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THE, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20590

March 7, 1968

Honorable Claude Pepper
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Mr. Pepper:

This is in reply to your letter of February 7, 1968, in which, in the light of passage of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, you raised certain questions concerning "age 60" rule for airline pilots contained in Section 121.383(c) of the Federal Aviation Regulations.

As you are aware, after listing specific prohibitions against discrimination based on age, section 4(f) of the "Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967" provides in pertinent part, as follows: "It shall not be unlawful for an employer, employment agency, or labor organization - 

(1) to take any action otherwise prohibited under subsections (a), (b), (c), or (e) of this qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business...."

It would appear that the "age 60" requirement of the Federal Aviation Regulations is a "bona fide occupational qualification" and would therefore fall within the above quoted exception.

The regulation was adopted by the FAA only after extensive study of jet and piston air carrier operations involving many million of passenger miles. In addition, careful consideration was given to the comments from individual members of the industry, the Air Line Pilots Association, the Air Transport Association, as well as the results of agency and independent medical amendment adopting the "age 60" rule which contains a detailed discussion of the reasoning by which the FAA determined that such a rule was justified in the interest of safety.