The FAA contends that the age-60 rule is necessary to ensure safety. The pilots counter that their experience and maturity promote safety. Although more than 100 passengers lost their lives, he was hailed as a hero for averting a disaster that could have killed everyone on board. Too often, judgments about retirement age may have more to do with age-based stereotypes than with a person's capabilities. The answers are as variable as individuals and the work they do.
Safety is obviously paramount.
But too often, judgments may have less to do with a person's capabilities than with age-based stereotypes. Even language can play a negative role. No one has yet come up with a good way to describe people from midlife on. Last month a Boston newspaper printed a photo taken at an accident scene. But the story gave his age as 60.