Retirement, like work, is part of life

By DANIEL ONDIEKI

Posted  Wednesday, September 25   2013 at  18:22

In Summary

• Some pilots are seeking to have the retirement age abolished as long they can pass the checks and medical exam.

The facts of life are that as we grow older, our cells suffer from cumulative damage and as a whole, our metabolic processes slow down.

Consequently, older people undergo both physical and mental decline that reduces their ability to produce useful work. This decline limits the ability to do many things, but nowhere is this more acutely felt than in sports.

This month, however Chris Horner — just a few months shy of 42 — became the oldest winner of a cycling grand tour. Haile Gebreselassie, a dinosaur in distance running, came in third in the Great North Run in London. Floyd Mayweather gave a boxing lesson to a man 13 years his junior.

Medical advances have greatly increased life expectancy of the average human being as well as fought off some of the worse effects of ageing.

However, at some point, it is necessary for everyone to retire. In the aviation world as well as in many other professions, that retirement age is 65.

This age developed out of anecdotal evidence in the West that at 65, the productivity of workers on the assembly line sharply declined. Also it was an age that did not burden the welfare system with too many pensioners while saddling the workforce with unproductive workers.

Under the guise of human rights violations, some pilots in Europe and North America are seeking to have the retirement age abolished. Their premise is relatively simple.

By the nature of the job, competence is determined every six months on a case by case basis. So as
long as a guy who has one foot in the grave can pass his checks and his medical, he should be allowed to fly. These are actually good arguments.

The effects of ageing are ameliorated by the wealth of experience accumulated over the years. But there are other considerations. Older pilots are more likely to feel the effects of a punishing flying schedule and the effects of crossing many time zones.

The risk of sudden death from the myriad of diseases that afflict the elderly becomes unacceptably high. Complacency from old age can set in — no one knows whether an 80-year-old pilot would fight for his life as aggressively as a 30-year-old pilot.

In any case, the aviation world is dynamic with new principles or technologies being taught all the time. The older you get, the more resistant you are to learning.

In mature airlines where promotions are through retirement or death among pilots due to the seniority system, the prospect of adding 20 more years by geriatric pilots is filling everyone with dread.

Whichever way the courts rule, we are all going to have to retire eventually. There is more to life than work.

Dr Ondieki is a pilot with an international airline.