Editing Aircraft pilot (section)

==Life expectancy==

There is a popular belief that airline pilots die earlier than the general population. This belief was not supported by studies of American Airlines and British Airways pilots.<ref name="Besco 1">{{cite report |url=https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/21446 |title=Longevity and Survival Analysis for a Cohort of Retired Airline Pilots |last1=Besco |first1=Robert O. |last2=Sangal |first2=Satya P. |date=1 February 1995 |publisher=Civil Aerospace Medical Institute |issue= |language=English |id=DOT/FAA/AM-95/5 |last3=Nesthus |first3=Thomas E. |last4=Veronneau |first4=Stephen J. H. |access-date=23 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="Besco 2">{{cite journal |last1=Besco |first1=Robert O. |title=Study suggests longer life expectancy for retired pilots than for their general population counterparts |journal=Human Factors & Aviation Medicine |date=1996 |volume=43 |issue=1 |url=https://www.flightsafety.org/hf/hf_jan-feb96.pdf |access-date=23 March 2024}}</ref><ref name="Irvine">{{cite journal |last1=Irvine |first1=D. |last2=Davies |first2=D. M. |title=British Airways flightdeck mortality study, 1950-1992 |journal=Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine |date=June 1999 |volume=70 |issue=6 |pages=548–555 |pmid=10373044 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10373044/ |access-date=23 March 2024 |issn=0095-6562}}</ref> A hoax claiming to show an inverse relationship between retirement age and life expectancy was refuted by Boeing.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/boeing-lets-retire-the-rumor-about-life-expectancy-7.30.2004 | title=Boeing: Let's Retire the Rumor About Life Expectancy 7.30.2004 | date=June 30, 2004 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite periodical |last1=Gerstle |first1=Frank |last2=Biggs |first2=Mark |date=2011-11-16 |title=Reality check: Sandia retirees' life expectancies differ markedly from the 'Boeing' urban legend graph |url=https://www.sandia.gov/app/uploads/sites/81/2001/11/labnews11-16-01.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240327025612/https://www.sandia.gov/app/uploads/sites/81/2001/11/labnews11-16-01.pdf |archive-date=2024-03-27 |access-date=2024-08-18 |magazine=Sandia Lab News |pages=12–13 |volume=53 |issue=23}}</ref> However, a study of several airline pilot associations' data found evidence of higher mortality.<ref name="Muhanna">{{cite journal |last1=Muhanna |first1=Ibrahim E. |last2=Shakallis |first2=Andreas |title=Preliminary study confirms that pilots die at younger age than general population |journal=Flight Safety Digest |date=June 1992 |url=https://flightsafety.org/fsd/fsd_jun92.pdf |access-date=23 March 2024}}</ref>

A 1978 study of military pilots found increased longevity, which was attributed to "generally good socioeconomic background, the positive genetic influence of long-lived parents, the above average intelligence, and the health and fitness orientation of the military aviator".<ref name="MacIntyre">{{cite journal |last1=MacIntyre |first1=N. R. |last2=Mitchell |first2=R. E. |last3=Oberman |first3=A. |last4=Harlan |first4=W. R. |last5=Graybiel |first5=A. |last6=Johnson |first6=E. |title=Longevity in military pilots: 37-year followup of the Navy's "1000 aviators" |journal=Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine |date=September 1978 |volume=49 |issue=9 |pages=1120–1122 |pmid=697677 |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/697677/ |access-date=23 March 2024 |issn=0095-6562}}</ref>