Congress Said To Mull Age 65 Extension to Part 91K/135

The House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee is believed to have considered a possible amendment to its comprehensive FAA reauthorization bill that would extend the age 65 limits on airline pilots to certain Part 91K/135 operations, according to knowledgeable sources that spoke to AIN on condition of anonymity. As originally discussed, such a limit would apply to operations that have 100,000 flights or more annually, affecting primarily NetJets.

The age 65 rule is believed among the topics discussed during a meeting that is said to have been held either late this spring or in early June between the committee and NetJets executives. NetJets declined to comment, referring AIN to the committee.

A committee spokesman responded, “Throughout the process, the committee has held over 150 meetings with stakeholders and many members about various issues, priorities and requests,” and it remained unclear where the process for amendments might end up.

The committee has been assembling what one person termed a “whopper of a manager’s amendment” that includes numerous provisions—possibly even one involving the trucking industry—as T&I chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania) works to build support for the FAA bill that also includes the controversial air traffic control reorganization proposal.

A change to the age 65 rule, however, would draw opposition from charter operators that rely on older pilots as younger ones gets pulled into Part 121 airlines seeking to meet the new 1,500-hour pilot requirement, one Washington insider indicated.

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Best case is for congress to implement to avoid lawsuits.

 

Wow...........

 

Agreed. The only way they could get this done without serious lawsuits costing millions is to have Congress change the law.

Not sure NetJets has the pull on Capital Hill to make this happen either. There will be tons of pushback from other operators.

 

Not if the law doesn't affect other operators.

 

That’s the point... many 135 operators use 65+ old pilots and will push against changing the law. The FAA/Congress couldn’t implement a change specifically for NetJets only.




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If you've seen the recent AIN article, that's exactly what is being introduced. Not too many other 91K/135 operators with more than 100,000 flights annually.

 

They are only going to apply the rule to operators that fly xxx hours per year? Thats insane if you think about it.

64 year old senior Netjets pilot Joe flies the low day schedule and lives in Montana, he averages 275 flight hours per year in a nice glass cockpit Phenom.

68 year old Charter pilot Jim flies when he's told too and lives in Teterboro, he averages 1000 a year in a crappy old Lear 35 with a so-so autopilot.

Who's more of a danger to the public? Congress has a long road ahead if they take this route. This smells like discrimination to me.

 

Agreed........

 

Maybe they could mandate that you're no longer eligible for a 1st class medical after age 65.

I'm sure every loophole has been explored.