Oberstar Strips Measure From FAA Bill For Separate Vote

In a 390-0 vote, on Tuesday the US House of Representatives cut debate short on legislation to increase the mandatory retirement age for US airline pilots to age 65, and passed the bill.

Forty-one lawmakers were either not present for the vote on H.R. 4343, according to congressional documents, or chose not to vote on the measure. The legislation now goes to the US Senate.

Sponsored by Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar, the so-called "Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act" was originally part of the broader FAA Reauthorization Bill (H.R. 2881), which now appears stuck in a bureaucratic quagmire in the Senate.

As ANN reported, Congress passed Age 65 legislation as part of H.R. 2881 in September. Oberstar recently pulled the provision into the separate bill, however, after it became clear the Senate wasn't going to act on its version of FAA reauthorization before the end of the year, according to media reports.

If approved by the Senate, the bill will be sent to President Bush for approval... where it faces possible veto action.

The measure to increase the mandatory retirement age would bring US regulations in line with standards recently adopted by the International Civil Aviation Organization. ICAO regulations state a pilot between the ages of 60 and 65 may act as pilot-in-command, so long as a second pilot younger than age 60 is also present.

FMI: www.icao.int, www.congress.gov, www.senate.gov