As members of the Age 60
Exemption Panel, we strongly recommend to the Federal Aviation Administration
(“FAA”), U.S. Department of Transportation, that exemption
from the provisions of 14 C.F.R. § 121.383(c)
be granted for the individuals named on Attachment A, subject to the
satisfactory completion of the customary operational requirements of the
FAA and their respective employers. These include all applicable
certification, rating, and proficiency requirements as otherwise would be
required if these individuals were under sixty years of age.
The Age 60 Exemption Panel was
formed in 1999[1] to develop a
comprehensive and realistic protocol to evaluate the medical/neuropsychologic
status of pilots seeking to continue their service in airline operations after
age sixty. In our judgment, the ability to make individual assessments of
physiologic/psychologic status exists in the scientific community, and the
methods available for those determinations are well known to the FAA and have
been utilized routinely in the evaluation, recertification, and monitoring of
pilot personnel.
The protocol we have developed and approved (Attachment B) contains tests and procedures which go well beyond those required for the issuance of a routine First Class medical certificate. However, each test or procedure is one which has been recommended, relied upon, or utilized by the FAA in connection with the certification of airmen under age 60 with various medical conditions. Use of the proposed medical protocol, performed competently, together with other and further testing which may be medically/psychologically indicated, are sufficient to evaluate the fitness of pilots over sixty years of age from a medical/neuropsychologic standpoint.
In developing the attached medical protocol, the Panel
relied heavily on tests and procedures which have been extensively utilized in
the evaluation and monitoring of pilot personnel. For example, the maximal
stress testing adopted and required for each exemption applicant has been used
for many years by the FAA in its cardiovascular evaluations. Similarly, the
neuropsychological process, including CogScreen and the other procedures
employed, have been used by the FAA in its psychiatric/psychological evaluation
protocol, including that used for evaluating return to flight duties of
recovering alcoholics, those with suspected organic deficiencies, and
commercial pilots with significant flight performance difficulties.
The Panel approves, in concept, the FAA’s willingness to move forward to apply modern medical concepts and return to flight duties pilots who have been evaluated on an individual basis and determined to be qualified within a reasonable degree of medical certainty.2
The protocol approved by the Panel did not serve as a limitation on the testing which was performed. As will be noted in the medical reports and laboratory findings for each applicant, in order to investigate potential false positives and negatives several applicants were requested to submit additional studies including, for example, myocardial perfusion scans and additional neuropsychological instruments. In screening a larger group of potential applicants, the Panel has been sensitive to its responsibility to the FAA, the individual pilots, and the general public.
From a
medical/psychologic/operational standpoint, the medical community has the
capability of evaluating pilots over sixty years of age on an individual basis.
New information, techniques, lifestyle changes, and understanding of the aging
process as separate and distinct from disease indicate that there are many
airline pilots who are well qualified to continue in their productive careers
beyond the arbitrary age of sixty.
In conclusion, we strongly
recommend that exemption from the provisions of 14 C.F.R. § 121.383(c) be granted for the individuals named on
Attachment A. We urge the FAA to favorably consider this request.
Dated: April
2000
for: AGE 60 EXEMPTION PANEL
AGE 60 EXEMPTION PANEL
101 N. Wacker Drive, Suite CM 258
Chicago, Illinois 60606
To: Physician/Psychologist
Selected by Age 60 Rule Exemption Applicant
Re: Examination
and Testing
The pilot providing this memorandum intends to promptly seek an exemption from the Federal Aviation Administration’s age 60 limitation [14 C.F.R. § 121.383(c)] for service as a pilot in air carrier operations. With respect to the medical portion of the examination, we request that you conduct, or have conducted under your overall supervision, the medical testing, examination, and evaluation described on the enclosed protocol in order to facilitate review. With respect to the psychological examination, we request that the evaluation be conducted entirely by a licensed psychologist. In addition to a report on the results of the required testing, we request a narrative summary of the state of the applicant’s health as well as your assessment of his fitness from a medical/psychological standpoint to continue as a pilot in air carrier operations. If the pilot is determined to be qualified based on FAA First Class Standards as ascertained through completion of the enclosed protocol, we intend to recommend to the FAA that exemption from 14 C.F.R. § 121.383(c) be granted.
Costs of testing are to be borne by the applicant. Attached is a list of the Age 60 Exemption Panel members. Questions, if any, on the medical portion of the examination should be directed to Dr. Mohler. Questions on the psychological portion of the examination should be directed to Dr. Elliott. All medical test results, including blood chemistry, ECG and stress testing reports and tracings, and all underlying data, should be sent, together with your narrative evaluation, to the address shown above. All psychological protocols and results, together with a summary report, should be forwarded directly to Dr. Elliott at 629 - 27th Street, Manhattan Beach, California 90266.
Sincerely,
The Age 60
Exemption Panel
ATTACHMENT
B
AGE 60 EXEMPTION
PROTOCOL
MEDICAL HISTORY (including medication review)
PHYSICAL EXAMINATION
BLOOD PRESSURE (from left and right arms) and HEART RATE while sitting; BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART RATE in either arm after one minute standing
CHEM-SCREEN PROFILE, SMAC-24 or COMPARABLE BLOOD CHEMISTRY TESTS
(including blood lipid tests)
HEMOCCULT
URINALYSIS
CHEST X-RAY
AUDIOMETRY
VISION TESTS (distant, intermediate and near)
TONOMETRY
RESTING ELECTROCARDIOGRAM
EXERCISE STRESS TEST (Bruce or Balke Protocol) (if positive, then Stress Thallium Scan)
CogScreen: Aeromedical Edition
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised
Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test
Trail Making Test
Controlled Oral Word Association Test
Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test
Patricia P. Barry, M 0, M P H.
Professor of Medicine
Chief, Geriatrics Section Boston University School of Medicine
Boston
Medical Center
88 East Newton Street, F-4
Boston, MA 02118
Robert N. Butler, M.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
The International Longevity Center, USA, Ltd.
60 East 86th Street
New York, NY 10028
Audie Davis, M.D.
Manager, Aeromedical Certification Division, Federal
Aviation Administration (Retired)
1704 Dartmouth Court
Norman, OK 73071-7346
Robert W. Elliott, Ph.D., ABCN, ABPN
Aviation Psychology Center
9100 South Sepulveda Boulevard, Suite 123
Los Angeles, CA 90014
Steven R. Gambert, M.D., FACP Professor of Medicine, Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief, Sinai Hospital of
Baltimore 2401 West Belvedere Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21215-5271
Edward G. Lakatta, M.D. Chief, Laboratory of
Cardiovascular Science
Gerontology Research Center - Box 13
National Institute on Aging
5600 Nathan Shock Drive
Baltimore, MD 21224
Stanley R. Mohler, M.D.
Professor and Vice Chairman of Community Medicine
Director of Aerospace Medicine, Wright State University
School of Medicine P.O. Box 927
Dayton, OH 45401
Thomas T. Perls, M.D., MPH
Director, New England Centenarian Study
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
CC-105, 1 Deaconess Road
Boston, MA 02115
and
Acting Chief, Gerontology
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Rabb 417, 330 Brookline Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
T. Franklin Williams, M.D. (Professor of Medicine,
Emeritus University of Rochester VA
Distinguished Position)
Attending Physician
Monroe Community Hospital
435 E. Henrietta Road
Rochester,
NY 14620
[1] Dr. Robert N. Butler, President and Chief Executive Officer, The International Longevity Center, USA, Ltd., and former Director, National Institute on Aging, contributed to and approved the protocol and this Statement but was unable to evaluate individual petitioners because of other commitments.