Re-examing Rules After Pillot's Death at the Controls

Health risks versus experience weighed for pilots over 60

The mid-air death of Captain Craig Lenell, a 60-year-old Continental pilot who succumbed to a fatal heart attack last week rekindled the debate over the age limits for commercial pilots in the US. The retirement age was 60 until 2007, when Congress raised it to 65. When I wrote a post about it, I focused in the weird media reports, and now, there's an oddball debate.

Think back to July 1989, when a United DC-10 flying from Denver's old Stapleton Airport to Chicago's O'Hare crash landed in Sioux City, Iowa. One engine disintegrated destroying all three of the plane's hydraulic systems that were routed through a single conduit. The only working controls were the two remaining engines' thrust levers. The mechanics of the crisis are beyond my comprehension, but the bottom line is that a DC-10 flight instructor deadheading on that flight helped by manually adjusting the throttles to keep in minimal control.

The crippled plane broke up during its emergency landing in Sioux City, killing 110 of 285 passengers and one of 11 crew members. Experts praised Captain Alfred C. Haynes, his first officer and flight engineer and instructor Dennis E. Fitch for their skill in preventing an even greater loss of life. Haynes had to retire in 1991 at the age of 60 (Charlton Heston played him in a movie the next year). Fitch was injured in the crash but went back to work. Many experts feel that the while older pilots might have increased health risks, their experience in the air compensates in emergency situations. And of course, they are required to have regular physicals

According to a USA Today report, "Since the FAA started keeping track 15 years ago, there have been six pilot deaths mid-flight ranging in age from upper-40s to upper-50s. Pilots are required to undergo medical exams every six months once they reach age 40, according to the FAA. Pilots over 40 must have an annual electrocardiogram, and captains are required to get one every six months.

"Justin Green, a former military pilot and an aviation attorney, told CNN that 'there's no magic age for pilots. Big airline pilots, especially those flying internationally, are among the most carefully monitored people in terms of their health.'" Furthermore, flights of eight hours or longer are required to have a captain, a first officer and a relief pilot on board, and those longer than 12 hours must have two captains and two first officers."

Given the millions of commercial aircraft operations in the last 15 years, it seems that no good case can be made for rolling back the mandatory retirement age to 60 because of one fatality in the cockpit.