FR8Hauler

All I know after reading this thread is I am getting my own coffee from now on.

machz990

I would like to offer another perception of why the age 65 thing passed so quickly. A lot of pilots have the perception that this was pressure from a group of senior airline pilots who whined loud enough to get it changed. Well, they have been whining for years. Why the sudden hurry to get this change implemented? The FAA had a NPRM to change the age to 65 but that was a long drawn out process that could take years to implement. Someone thought that process was too slow and put a fire under some politicians arses to rush this through using the legislative process vs. the NPRM.

I believe it's big business and this is a precursor to Open Skies. I saw a 10 minute news piece on International CNN a couple months ago and Phase I of Open Skies starts in 08. Phase I is a lopsided agreement that favors the US. Phase II is scheduled for 2 years later. Phase II provides balance or reciprocity from the US. In other words Phase I is somewhat of a leap of faith by the EU that hinges on the implementation of Phase II. I saw interviews with a few key EU officials and some CEO's, such as Richard Branson, and they made Phase II sound like it was a done deal. If not, Phase I will be retracted and the benefits the US carriers will see during Phase I would be rescinded.

Age 65 in my opinion is a much bigger deal than giving in to a group of disgruntled airline pilots. This is big business and money.

penguin22

And it probably has a lot to do with the PBGC going broke from all the pilot pensions that got dumped into it. Quit blaming it on Captains. Congress doesn't listen to anyone protesting on their front steps. They listen to money.

Besides, maybe you all just might be surprised how few actually fly past 60. I know I'm sure not going to, and I'm not alone.

Freightpuppy

Good idea!!!!!! Don't take any fried food from FOs either.....LOL!

Freightpuppy

I never heard a peep about it until all the pensions got dumped so I don't know who was whining about it.

a300fr8dog

You may not have heard. But, they were there, making a fuss for a long time. We've got a couple at FDX.

DLax85

Ding, ding, ding ---- we have a winner!

...but let's not forget that 80% of the wealth in the US is held by people over age 50.

The "older crowd" are well organized, well funded, and vote at a much higher rate than any other demographic. Politicians know this.

penguin22

It had nothing to do with the "older crowd's" money. That's peanuts. Congress was only interested in preventing a bail out of the PBGC. It's a federal agency, you know. If it goes broke, they've got to bail it out. With taxpayer money they'd rather use for pork, to get themselves re-elected

Liftr

Holy ****! I think this dude just broke the code.

dojetdriver

That reminds me of a funny joke. And I'm sure you FedEx/Flying Tigers guys have your own version.

But the one I heard went like this;

During the whole USAir/Allegheny/Piedmont deal, a CA/FO from the windfall airline was flying with an FE from the guys taking it in the shorts on a 727.

Well, the CA turns around and tells the FE, "boy, go get me some coffee", so the FE does. The FE comes back, his hat has been placed on his desk with a pile of poo in it. He dumps it, and says nothing. Hands the coffee to the CA, and he starts drinking it. A while later, the FO turns around, and says the same thing. So the FE goes back and gets him his coffee. Comes back, to the same thing, poo in his hat. Same thing, hands the coffee to the FO, dumps the poo out of his hat.

About 30 minutes goes by, the CA and FO have been sipping their coffee and turn around and start lecturing the FE about how the whole merger is going to go great and everybody is going to make one happy family, and there will be no animosity on the flight deck.

The FE replies with "you guys are right, inter-airline politics have no place in the cockpit. We are all professionals here. And if we are going to get along and make this work, sh1tting in hats and pi$$ing in coffee is going to have to stop".