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FAA Holds Firm That Pilots Should Retire at Age 60

Posted on: Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 15:01 CDT

WASHINGTON -- A federal rule requiring commercial pilots to retire at age 60 is unfairly preventing the nation's most experienced aviators from earning a living, witnesses told Congress on Tuesday.

But the Federal Aviation Administration said it wants to continue enforcing its long-standing mandatory retirement rule because at age 60, people begin to experience "a general decline in health-related functions and overall cognitive and performance capabilities."

Flying commercial aircraft beyond 60 can "therefore jeopardize safety," Jon Jordan, the federal air surgeon for the FAA's Office of Aerospace Medicine, said at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing.

A 2004 study by the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute looked for accident patterns and found that over all, the "accident rate increased with pilot age," Jordan said.

But Capt. Joseph "Ike" Eichelkraut, president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Association, said the rule was inflicting unnecessary economic harm on pilots and airlines while denying travelers the benefits of flying with "the safest, most experienced pilots in the skies."

Because the European Union and many other nations have moved toward age 65 as the compulsory retirement age, "pilots age 60 and over fly passengers safely in countries across the globe every day," Eichelkraut said.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., and Rep. James Gibbons, R-ev., both pilots, told the committee that the FAA rule, adopted in 1959, is outmoded. Each has introduced a bill to raise the mandatory retirement age to 65.

Forcing pilots to quit at age 60 "is blatant age discrimination," and changing the rule is "a basic fairness issue," Gibbons said.

In the past, congressional efforts to raise the age have failed because of opposition from unionized pilots and industry officials.

But that united front has eroded as airlines' financial health has declined. Both US Airways Group Inc. and United Airlines have turned over their pension plans to the Pension Benefits Guaranty Corp., leaving pilots at those carriers facing the prospect of sharply reduced benefits.

Retirees between 60 and 65 at bankrupt carriers "face uncertain futures with a gap in retirement and health care benefits to carry them over to Social Security and Medicare age -- which we all know is going up, not down," Eichelkraut said. "Working to 65 would help pilots close that gap."

Still, the Air Line Pilots Association, the nation's largest pilot union, continues to oppose any hike in the retirement age.

ALPA President Duane Woerth said the union recantly surveyed its members and found 56 percent oppose changing the rule, while 42 percent favor it.

Woerth said he had expected that as a result of "lost pension benefits and deep pay cuts across the board," most pilots would have wanted a higher retirement age. But in fact, most pilots are concerned about "bone-crushing pilot fatigue and the mental errors it leads to."

Capt. Ralph Hunter, president of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents pilots at AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, said a survey showed that more than 80 percent of its members oppose a hike in the retirement age.

American pilots are "keenly aware of the inevitable impact of aging on pilot skill," Hunter said. "I believe it would be a grave error to disregard the voices of those closest to the trenches in this debate."

Supporters of a higher retirement age note that all commercial jets have at least two pilots on board, and each is trained to handle a situation in which one has passed out.

Moreover, FAA rules require airline captains to get medical exams every six months and an electrocardiogram annually after age 40. To fly, a commercial pilot must havg no history of heart attack or coronary disease, and have no diabetes that requires insulin.

Al Spain, senior vice president of operations at JetBlue Airways Corp., said those requirements already ensure good health for pilots, regardless of age. "Each pilot should be judged on the basis or his or her ability to f 5/8y and their competency -- not an unsubstantiatef rule based on outdated and mistaken medical assumptions," he said.

Source: Deseret News (Salt Lake City)

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