Site Dedicated To Overturning Mandatory Pilot Retirement At Age
60
From The Airline Pilots
Against Age Discrimination:
Federal Aviation Regulation 14 CFR (Part 121.363c) promulgates
this institutional age discrimination. Pilots who are employed by
airlines that operate under this part are forced to retire at age
60. The FAA does not restrict pilots operating under other parts of
the Federal Aviation Regulations to retire at age 60.
The best safety device on our nation’s airliners is an
experienced pilot!
Age 60 Rule Background
The present-day age of
retirement for this nation’s airline pilots was set at 60 in
1959. Prior to 1959 no such age limit existed. In 1958 American
Airlines, TWA and Western lost labor arbitrations. TWA and Western
reinstated their over age 60 pilots. American refused. On December
20, the pilots at American went out on strike (over both contract
renewal and the retirement issue). The airline capitulated to the
pilot’s demands on Jan. 10, 1959; including acceptance of the
arbitrator’s ruling on reinstating the over age 60
pilots.
C.R. Smith, Chairman of American and a personal friend of the
newly appointed FAA Administrator, General Pete Quesada, addressed
a personal plea to General Quesada, acknowledging his loss on the
age 60 retirement issue, and seeking an FAA regulation to solve his
labor problem. Against the recommendation of the Flight Safety
Foundation, a non-political and independent organization and
against the advice of FAA attorneys, General Quesada signed an
administrative order establishing a mandatory retirement age of 60
for airline pilots. C.R. Smith solved his retirement problem and
shortly thereafter, General Quesada left the FAA and went to work
for American Airlines.
Age 60 Rule Present Day
There has been much research since 1959 demonstrating no medical
or safety justifications for the “age 60 rule.” The
latest study is being published in Aviation, Space, and
Environmental Medicine--Volume 75, Number 8--August 2004. The study
finds, "On review of the existing evidence, the Aerospace Medical
Association concludes there is insufficient medical evidence to
support restriction of pilot certification based on age alone."
The empirical evidence is overwhelming in favor of eliminating
the “age 60 rule.”
The United States lags
behind the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO) member countries, which have taken the
lead in eliminating age 60 as a mandatory retirement age. There is
no evidence from these countries that operational safety has been
compromised. The FAA allows foreign carriers to operate in US
airspace with a second-in-command over age 60—a privilege the
FAA denies its own US pilots.
FAA administrators since Quesada have had to defend the rule:
the rule exists, ergo it must have merit. Changing this rule is a
matter of politics. Opposition to this rule comes from four
sources: The Air Line Pilots’ Association (ALPA), the Allied
Pilots’ Association (APA)—once a part of ALPA,
politicians who support those two labor unions, and the bureaucracy
within the FAA. ALPA originally opposed the “age 60
rule” but changed its official policy after its co-pilots
were given equal status. The co-pilots see the “age 60
rule” as an economic benefit to themselves—i.e.
upgrading to captain.
Americas traveling public deserves the benefit of the safest and
most experienced pilots. America’s commercial pilots deserve
the same right as other Americans to work and retire at their
choosing. Airline Pilots Against Age Discrimination (APAAD) has
become a formidable advocacy group and we will continue to work for
a change to this onerous rule!
ANN's Daily Aero-Linx (04.13.24)
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