Plane grounded due to pilots' ages

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LONDON, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- The British Civil Aviation Authority said a LOT Polish Airlines flight from London to Warsaw was grounded when both pilots were found to be over 60.

The agency said inspectors had the flight grounded at London's Heathrow airport and passengers had to wait 5 hours for a reserve pilot to be flown in from Poland after inspectors discovered both pilots were over the age of 60, a violation of international air regulations, The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

"LOT knows the rules and strictly adheres to them," the airline said in a statement. "But in this case there was an unfortunate coincidence. The crew roster was completed shortly before the aircraft left Warsaw, and the crew scheduling system did not issue a warning that both pilots were over 60, which it always does."

In 2006 the International Civil Aviation Authority required pilots over the age of 60 to be paired with pilots under 60 after it extended the maximum age to 65.