Three US Airways pilots ask for 'Age 60' rule waiver

On January 30 of this year, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey announced in what has been interpreted as a major policy speech at the National Press Club, "It’s time to close the book on Age 60. The retirement age for airline pilots needs to be raised. So, the FAA will propose a new rule to allow pilots to fly until they are 65."

She was referring, of course, to the current rule [Title 14 CFR, Chapter I, Part 121.383(c)], under which individuals who have reached their 60th birthday are prohibited from from piloting commercial airliners. The procedure for changing that rule requires that the FAA issue a formal Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), followed -- eventually -- by "careful consideration of all public comments," and so on. The entire process could take up to two years.

Back in November of 2006, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) increased the upper age limit for pilots to age 65, provided that the other pilot is under age 60. As I wrote in another blog, since the new ICAO rule went into effect, we have had a situation in which pilots over the age of 60 flying aircraft operated by international carriers are allowed to fly in U.S. airspace, while their counterparts flying for U.S. carriers can't.

This situation is maddening for commercial pilots in the U.S. who either have recently turned 60, or will do so between now and whenever the new 'Age 65' rule is adopted. It is not intended that the new rule will be retroactive.

This past Thursday, March 29, three US Airways pilots filed a petition in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia asking for a waiver so that they can continue to keep their jobs. Each of the pilots will turn sixty before the legal process to change the current rule will be complete. They argued that it is unreasonable to deny their petition for a waiver to a rule that is likely to be wiped out anyway.

The pilots -- Joseph G. LoVecchio, Lewis J. Tetlow, and Richard C. Morgan -- have asked the court to order the FAA to act on their waiver requests before April 30, according to an Associated Press article, published in the Houston Chronicle and elsewhere. The pilots said FAA officials told them they would not act on waivers "piecemeal" while the rule revision is being considered.

Today the Senior Pilots Coalition, an organization dedicated to ending age discrimination in the U.S. commercial airline industry, issued a press release about the pilots' suit, stating that it was filed "as a last resort, after an unproductive meeting with FAA officials, who indicated that action on the 'Age 60 Rule' rule would not be forthcoming in the foreseeable future."

Click here to read the full text of the petition filed in court. [2 page 'pdf' file]

The petition asks the court to rule on the motion by April 30, 2007. So far, the FAA has issued no official comment on the lawsuit.