Age discrimination cases
To believe a company would not hire someone strictly because of age is naive. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act et al makes age discrimination in hiring illegal. So, yeah, you have recourse, all right. Proving it is another matter.
Employment cases are extremely difficult because they are so dependent on evidence. The evidence would include such things as company documents, which, you would hope, would say that the applicant was rejected because of age. Of course, no one would be so stupid as to put something like that in writing. Someone might actually say it, but deny it later. Someone might have heard it said, but using it as evidence is difficult because it is hearsay. Try to get someone from the company to serve as your witness to your age discrimination claim.

It's hard to gather proof in an employment case, and the proof has to meet a certain threshold and satisfy several requirements to make a
prima facie case.
Then, if you do go forward, you have to jump through some major hoops, such as getting past federal and state EEOCs before getting at the company. Then, if you argue that you were discriminated against because of age, the company just has to say is it didn't interview you because it didn't feel that you were qualified,
despite the fact that you met or exceeded every requirement it had, published or otherwise. It's your opinion against their's that you were qualified. It is all subjective. Why is it that you can take ten applicants who are virtual clones of each other who've applied for ten openings and one might be hired? An aviation company's defense in a hiring case will always be safety. And, the laws of many, if not most, states are stacked in favor of employers.
All this is how companies get away with age discrimination.
I do know persistence, my friend. I sent stuff to commuters for years, and to a couple, for many years. I am no better qualified now than I was then, and I am nine years
older now. With so many better-qualified,
and younger, pilots than me looking for work, trying again would be futile.
I do appreciate your comments. I'm sure you mean well. But, older career-changers need to be extremely realistic about their expectations in this business.