AGE 60 RULE ILLEGAL

(Aviation Week & Space Technology - letter to editor).

The Age 60 Rule is nothing if not controversial, but there is one issue that has no emotional overtones and that is age discrimination.

If there were scientific evidence to support the contention that a pilot suddenly becomes incapable upon turning 60, there might be legal foundation for such a rule, but we all know there is none. The rule is patently illegal.

I take issue with Capt. Douglas Witham's "proper retirement planning" statement (AW&ST June 11, p.9). Ask a Pan Am or an Eastern captain or even a Continental Captain of a previous administration when they found themselves in their 50s without parachutes and little time left to save for retirement.

When airlines are hiring new pilots with no more than 400 hr., and fully functional, dimensionally experienced 60-year-olds are given the

boot, something is wrong. I don't believe in an arbitrary retirement age,

but I do believe in a more rigorous physical. A urine sample and a reclining EKG are seriously short of predicting future physiological events, regardless of age.

If this misbegotten rule were eliminated and a meaningful physical examination instituted, and if individual airlines would allow retirement by choice after 60, we would have a system reasonably fair to all and more attractive to travelers.

Cole Pierce,

Clear Lake City, TX.

If you would like to chime in - the address is below.

Captain Ron Richtsmeier

PAAD Vice-Chairman

Managing Editor

Aviation Week & Space Technology

1200 G St., Suite 922

Washington, DC 20005

Fax: 202-383-2346

E-mail: dhugh@aviationnow.com