{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F86F189C-5CF5-47FE-AD95-66FA9AE3554F", "Thune, Colleagues Introduce Legislation to Address Pilot Shortage", "2022-07-25", "2022", "2022-07", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases", "scraper", "U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) today joined his colleagues in introducing the Let Experienced Pilots Fly Act, legislation that would raise the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age from 65 to 67.\n\n\u201cAirline staffing challenges continue to result in cancellations and delays across the aviation system,\u201d said Thune. \u201cProviding an opportunity for highly qualified, experienced pilots to continue flying past age 65 is a sensible way to alleviate these challenges while training programs recover from the effects of the pandemic.\u201d\n\nThe legislation was led by U.S. Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) and was also co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.).\n\nThe legislation:\n\nRaises the mandatory commercial pilot retirement age from 65 to 67.\n\nRequires that pilots over the age of 65 maintain a first-class medical certification, which must be renewed every six months.\n\nRequires air carriers to continue using pilot training and qualification programs approved by the Federal Aviation Administration.\n\nDoes not change or alter any other qualification \u2013 beyond age \u2013 for commercial airline pilots.\n\nBaby boomers make up half of the current airline pilot population, with roughly 5,000 fully qualified pilots expected to be forced to retire within the next two years, worsening the ongoing staffing shortage that\u2019s already led to mass flight cancellations.\n\nIn 2007, the retirement age for pilots in the United States was raised from 60 to 65 after medical reports concluded age had an \u2018insignificant impact\u2019 on performance in the cockpit and there were safety precautions already in place to prevent accidents in case of incapacitation. Nothing in this legislation changes current safety and proficiency procedures for commercial pilots. Pilots will continue to be held to an incredibly high standard to ensure passenger safety.", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:20:25Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F86F189C-5CF5-47FE-AD95-66FA9AE3554F"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9854673407971859, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}