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ALPA  
M. Gitt
Air Line Pilots Association
Washington, D.C. Branch Office
1139-45 National Press Building
Washington, D.C. 20004
(202) 628 - 3411
Affiliated with A.F.L.-C.I.O.
INT'L 
May 13, 1968

The Honorable W. Willard Wirtz
Secretary of Labor
U.S. Department of Labor
Washington, D.C.

Dear Secretary Wirtz:
On behalf of the Air Line Pilots Association, International, this is a request for the assertion of your jurisdiction to act under applicable provisions of Public Law 90-202, the "Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967," in respect to the requirement for compulsory retirement of airline pilots at age 60.

Section 121.383(c) of the Federal Aviation Regulations, the so-called "Age 60" Rule, provides:

"No certificate holder may use the services of any person as a pilot on an airplane in operations under this part if that person has reached his 60th birthday.  No person may serve as a pilot on an airplane engaged in operations under this port if that person has reached his 60th birthday."
     
The provision has, since 1960, been utilized to terminate the careers of several hundred airline pilots at the admittedly arbitrary cutoff point of age 60.

This Association has consistently maintained that the FAA rule does not add to or promote safety in air transportation.  We have urged that the basis advanced by FAA in support of the rule is unsound, and indeed that the sole effect of the rule is not, as supposed, to enhance air safety, but only to terminate the valuable careers of sound and productive individuals at the peak of experience and ability, who are still very much capable of making a significant contribution.