Bush Signs Pilot Retirement Age Act

President Bush signed the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act (H.R.4343) into law on Friday, thus raising the retirement age for commercial pilots from 60 to 65.
The bill passed unanimously through both houses of Congress last week. Introduced last Tuesday by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), House Transportation and Infrastructure chairman, the law stripped the pilot retirement age provisions out of the FAA reauthorization bill into a stand-alone bill
“With enactment of this law, we’ve changed a half-century-old age discrimination rule that has left skilled veteran pilots at a disadvantage to international competitors,” said Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), House Transportation Committee ranking member and co-sponsor of the bill.
Mica earlier this month called on Oberstar to pull the pilot retirement age provision out of the FAA reauthorization bill, currently stalled in the Senate, but Oberstar was not in favor of creating a stand-alone bill H.R. 4343 marks an about-face for the Transportation chairman.
17/12/07 Madhu Unnikrishnan/Aviation Daily/Aviation Week, US