Nowhere in the developed world are pilots allowed to fly beyond the national age of retirement
SUKKUR: Public interest and the safety of air travellers would be served if the Civil Aviation Auhtority (CAA) were to investigate and reveal all factors that led to faulty landing, resulting in the rupture of the left column of the main landing gear of the Boeing 737. It was fate that miraculously intervened preventing a fire and fatalities, not the pilot’s skills or the CAA’s efforts. Commercial aviation is a specialised field and is as different from military aviation as is oncology from dentistry. Aviation is an unforgiving business, where there are no second chances, nor any scope for relaxation in requirements. Pilots are paid good salaries and often get tax relief benefits which others in this industry are not entitled to, because their earning tenure is not considered to be assured till the age of retirement, limited by stringent medical, physical and mental fitness requirements. Nowhere in the developed world, where aviation safety is a priority, are pilots allowed to fly beyond the national age of retirement, which is directly linked to that nation’s average age of mortality, quality of medical facilities, law and order and the provision of unadulterated food. If commercial airline pilots in the US are allowed to fly until the age 62, it is because their national age of retirement is 67.
When the CAA does not revoke licences of those pilots with a criminal record — including those who have submitted fake degrees, or were involved in cases of sexual harassment, such as the one in which a PIA female pilot had accused her instructor — or those pilots found guilty of alcohol or drug consumption, then how can it expect to safeguard the flight safety of the revenue-paying travelling public? If in the opinion of the CAA, pilots can be utilised beyond the national age of superannuation, although physical, medical and reflex action requirements for commercial airline pilots are higher than for those involved in doing regular jobs where mental faculties, qualifications and experience alone are required, then the problem lies with the regulator, not the licencee. Was it not negligent on the part of PIA, the CAA and the government to allow Captain Aijaz, an O’Level graduate found guilty of gross irregularities in pilot recruitment by Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, to be appointed as managing director in 2008?
Aneela Chandio
Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2015.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
