitalism is such a dumabss idea istg.
My dad's alcoholic friend had a pilots license and we once went up in a cessna that had catastrophic electric failure and we ended up doing an emergency landing at some farm's dirt airstrip. If that dude can keep us alive then yeah the barrier to entry is probably artificially high. Should be just like any other driving job tbh with maybe a bit more rigorous selection process but the barrier to entry is obscene.
That said we should also pay public transit workers on par with pilots imo.
Tajer says that means international pilots may be forced to re-train on smaller domestic aircraft once they hit 65.
If I were a pilot, I would simply learn to code.
Pee paw flying a plane directly into a mountainside because he got the sleepies
Is their job important though? I do sincerely believe that over 50% of all flights could be canceled (leading to roughly have the amount of needed pilots) without mention able effects except better climate.
Of course they bear a lot of responsibility, but flying is a spook.
Uhhh this is your captain speaking.