A group of senators have written to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and US Mission to the International Civil Aviation Organization (USICAO) Chargé d’Affaires Anthony Clare to urge them to support raising the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age standard.
In the letter published on November 20, 2024, lead signee Senator Marsha Blackburn and her colleagues said that data supported the argument that “experienced pilots have fewer accidents than junior pilots”.
According to the letter, the ICAO recently “advanced formal action directed at raising or even eliminating the institution’s recommended pilot retirement age of 65 years” at the 14th Air Navigation Conference.
A working paper presented at the conference by Canada, Australia, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, the UK, and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) questioned the “reliance upon age-limits as tools for promoting aeromedical safety”.
“It would stand to reason that raising or eliminating the pilot retirement age—coupled with the existing rigorous technical and medical testing that pilots undergo—would result in a reduction of accidents by closing the experience gap and retaining the greatest level of experience our passengers expect on the flight deck,” the senator’s letter argued.
The US House of Representatives voted in July 2023 to increase the age pilots can retire to 67. However, on February 9, 2024, the Commerce Committee voted 14-13 to reject the hike.
While ICAO sets international standards for pilot retirement age, states can impose these domestically, with many demonstrating that higher or unlimited age limits for pilots can be supported safely.
The bipartisan letter to Anthony Blinken and Anthony Clare was signed by Marsha Blackburn, Mark Kelly, Joe Manchin, Lindsey Graham, and the incoming Senate majority leader John Thune.