Evening star., 1950-12-03
.hento Retire a Pilot?
Some Companies Pension Flyers at so, but
There Are Many Advocates of Lower Limit
By Frederick R. NeeIv

Wnatu become OF our old air.
line pilots when they get old?'
Years ago this was the topic o1
much hangar-fying when the bud
ding air transport industry was
filling up with handsome, wasp.
wasted. hairy-headed, healthy
young airmen, but the question
went unanswered for want of q
satisfactory definition of "old."
Since then the subject ha.
been elevated to the stature of 9
problem Of growing concern ir
the high Offices of the airlines, the
pilots union and the Government
Here is how it presently stands:
Eight of the "a United States
scheduled trunk and feeder air.
lines have established cooperative
pension plans for their pilots and
fixed so as the retirement age. The
remainder have no such retire
ment provisions, pleading financial
inability to bear their share OF
the cost desired by the pilots.
The Air Line Pilots Association
tAFL affiliate) has supported the
principle Of so as the age limit
beyond which the modern air.
liner captain should not be re-
quired to fly. 1t being presup-
posed he has had at least 20 years
of service on his airline when he
reaches the half-century mark
The Government, through the
Civil Aeronautics Administration
has power to deny renewal of q
license to an airline pilot for
physical disability, but it has not
yet recognized any age limit for
compulsory retirement.
Result of Pilot Poll
Public interest in this stale
mated internal question had not
been aroused until the occurrence
OF two events a short time ago.
In Chicago. during the annual
convention of the ALPA early In
November, the retirement age
question was brought up again
and an opinion-poll taken among
the pilot-delegates. They re-
affirmed the age-50 retirement
pension principle" on the theory
that the tension. strain and re-
sponsibility of flying the mail and
passengers on schedule, reduces
the life expectancy of a line pilot
by 10 years so that at so he is
physically comparable to a non-
flying normal man of so.
A week after this informal ac-
ton Cor on November 13) a So
year-old airline captain died sud-
denly from heart attack In the
pilots compartment of a DC-6
just Is minutes before he was
scheduled to take off from La
Guardia Field, New York, for
Memphis, with q passengers
standing by to board the plane.
The story. widely published. gen.
Grated speculation among airmen
as to what would have happened
to the big four -engined airliner
If the captain had collapsed over
his controls and jammed them as
the plane was climbing out of the
field, despite the presence of an
alert co-pilot at his right side
with duplicate controls.
Victim of the fatal heart attack
was healthy-looking Capt. John
S. Pricer, with 81 years expert
ence as an airline pilot for Amer
ican Airlines and with $1,000
hours in his log. He had been
flying for 80 years. having been
taught by the Army in the First
World War. His pre-airline flying
included three years as an Army
pilot and a short stretch of barn
storming as civilian. This was
followed by a turn at earth bound
business newspaper advertising
cash registers and automobiles)
with flying as an avocation, until
1929, when he grabbed the op-
portunity to become an airmail
pilot for an American Airlines
predecessor company. In World
War II he went back into the
Army, flying men and material
for the Air Transport Command.
His only mishap as an airline
pilot came when flying the mail
IN single-engined plane 20 years
ago this month. Weather closed
off all landing possibilities and
with fuel exhausted he bailed out.
Since 1896 Except for his war
service) he and his wife lived
quietly on their 30-acre cotton
farm near Memphis while he flew
the Memphis-New York route. 1t
was to this farm he planned to
retire when he reached go under
Americans pension plan.
Proctor's Case Cited
The 50-year retirement advo-
Gates among airline pilots called
Capt. Pricers sudden death tragi-
cally prophetic. They take the
position that the advent of larger
faster and more complicated air.
liners and increasingly congested
airway and airport traffic, plus the
inability of line pilots to enjoy
regular eating, sleeping and rest
habits due to fight schedule re-
olirements and Interruptions,
create mental and physical fatigue
which can cause severe damage to
the heart and nervous systems
CThe CAA's Medical Division has
an airline pilot fatigue study under
way but no conclusions have been
reported to support Or discount
the implication that after so an
airline pilot becomes a greater
health (and safety risk
Airlines with 60-year retirement
income plans and airline pilots
who go along with that figure
regarded Capt. Pricers death as
more of a tragic coincidence ane
directed attention to the case o1
yTT r-i10t