Beginning on 23 November 2006, foreign air carriers will be allowed to operate large aircraft engaged in commercial air carrier operations within United States airspace and some of those aircraft will be the piloted by pilots that are over the age of 60. United States FAR Part 121 pilots, however, who are over age 60 will all still be grounded unless the FAA adopts the new ICAO age standard.
It is high time for the United States to follow the lead of forward thinking nations around the world who have broken through the age 60 barrier. The “Age 60 Rule” should be repealed. A repeal is long overdue, and this time - more than ever before - the FAA knows it, most pilots know it, passengers know it, and our senators and congressmen - whose offices acknowledge that the majority of the calls and letters and faxes they receive favor repeal (despite ALPA's best and costliest efforts) - know it.
If the junior pilots of today want to have the choice of working past age 60 someday, then those junior pilots must understand that this change must happen NOW. The appropriateness and the circumstances that could effect a change to happen have never been better than they are today and those circumstances will likely never happen again.