Smith isn’t alone in making this call. He showed The Telegraph a Facebook post from a friend, also a pilot, with the caption: “Bye bye, my queen. Yesterday I could, today I’m too old to fly commercially. When will we start reviewing ridiculous regulations?” The post received 291 likes and 50 comments from people sympathising with his situation.
One of the biggest concerns about allowing pilots to fly into their late sixties is that people, and particularly men, are more likely to suffer sudden incapacitation such as a stroke or heart attack at this age.
One study, using data supplied by the FAA, shows that the risk of a sudden heart attack leading to in-flight incapacitation events rises significantly after the age of 60. However, of the 43 pilots in the sample, only 9 (21 per cent) held an FAA Class I or Class II medical certificate. Meaning many were hobbyists, rather than commercial pilots who are subject to frequent medicals.
A study of commercial pilots, published by the EU’s Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), points out that in-flight incapacitation is very rare (around 0.45 times per 1,000,000 flight hours) but they did find “moderate evidence” that the risk of incapacitation increases with age.
“Although cardiovascular conditions are considered as the principal risk factor for total incapacitation, syncope, late-onset seizures, and acute psychosis are also possible age-dependent causes of sudden incapacitation,” the report found.