APAAD Announces New Website
Airline Pilots Against Age Discrimination (APAAD) is a grass-roots organization of airline pilots from every major airline in the United States. APAAD opposes age discrimination on the flight decks of our nation’s airlines. APAAD is working to shape public opinion and policy leading to the elimination of the Federal Aviation Administration’s “Age 60 Rule.”
(PRWEB) November 4, 2004 -- Federal Aviation Regulation 14 CFR (Part
121.363c) promulgates this institutional age discrimination. Pilots who are
employed by airlines that operate under this part are forced to retire at age
60. The FAA does not restrict pilots operating under other parts of the Federal
Aviation Regulations to retire at age 60.
It is our pleasure to announce
the creation of our new website www.apaad.org. Our website www.apaad.org serves as a clearing
house for information and research addressing the “Age 60 Rule.”
The
best safety device on our nation’s airliners is an experienced pilot!
AGE
60 RULE BACKGROUND
The present-day age of retirement for this nation’s
airline pilots was set at 60 in 1959. Prior to 1959 no such age limit existed.
In 1958 American Airlines, TWA and Western lost labor arbitrations. TWA and
Western reinstated their over age 60 pilots. American refused. On December 20,
the pilots at American went out on strike (over both contract renewal and the
retirement issue). The airline capitulated to the pilot’s demands on Jan. 10,
1959; including acceptance of the arbitrator’s ruling on reinstating the over
age 60 pilots.
C.R. Smith, Chairman of American and a personal friend of
the newly appointed FAA Administrator, General Pete Quesada, addressed a
personal plea to General Quesada, acknowledging his loss on the age 60
retirement issue, and seeking an FAA regulation to solve his labor problem.
Against the recommendation of the Flight Safety Foundation, a non-political and
independent organization and against the advice of FAA attorneys, General
Quesada signed an administrative order establishing a mandatory retirement age
of 60 for airline pilots. C.R. Smith solved his retirement problem and shortly
thereafter, General Quesada left the FAA and went to work for American Airlines.
AGE 60 RULE PRESENT DAY
There has been much research since 1959
demonstrating no medical or safety justifications for the “age 60 rule.” The
latest study is being published in Aviation, Space, and Environmental
Medicine--Volume 75, Number 8--August 2004. The study finds..."On review of the
existing evidence, the Aerospace Medical Association concludes there is
insufficient medical evidence to support restriction of pilot certification
based on age alone." Their findings may be found at http://www.apaad.org/reports/age60rule.pdf
Other
studies may be found at the Professional Pilots Federation website www.ppf.org and www.age60rule.com maintained
by researcher Samuel D. Woolsey.
The empirical evidence is overwhelming
in favor of eliminating the “age 60 rule.”
The United States lags behind
the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) member countries, which have taken the lead in eliminating
age 60 as a mandatory retirement age. There is no evidence from these countries
that operational safety has been compromised. The FAA allows foreign carriers to
operate in US airspace with a second-in-command over age 60—a privilege the FAA
denies its own US pilots.
FAA administrators since Quesada have had to
defend the rule: the rule exists, ergo it must have merit. Changing this rule is
a matter of politics. Opposition to this rule comes from four sources: The Air
Line Pilots’ Association (ALPA), the Allied Pilots’ Association (APA)—once a
part of ALPA, politicians who support those two labor unions, and the
bureaucracy within the FAA. ALPA originally opposed the “age 60 rule” but
changed its official policy after its co-pilots were given equal status. The
co-pilots see the “age 60 rule” as an economic benefit to themselves—i.e.
upgrading to captain.
Americas traveling public deserves the benefit of
the safest and most experienced pilots. America’s commercial pilots deserve the
same right as other Americans to work and retire at their choosing. Airline
Pilots Against Age Discrimination (APAAD) has become a formidable advocacy group
and we will continue to work for a change to this onerous rule!
For more
information contact:
Gary Cottingham, Communications Director at e-mail
protected from spam bots or www.apaad.org.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/11/prweb174543.htm