Dennis Hall 

4816 Hickory Lane 

McHenry, IL 60051 

August 25, 2014 

PatA. McNall 

Office of Chief Counsel 

800 Independence Ave. S. W. 

Washington, DC 20591 

·---Bear-Pat-McNaH-. ----------------------------

I am writing to urge you and your office to support in any way possible an extension of the 

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 a cognitive skills test 

could be added to the physical rather than force retirement on someone who is mentally and 

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 also fewer young people in pilot 

training programs that lead to a Commercial Pilot Rating. Membership at aviation related 

organizations is down such as AOPA and EAA. They claim that the poor numbers are due to the 

cost of flying small aircraft and the high cost of flight training. My education in the mid 1970's at 

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University complete with all my pilot ratings including room and 

board was 20 thousand dollars. Now attending that University is literally 200 thousand for the 

exact same education minus the room and board. Some money can be saved by attending a 

State University, but the academic degree as well as the technical aviation school will add up to 

150 thousand dollars. 

After graduation I spent 10 years flying in the Navy. Young people now want to be civilian 

trained and go right into the commercial and corporate market. The problem is those markets 

will not yield adequate pay. This may be the reason that young students find other work that 

yields an acceptable return on their educational investment. The large cash outlay and the fact 

that an aspiring commercial pilot attends two schools to be qualified may be the problem. An 

academic and a technical education is required. Add to this the requirement to accumulate 750 

- 1500 flying hours before applying for their ATP certificate and the return on investment has not 

been there for years resulting in a coming pilot shortage. 
At the current time the major airlines may not be experiencing a pilot shortage, but the regional 

airlines certainly are. The reason, they pay poorly. So the majors will pick up that regional flying 

thus increasing the demand for pilots in the major airlines. World wide demand for pilots is going 

up. When the demand in the US exceeds the supply we will have a problem. I suspect before 

there is a crisis in the USA younger pilots will have a negotiating power that has not been seen 

since the 1960's. They will demand and get more pay, much more pay and the consumer will 

pay the price. 

We have gone from 6 major airlines down to 3 majors plus Southwest, Jet Blue, Alaskan, and 

some others. When the number of pilot applicants to the those airlines diminishes the working 

pilots will be well poised to negotiate much higher pay 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 new tactics 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 their training. 

We seasoned pilots have been Captains for several years. Our co-pilots have been in their 

seats for 15 - 22 years. Yes they are anxious to move to the 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 mentor these new hires as we seasoned pilots are. Add to this the fact that 

new hire pilots are being assigned wide-body, international positions right out of training (current 

American Airlines policy). Do you think that the new Captains are In a better position to mentor 

these new hires than the older more experienced Captains? 

Please give careful consideration to my request to increase the mandatory retirement age to 

at least 67. 

nely,// 

~in~4-