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[[stamp]] MAY 27 1968 [[/stamp]]

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20553

OFFICE OF THE ADMINISTRATOR

May 24, 1968

Dear Mr. Ruby:

This is in reply to your letter of April 29, 1968, in which you request that I reconsider the denial, by the Director of Flight Standards Service, of an exemption from the age 60 rule in the case of Captain Michael Allen Gitt, et al., (Docket No. 8733), and in which you also request a "public evidentiary hearing."

First, I have examined the denial of the application by Captain Gitt for an exemption and it is appropriate. I assure you that the disposition of this and other applications, to which you refer, have not been undertaken in a "swift and summary fashion", which you describe as your particular concern. On the contrary, the agency has continually focused on the principle involved in this regulation.

Besides our continuing review of all existing regulations, the agency's attention has been directed to this regulation on several occasions by the filing of individual petitions for exemption and by a number of letters received since the enactment of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

These inquiries and requests have enabled the agency to review the regulation on numerous occasions during the past year. This review has included the legislative history of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. It is quite clear that the Congress was aware of the regulation in adopting the Act and regards it as a legitimate and appropriate exercise of regulatory authority. The regulation also has been tested in court and sustained.

Secondly, with respect to your request for an evidentiary hearing, the Federal Air Surgeon advises that no new medical evidence has been developed since the adoption of the rule in 1959 to contradict the medical basis for it. If you have any such information,