It May Take Years

Feb. 1, 2007
There is much excitement over the idea of changing the age 60 pilot rule to allow airline pilots to continue flying to age 65. In the latest news, FAA honcho Marion Blakey announced that the FAA will propose a rule change. Kinda makes it sound like a done deal. However, as the TV hucksters say, "But wait, there’s more." Scuttlebutt has it that what looks like an FAA push could instead be a delaying tactic by the FAA. Story goes that Congress is on the brink of changing the rule itself. Congress—as I understand it—could get it done in as little as 60 days, whereas an FAA proposal can drag out for more than a year and a half while they send notices of proposed rule making and provide a long time during which people can comment. As this theory goes, the FAA can’t stand the idea of making such a dramatic change in such a short time, so they will propose a change and Congress will back off of its own change. How much of that is true and to what degree I have no idea, but it should be interesting to watch it play out. Change of subject… When we moved to Asheville, NC, we dutifully notified the Social Security folks of our address change. They sent a letter confirming that they had received our notice and had changed our address in their records. So, where did they send this letter? Why, they sent it to our old address, of course. We'd love to post your comments. Please click the comment tab at the top.