After the last flight: Exploring airline pilots' transition to federally mandated retirement

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the retirement experience of airline pilots as they transition to life following mandatory retirement. The voices of twenty pilots provide the essence of their experience. Five broad context theme clusters emerged during analysis of the data accumulated during pre-retirement and post-retirement interviews, including retirement planning, fear of the unknown, post-airline employment decision, I'm not an airline pilot anymore, and pre-retirement vision versus retirement reality. After retiring from the airline, eighteen of the twenty participants sought new employment, thus the transition was not to a stereotypical retirement. Pre-retirement torpor and fear of the unknown often contributed to the participants' delayed planning of post-retirement activities and the consideration of post-airline employment. Those who did not secure post-airline employment prior to leaving the airline reported feelings of waiting for their next trip or being on vacation for several weeks. This vacation period was followed by a period of boredom, listlessness, and melancholy that lasted between one day and five months. This latter period ended when a decision was made to seek employment, but returned if employment was not immediately secured. Despite an anticipated shortage of pilots, more than 9,000 pilots will be forced to retire at the age of 60 between the years 2007 and 2011. This research has implications for pre-retirement planning and out-placement programs, healthcare providers and insurers, volunteer agencies, educational institutions, mental health counselors, financial planners, and for the development of niche retiree-focused businesses and service organizations.