![](media/image1.wmf)

April 26, 2007 Exemption No. 8926

Regulatory Docket No. FAA-2006-24534

Mr. Paul Turner

1414 Bershire Lane

Charlotte, NC 28262

Dear Mr. Turner:

On October 30, 2006, you petitioned the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA) for reconsideration of the denial of exemption from the Age 60
Rule issued to you on

June 21, 2006. Section 11.101 of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations
(14 CFR) contains the requirements for petitions for reconsideration.
One of the requirements is that the petition for reconsideration be
submitted within 60 days after we issued the denial of exemption. Since
you submitted your petition for reconsideration more than 60 days after
the FAA issued the denial of exemption, we are treating your petition
for reconsideration as a new exemption request.

This letter is to inform you that we are denying your petition for
exemption from the

Age 60 Rule. This letter explains the basis of our decision and
transmits it to you.

**The Basis for our Decision**

On October 30, 2006, you petitioned the FAA for an exemption from §
121.383 (c) of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), commonly
referred to as the Age 60 Rule, to the extent necessary to permit you to
act as a pilot in operations conducted under part 121 after reaching
your 60^th^ birthday.

Under the authority of 49 U.S.C. § 44701(f), the FAA, in its discretion,
may grant an exemption from the requirements of a regulation if it finds
that such an exemption is in the public interest. The petitioner has the
burden of showing that an exemption is justified and in the public
interest.

On September 28, 2006, the FAA established an Aviation Rulemaking
Committee (ARC) to make recommendations on whether the FAA should change
the existing Age 60 Rule so that the United States would be consistent
with a pending change to the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) standard. The ARC submitted its report on November 29, 2006. The
report is available to the public through the Docket Management System
at [http://dms.dot.gov](http://dms.dot.gov/) at any time or you can go
to Room PL-401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh
Street, SW., Washington, D.C., between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays (Reference Docket No. 26139). The report
is document number 5785, and a separate document that contains
appendices to the report is document number 5786 in that docket. The ARC
did not reach consensus on whether the FAA should adopt the new ICAO
standard, but it did recommend that any future change should be
prospective.

On November 23, 2006, ICAO revised the upper age limit in the Standards
and Recommended Practices to Annex 1---Personnel Licensing as follows:

> 2.1.10.1: A Contracting State, having issued pilot licenses, shall not
> permit the holders thereof to act as pilot-in-command of an aircraft
> engaged in international commercial air transport operations if the
> license holders have attained their 60th birthday or, in the case of
> operations with more than one pilot, where the other pilot is younger
> than 60 years of age, their 65th birthday.
>
> 2.1.10.2: **Recommendation.** A Contracting State, having issued pilot
> licenses, should not permit the holders thereof to act as co-pilot of
> an aircraft engaged in international commercial air transport
> operations if the license holders have attained their 65th birthday.

The ICAO standard and recommendation do not require the FAA to change
its existing regulations. However, the FAA has decided to move forward
with a rulemaking initiative and is currently developing a proposal (a
notice of proposed rulemaking) to revise the Age 60 Rule in response to
the new ICAO standard. The FAA recognizes that those persons approaching
age 60 are, in general, experienced pilots. Thus, a general expansion of
the current age limit may be appropriate. That proposal will be subject
to public notice and comment, as required by the Administrative
Procedure Act. However, the FAA has not yet changed the rule, and there
is still an age limit of 60 for pilots serving in part 121 operations.

While we are sympathetic to the individual circumstances of pilots such
as yourself who have applied for an exemption while the rulemaking
process is ongoing, the FAA simply cannot overturn more than 40 years of
precedent in this area without a deliberative process. To do so would
circumvent the public notice and comment requirements of the
Administrative Procedure Act and appear to presuppose the outcome of our
proposal. You have not shown that the public interest warrants relief
for individual pilots. This situation is more appropriately addressed
via general rulemaking for a class of individuals than via an individual
exemption. Please be assured that we are moving as quickly as possible
with the rulemaking.

**The FAA's Decision:**

In consideration of the foregoing, I find that a grant of exemption
would not be in the public interest. Therefore, pursuant to the
authority contained in 49 U.S.C.

§§ 40113 and 44701 delegated to me by the Administrator, your petition
for an exemption from 14 CFR § 121.383(c) is hereby denied.

Sincerely,

/s/

John M. Allen

Acting Director, Flight Standards

Service