When do the majority call it quits on the retirement front on the Domestic front?
Whilst some try to go on forever, from what was happening before covid, there wasn’t all that much difference between when people were calling it quits. International had crept up to 63, but I expect domestic would be been around 65.
Dare I ask do some try and venture into the 70s?
I don’t know that anyone in Oz has achieved that yet, though some have certainly gone close. You really need to be lucky for all of your components to still be working well enough to get past the sims and the medicals. Almost all become the subject of FO stories, which is not good.
JB how forgiving is the old body as time goes on flying full time compared to the younger years
!
It creeps up on you. I hadn’t been to London for about a year, when I did my last flight, and as a special request, it was to London. It knocked me around far worse than I’d expected or remembered. A couple of months after retiring, it was amazing how much better I felt, and how my sleep patterns had settled down. Whilst the night flying components of international flying are obvious, domestic isn’t all that much better. Not only are there red eye flights, but early starts and late stops, as well as long days with numerous sectors, are every bit as bad.
During my time as an SO and FO, when the retirement age was 58 then 60, you still ran into the occasional bloke who had overstayed his welcome. With the age being extended, there’s no doubt that there‘s more opportunity for that to happen. Cunning and experience will only get you so far…but it‘s extremely good at getting you past checks.