Letter to Secretary of State Rubio by Senators Blackburn, Thune, and Kelly and President’s Appointment to Vacant Ambassador Position Spotlights Experienced Pilots and US Leadership
WASHINGTON, July 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — “We are not finished with this mission. We appreciate the spotlight placed on this issue by Senators Blackburn, Thune, and Kelly plus the decisive action by Secretary of State Rubio and President Trump. Their actions are appreciated and necessary if we are going to address the growing pilot experience gap on our commercial airlines’ flight decks,” said Captain Barry Kendrick, president of Let Experienced Pilots Fly, Inc. (LEPF).
The large coalition of experienced US airline pilots, all forced to retire at age 65, has been working with Congress for three years to either change or eliminate the upper age restriction for those fit, able and willing to continue their careers.
“This never made sense – being fit, the most tested professionals in the US, with our flying skills and cognitive skills reviewed stringently – multiple times a year – and you wake up on your 65th birthday and you are out of work. To us, it felt discriminatory and arbitrary. Then we learned that historically, it was an arbitrary age limit,” said Kendrick, a former American Airlines captain, who flew the Boeing 777 internationally and now flies a private, corporate jet.
This past week Senator Marsha Blackburn (R–TN), a long-time advocate of raising or eliminating the pilot retirement age, sent a letter to the new administration’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The letter was endorsed by Senate Leader John Thune (R–SD), and former astronaut and aviator Senator Mark Kelly (D–AZ). It asked Secretary of State Rubio to fill the vacant seat of US Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN organization that aligns all flying treaties among member states (nations) so pilots can fly internationally.
In 2024 ICAO resumed working on the issue, after a hiatus during the pandemic, introducing Working Paper 106, which asks members to consider the topic of eliminating the upper age limit for commercial airline pilots (FAR 121), and rely on the rigorous and frequent testing of pilots. The ICAO mission from the US did not advocate strongly for adoption of change, prompting LEPF and other pilots to encourage the US to strengthen its leadership at the organization and on this issue, and help make this change.
Last week President Trump announced an appointment to the ICAO Ambassador post. His appointee is a retired Delta Air Lines captain, Jeffrey Anderson, who has been a consultant to LEPF and is a former ALPA union leader.
“We are being marginalized and the value of our experience dismissed. The data collected in the US and in countries with pilots flying after 65 shows no correlation between chronological age and incursions or adverse events. None. Plus, with the attrition rate of the most experienced pilots increasing, not shrinking, the less experienced pilots are losing out on the value of the mentoring and tutoring that happens when a more senior pilot is paired with a less experienced one in the cockpit. We call this the ‘experience gap’ and it is growing. New hires and new hire training cannot replace thousands of hours of authentic experience. Licensed pilots is not a sum total equation. You cannot teach experience. Each pilot’s skills and health and hours of experience are all factors when scheduling a crew,” Kendrick said.
“We are hopeful that with US leadership at ICAO that supports adopting overdue change on the age issue and remains focused on rigorous testing and shared data collection, we will finally see action to raise the pilot retirement age or eliminate it altogether. It would be smart policy to end the arbitrary nature of this law in the US and show our leadership on the issue internationally,” Kendrick concluded.
About Let Experienced Pilots Fly, Inc. – Organized in 2022 by a small group of the nation’s most experienced airline pilots, they all faced firing as the result of an arbitrary and antiquated law mandating their retirement at 65. Today, the group represents thousands of pilots and citizens concerned about the growing “pilot experienced gap” on US airline flightdecks. LEPF has been the strongest voice on Capitol Hill for the incalculable value of experienced pilots commanding our aircraft and pairing them with the less experienced, newer pilots. Representing some of America’s most tested and experienced aviators, the sole mission of LEPF is to continue advocating in Washington, DC to raise or eliminate the law mandating retirement at 65.
For More Information Contact:
Lauri-Ellen Smith
lesmith@cat5communications.net
(904) 219-0977
Let Experienced Pilots Fly, Inc.
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SOURCE Let Experienced Pilots Fly, Inc.
