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Letters Accuracy Rule grounding pilots at age 60 requires overhaul
By DeWayne Wickham
On Monday Steven Collins turned 60  -  and lost his job.
An Army helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War who went on to become executive officer of the Navy fighter pilot school that actor Tom Cruise popularized in the movie Top Gun, Collins retired from the military in 1990.
Since then, he has worked as a flight crewmember for Federal Express. Last week, Collins commanded his last flight for the air courier company when he piloted an MD-11 from Shanghai to Anchorage.
While Americans are living longer and working later into life, Collins is being pushed out of his position by a 48-year-old Federal Aviation Administration regulation that forbids commercial airline pilots from flying as a captain (Collins' position) or first officer after reaching age 60. Because Federal Express' fleet of planes include some aging 727s, which have three crewmembers in the cockpit, Collins will continue to work as a second officer, a demotion that, he says, will force him to take a 45% pay cut. Still, he's lucky. Most commercial airlines operate planes with just two pilots in the cockpit, a configuration that leaves no loophole for pilots who are forced into retirement by the FAA's Age 60 Rule.
This is a problem that cries out for a fair solution.
A positive first step Back in January, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey took a major step in the right direction when she said during a National Press Club speech: "The retirement age for pilots needs to be raised. So, the FAA will propose a new rule to allow pilots to fly until they are 65." Sadly, this good news comes too late for Collins and other pilots who will turn 60 in the time between Blakey's announcement and the adoption of the rule change, which the FAA says could take two years or longer. "Every day the Age 60 Rule remains in effect, America loses more than five experienced pilots," Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma wrote in a commentary last week in The Hill, a non-partisan newspaper that covers Congress. The GOP senator is a leader of a group of Democrats and Republicans who have introduced bills in both houses of Congress to require the FAA to implement the rule change within 30 days of its passage. But a roadblock ensues But, so far, the bills have been left to languish in Senate and House committees, the kind of slow death that is the fate of legislation opposed by strong interest groups. In the case of the Age 60 Rule, the political muscle is being applied by the Air Line Pilots Association, an organization that represents more than 64,000 commercial pilots. A majority of ALPA's members oppose the rule change, which would make it harder for younger pilots to get the positions and favorable routes now held by more senior pilots.
So ALPA is fending off the efforts of some in Congress to fast-track the retirement-age increase. It hopes that by pushing for the much slower regulatory process, it will have more influence over what emerges.
"Our official policy is to keep it (Age 60 Rule) in place. ... We just don't believe that a legislative fix is the right way to go. Congress should let the rulemaking run its course," said Pete Janhunen, an ALPA spokesman.
I don't think that's a good idea.
Inhofe is right; every day that this rule change is delayed, some of this nation's most qualified commercial aviators lose their jobs and air travelers lose the benefit of their experience. Ironically, some pilots can extend their careers  -  and continue to fly in and out of the USA  -  by going to work for foreign airlines. The International Civil Aviation Organization, representing 190 countries, raised its retirement age for pilots to 65 in November. Congress should find the courage to quickly impose the new pilot retirement age and, while doing so, muster the wisdom to address the legitimate concerns of ALPA. That's the kind of enlightened leadership for which people on both sides of this issue ought to clamor.
DeWayne Wickham writes on Tuesdays for USA TODAY.