Dennis Hall 4816 Hickory Lane McHenry, IL60051 August 25, 2014

PatA. McNall Office of Chief Counsel 800 IndependenceAve. S.W. Washington, DC 20591


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---------------------------- Iam writing to urge you and your office to support in anyway possible an extension ofthe mandatory retirement age of commercial airline pilots to at least age 67. The current policy of mandatory retirement at age 65 is clearly age discrimination if a pilot can pass their 1st class FAA physical. To address the concern of mental acuity acognitive skills test could be added to the physical ratherthan force retirement on someone who is mentallyand physically able to perform their duties.

By working past age 65 we pilots will not be utilizing our Social Security benefits, but will continue to pay into that system.

The number of Student Pilot certificates are down. There are alsofeweryoung people in pilot training programs that lead to aCommercial Pilot Rating. Membership at aviation related organizations is down such as AOPAand EAA. They claim thatthe poor numbers are due tothe cost offlying small aircraft and the high cost offlighttraining. My education in the mid 1970's at Embry-RiddleAeronautical University complete with all my pilot ratings including room and board was 20 thousand dollars. Now attending that University is literally200 thousand forthe exact same education minus the room and board. Some money can be saved by attending a State University, butthe academic degree as well asthe technical aviation school will add up to 150thousand dollars. After graduation Ispent 10years flying in the Navy. Young people now want to be civilian trained and go right intothe commercial and corporate market. The problem isthose markets will not yield adequate pay. This may be the reason thatyoung students find otherworkthat yields an acceptable return on their educational investment. The large cash outlay and the fact that an aspiring commercial pilot attendstwo schools to be qualified may be the problem. An academic and a technical education is required. Add tothis the requirement to accumulate 750

- 1500 flying hours before applying fortheirATP certificate and the return on investment has not been there foryears resulting in acoming pilot shortage.At the current time the major airlines may not be experiencing apilot shortage, butthe regional airlines certainly are. The reason, they pay poorly. So the majorswill pick up that regional flying thus increasing the demand for pilots in the majorairlines. World wide demand for pilots is going up. When the demand in the US exceeds the supplywe will have a problem. Isuspect before there is acrisis in the USAyounger pilots will have a negotiating powerthat has not been seen since the 1960's. Theywill demand and get more pay, much more pay and the consumerwill paythe price. We have gone from 6majorairlines down to 3 majors plus Southwest, Jet Blue, Alaskan, and some others. When the number of pilot applicantstothe those airlines diminishesthe working pilots will be well poised to negotiate much higherpay rates. The pilot unions are already honing

**--------lflees~e~Aflie:NVw"fte§6tiatiflg-taeftes:-1:1ntoflunately**the consumer is-alleady paying fo1 

### ow inc1ease wages. Large pay rate increases are already agreed to and the dates of increases set.

**O~r** pay will only go up from those dates as our newtactics and a pilot shortage are realized. When aircraft deliveries catch up with demand the pilot seats will be empty. With an increase in the retirement age soon the inevitable pilot shortage can be delayed. This extra time will allow people to learn that an airline career is in their best interest and commence theirtraining. We seasoned pilots have been Captainsfor several years. Our co-pilots have been in their seats for 15
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### 22 years. Yesthey are anxious to 

### move tothe left seat, but no sooner will they make Captain then new hire pilots will become their First Officers. The new Captains will not be as well positioned to mentorthese new hires as we seasoned pilots are. Add to this thefactthat new hire pilots are being assigned wide-body, international positions right out oftraining (current American Airlines policy). Do you thinkthat the new Captains are In a better position to mentor these new hiresthan the older more experienced Captains? Please give careful consideration to my request to increasethe mandatory retirement age to at least 67. nely,//



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