Falconjet
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Age 60: APA President Meets with FAA Administrator in Washington, D.C.
APA President Captain Ralph Hunter, Legislative Affairs Committee Chairman First Officer Keith Champion and APA's Washington, D.C. consultants Susan Williams and Linda Dorfee-Flaherty met with FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and Deputy Administrator Nick Sabatini this past Monday. The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the FAA's recently announced intention to issue a Notice for Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to raise the airline pilot retirement to age 65 to match a newly issued ICAO standard.
During the hour-long meeting, Captain Hunter pressed Ms. Blakey on APA's safety concerns associated with any increase in the retirement age. Ms. Blakey stated her belief that no valid safety argument exists for maintaining the current retirement age and indicated that no additional safety analysis or studies are planned as part of the NPRM process. Ms. Blakey and Mr. Sabatini indicated the NPRM will be issued by the end of the year and that the entire process will likely take 18-24 months to complete.
Neither Ms. Blakey nor Mr. Sabatini ruled out preemptive legislative action by Congress to change the mandatory retirement age, although they clearly indicated their desire for the NPRM process to run its course. In addition to the "everybody is living longer" argument, Ms. Blakey said the desire for the FAA to harmonize with the ICAO standard was driving the rule change at this time.
Ms. Blakey expressed some sympathy for those pilots who would be forced to retire while the NPRM worked its way through the process. When asked about the FAA's position on granting individual pilot waivers in the meantime, Ms. Blakey said that any waivers would have to be supported by compelling reasons from the respective airlines in order to receive consideration. She did not rule out granting waivers supported by the respective carrier and further volunteered that one airline had already filed a supporting application for waivers on behalf of its pilots.
APA's position on the age 60 rule remains unchanged. It is a time-tested safety rule, and the Association particularly objects to the FAA's uncharacteristic dismissal of any safety implications related to a change to the mandatory retirement age. Given that the ICAO guidelines call for at least one pilot on the flight deck to be under age 60, it is apparent that there is still some question in the regulators' minds as to how old is too old. Both APA and ALPA are currently performing their own in-house analyses on the increased mortality rates for pilots over 60. These figures -- along with data from other existing studies -- will be used to support APA's position that maintaining an equivalent level of aviation safety demands positive supporting data and not just wishful thinking. Otherwise, the FAA will simply be conducting a massive safety experiment on the traveling public.
The news APA received from its meeting with the administrator is obviously troubling, and it appears that the Association will face an increased challenge to maintain the level of safety inherent in the current mandatory retirement standards. The APA Board of Directors will have an opportunity to discuss the Association's next step in its effort to defend the age 60 rule at the strategy meeting beginning on Sunday, March 4.
end of article.
FJ says:
If Capt Prater wants to know how he should be representing ALPA members in the age 60 issue here is a fine example.
He and his cronies ought to be jumping on desks in Washington doing everything in their power to ensure that the will of the majority of ALPA members is known and that it is against any change in this area.
Simply throwing up his hands with a blue ribbon panel on how to implement any changes will not cut it.
Captain Prater you need to step up and represent the majority of your dues paying members.
FJ
APA President Captain Ralph Hunter, Legislative Affairs Committee Chairman First Officer Keith Champion and APA's Washington, D.C. consultants Susan Williams and Linda Dorfee-Flaherty met with FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and Deputy Administrator Nick Sabatini this past Monday. The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss the FAA's recently announced intention to issue a Notice for Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to raise the airline pilot retirement to age 65 to match a newly issued ICAO standard.
During the hour-long meeting, Captain Hunter pressed Ms. Blakey on APA's safety concerns associated with any increase in the retirement age. Ms. Blakey stated her belief that no valid safety argument exists for maintaining the current retirement age and indicated that no additional safety analysis or studies are planned as part of the NPRM process. Ms. Blakey and Mr. Sabatini indicated the NPRM will be issued by the end of the year and that the entire process will likely take 18-24 months to complete.
Neither Ms. Blakey nor Mr. Sabatini ruled out preemptive legislative action by Congress to change the mandatory retirement age, although they clearly indicated their desire for the NPRM process to run its course. In addition to the "everybody is living longer" argument, Ms. Blakey said the desire for the FAA to harmonize with the ICAO standard was driving the rule change at this time.
Ms. Blakey expressed some sympathy for those pilots who would be forced to retire while the NPRM worked its way through the process. When asked about the FAA's position on granting individual pilot waivers in the meantime, Ms. Blakey said that any waivers would have to be supported by compelling reasons from the respective airlines in order to receive consideration. She did not rule out granting waivers supported by the respective carrier and further volunteered that one airline had already filed a supporting application for waivers on behalf of its pilots.
APA's position on the age 60 rule remains unchanged. It is a time-tested safety rule, and the Association particularly objects to the FAA's uncharacteristic dismissal of any safety implications related to a change to the mandatory retirement age. Given that the ICAO guidelines call for at least one pilot on the flight deck to be under age 60, it is apparent that there is still some question in the regulators' minds as to how old is too old. Both APA and ALPA are currently performing their own in-house analyses on the increased mortality rates for pilots over 60. These figures -- along with data from other existing studies -- will be used to support APA's position that maintaining an equivalent level of aviation safety demands positive supporting data and not just wishful thinking. Otherwise, the FAA will simply be conducting a massive safety experiment on the traveling public.
The news APA received from its meeting with the administrator is obviously troubling, and it appears that the Association will face an increased challenge to maintain the level of safety inherent in the current mandatory retirement standards. The APA Board of Directors will have an opportunity to discuss the Association's next step in its effort to defend the age 60 rule at the strategy meeting beginning on Sunday, March 4.
end of article.
FJ says:
If Capt Prater wants to know how he should be representing ALPA members in the age 60 issue here is a fine example.
He and his cronies ought to be jumping on desks in Washington doing everything in their power to ensure that the will of the majority of ALPA members is known and that it is against any change in this area.
Simply throwing up his hands with a blue ribbon panel on how to implement any changes will not cut it.
Captain Prater you need to step up and represent the majority of your dues paying members.
FJ
