Too old to fly?

Why the Captain stayed awake all night to pray & next morning crashed the plane & killing 152 innocent people. He should have stayed home instead of destroying the lives & families of 152 victims. Sad & very pathetic! Rafiq AhmedRecommend

Let me remind Mr Farhan that the retirement age of pilots in PIA and CAA is still 60 years. This cannot change because it is our national retirement age. What has happened is that the age of utilization of pilots has been enhanced on the argument that there is a shortage of trained pilots. Unfortunately what has happened is that this has been assumed to be an open cheque by PIA, private airlines and the pilots and the waiver of extension in age of utilization has been abused for personal benefits. ICAO still does not allow pilots to fly commercial passenger flights beyond their national retirement age, or allow them to fly with medical disabilities. In some countries like UK, Singapore etc, the retirement age of pilots employed in BA or SIA is less than the national ages of retirement. Individual countries however can file differences based on the quality and availability of specialised medical facilties available and the research done based on local health conditions, hygene, availability of clean drinking water, etc. The spirit behind the ICAO permission for individual contries to file for waivers, stands defeated if this is abused. Medical waiver is an exemption of medical status and a disability for a pilot, which requires him not to fly with another pilot having any waiver. In this case what is happening is that overage pilots with medical conditions have been given another exemption, which is to fly beyond the age of superannuation. The contradiction becomes more evident when in actual fact there is no shortage of pilots in PIA. Total number of pilots in PIA are more than required for its airworthy fleet and utilization per aircraft. Yes there is a deliberate shortage being maintained on aircrafts like B777, A310 etc, by none other than the powerful pilot lobby that dictates its term. The present MD of PIA is part of this viscuous circle. It takes less than 3 to 4 months for a pilot already on PIA payrolls to be trained for conversion to these equipments and fill the shortage, provided there is a will. It is this dishonesty which leads to compromises on flight safety and I am afraid CAA is responsible for failing to put a stop to this abuse. Air Blue should have no reason not to recruit pilots below 60 years, to fly their aircrafts.Recommend

How can u be so sure that the pilot stayed up and worshiped all night??Recommend

I would like to inform Mr. Shahzad that the retirement age of PIA is no doubt 60 years, but CAA allows pilots to hold license till the age of 65, provided the pilot is physically and medically fit to fly and fulfills whatever requirements required by CAA. Captain Pervaiz was allowed by the CAA to fly (otherwise, he wouldn’t have been flying, would he?), which shows that he was physically and medically fit to fly.

In reply to Mr. Rafiq Ahmed, with all due respect sir, can you please show us the proof that he stayed up all night to pray? A pilot with his experience would never take undue risk like that! PLEASE stop blaming the captain, he lost his life as well! I’m not saying that it might not be his mistake, it’s possible, but it’s the job of the investigation team to determine the reason of the crash, not us!! PLEASE DO NOT jump to conclusions!

Thanks.Recommend

i would second Mr Rashid Hussain’s comment without any doubt!Recommend