Document ID: FAA-2002-12501-0394
Agency: faa
Document Type: Rule
Title: John W. Hope - Comment
Posted Date: 2002-09-26T04:00Z

I would like to make a comment on the proposal to lift the mandatory age 60 retirement for pilots operating under FAR Part 121 regulations (FAR 121.383(c)).  I am strongly opposed to anyone acting as a pilot of a transport category aircraft past their 60th birthday.  In my experiences as an airline pilot, most pilots have an average of a 28 year career at their airline.  When compared to other professions, this may seem like an average career.  However, you must keep in mind that being a professional pilot is not an average job and is very demanding and puts stresses on the mind and body that are not associated with other professions.  These stresses are cumulative and begin to wear on pilots as they approach their golden years.  I am sure that my mind and body will be no different as I approach retirement at age 60.  

I would say that if you asked most pilots if they felt comfortable acting as a pilot past age 60, most would say yes because they have been doing it for so many years.  In addition, being a pilot means that they have the "can do" attitude that sometimes gets in the way of good decision making.  They need someone to tell them when it is no longer safe for them to fly for a FAR Part 121 company.  

In addition to physiological reasons to keep the retirement age at 60, there are huge financial reasons for government and companies to not raise the age.  Pilots that are in their last 3 to 5 years at their respective airlines are the most expensive to keep on the payroll.  I hope to be one of these pilots someday, but I also hope to retire at 60 so that I can have at least 10 good years to enjoy what I have worked so hard to get.  I think anyone that has to work as an airline pilot past age 60 has planned very poorly for the last 20 years.  Greed is the driving force behind this small group of pilots seeking to raise the age 60 rule.  I ask that you keep the age 60 rule in place and focus your efforts on issues more important to our country as a whole.