what is the retiring age for a commercial pilot?

Answer 1

The ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) has raise their bar to allow pilots to fly up to their 65th birthday. But some airlines still stick to the 60 years rule, and some even ruled that they'll only allow people to fly until 55 as Captains, before they have to move back to the right seat and retired at 60.

Answer 2

Most airlines have the pilots retire at the age of 60 and some will allow the pilot to work until 65 years of age.

Answer 3

Not so fast! The answers above are out dated and there are differences in mandatory retirement of airline pilots world wide. In the US it is age 65, but in other countries in the Americas it varies. In many central and south American counties it is 67. It is inevitable that the rules will change in the USA again, probably from 65 to 67. The reason for change is not necessarily because of anti-discrimination although that has played a part of the official reason for change. The real reason the age limits have and will change is of course economics, but safety also plays a big roll too. In a nutshell, the number of qualified pilots to fill the positions of retiring pilots and the needs of expanding airline service is dwindling. The bottom line is that the military is not training near the numbers of pilots that they have in the past. And many of the military trained pilots are either flying less often for budget reasons or are piloting drones from a computers screen and are thus not able to gain the operating experience necessary to qualify or be competitive in getting hired by a major airline. So the choices for airlines who need pilots is to either lower the standards and/or qualification for FAR 121 pilots or influence the government to eliminate or raise the retirement age. My unconfirmed understanding is that Canada has eliminated mandatory retirement age for pilots. The medical standards for holding an ATP (airline transport pilot) rating are reasonably high and physical examinations by flight physicians are required every six months for pilots in command. The federal aviation regs also require that captains over age 60 have younger co-pilots when flying international or overseas flights and thus the safety standards are still quiet high. One last comment pertaining to age and flight safety. Pilot are much more healthy today than any other time in history past. Few if any pilots smoke cigarettes any more and most pilots exercise and eat healthier too. The last comment is that most pilots love their jobs and want to have more control of their own retirement plans.

Answer 4

eferell101 is correct, there is no mandated maximum age for commercial pilots, as long as you can pass your physical you can fly for hire. I still have my 1st class medical and occasionally do some flight instruction at age 65, just for fun. But, I had to retire as an airline pilot after 38 years and 31,000 hrs at the FAA maximum, age 60.
All airline pilots are "commercial" pilots but not all commercial pilots are "airline" pilots.

A further note: a writer says, the pilots union wants the maximum age changed to 65, actually ALPA (the major pilot union) is opposed the the rule change. The age change is being driven mostly by retired pilots lobbying their congressmen.

Answer 5

A commercial pilot can retire at any age he chooses, unless he is hauling passengers for an airline. Then the rule says 60 in the US.
Apparently some people don't realize commercial pilots do other things other than fly passenger jets.

Answer 6

In the US, you can't fly for a Part 121 carrier as a pilot after age 60. In the old days, a lot of them came back as re-tread flight engineers.

ICAO regs allow for piloting up to age 65. There is currently a move afoot to raise the age in the US to 65 as well. I believe it is still in the public comment period.

Answer 7

I believe that currently the retirement age is still 60 but there has been a lot of discussion lately about raising the age to 65.

Answer 8

well if you are a Philippine Pilot, the retitring age is 60 years old

Answer 9

I believe it's 60...but the pilots assocation wants it raised to 65.