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COHEN AND WEISS
COUNSELLORS AT LAW
605 THIRD AVENUE
NEW YORK 16,N.Y.

SAMUEL. J. COHEN
HENERY WEISS
JACK LAST
HERBERT A. LEVY
BRUCE. H, SIMON
-
STANELY M. BERMAN
ROBERT S. SAVELSON

MURRAY HILL 2-6077

October 12, 1967

Mr. Charles H. Ruby, President
Air Line Pilots Association,
International
55th Street and Cicero Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60638

Re: FAA Age Sixty Retirement Rule

Dear Mr. Ruby:

This is in response to your request for a legal opinion concerning the probability of a successful attack upon the FAA age 60 retirement rule by means of the waiver application route.

During the period 1959-1960 when the Association sought to overturn the FAA rule by court action, it took the position that Section 609 of the Act required that a limitation based upon age be processed on an individual, case-by-case basis as a license revocation matter, and not by means of a blanket, general rule applicable in every case regardless of circumstances.
The Courts rejected that position, however, and approved the FAA conclusion that 

"...available medical studies show that sudden incapacitation due to heart attacks or strokes become more frequent as men approach age sixty and present medical knowledge is such that is is impossible to predict with accuracy those individuals most likely to suffer attacks..."