My brother sent me a link to an article in the Harvard Health Publications from Harvard Medical School. Below is an excerpt from it and it makes interesting reading. Maybe some of our wise grey heads should be staying in the air to counteract the exuberance of youth…
Age not a barrier to peak performance (Health Beat Sept 29, 2009)
“Can experience, knowledge, and judgment compensate for subtle mental and motor changes? Two very different studies suggest that seniority does have its compensations.
Senior pilots
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires all commercial airline pilots to retire at age 65. However, general aviation pilots do not face a similar maximum flying age. Is it safe for older pilots to take command in the cockpit?
To find out, researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine studied 118 general aviation pilots between the ages of 40 and 69; most were men. Each volunteer was checked annually for three consecutive years. The evaluations included a battery of cognitive function tests and five tests of flying ability and performance in a computerized flight simulator.
The older pilots scored lower on the baseline tests at the start of the study. Interestingly, however, the older pilots maintained their skills over time better than the younger individuals. In addition, the most experienced and expert pilots scored high on the initial round of tests and then showed fewer declines over time than the pilots with less experience.
“Flying” a simulated single-engine plane over flat terrain and near mountains is one thing, piloting a 747 quite another. The Stanford study doesn’t address the FAA’s retirement age, nor should it encourage a former Navy pilot like McCain to take the controls of Air Force One. But it does show that training and experience can compensate for the tick of the clock, and that age itself does not necessarily predict performance. And if you don’t believe Stanford researchers, just ask the 155 people whose lives were saved when 57-year-old Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger landed disabled US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. ”
So, yes, the study used a relatively small sample and didn’t measure airline pilots, but the results kind of back up what I see in the simulator. And what I also see in the wonderful retirees that live near me in Cairns – sharp as tacks despite the dodgy knees, troubled shoulders and diet of medication!
‘Old’ doesn’t mean unskilled. ‘Young’ doesn’t mean bullet proof!
Safe flying.
Helene
