Byline: CATHY WOODRUFF - Staff Writer
COLONIE - Rick Weiss made sure he booked a busy day in the captain's seat on Monday.
Today, he turns 60, and it's a milestone with more than just symbolic meaning for the Southwest Airlines pilot.
'I scheduled myself to fly on the very last day that I was available to fly because I wanted to savor every moment of this,' Weiss said.
The Ballston Spa resident, who started his aviation career in 1967 flying Army helicopters and has been with Southwest for 17 years, is among an estimated 100 U.S. commercial pilots who must retire every month because they reach age 60.
He'd rather not.
'I'm still relatively healthy and I feel confident in myself,' said Weiss. 'I'm not ready to quit.'
Early Monday afternoon, Weiss landed a Boeing 737 at Albany International Airport for the last time after completing morning trips from Long Island's Islip to Baltimore to Cleveland and back to Baltimore.
It was fitting that he wrapped up his career as a commercial pilot here, he said.
As a 5-year-old, his first commercial flight was aboard a Mohawk Airlines DC-3 that landed here. Weiss spent five years in the Army as a helicopter pilot and then six years in the Navy flying jets. He spent a few years in corporate aviation, and landed his first job as a commercial pilot with Presidential Airways, flying out of Washington, D.C.
He's found a particularly happy professional home at Southwest, he said, and 'it's just hard to walk away.'
Generally, the international retirement age for pilots is 65, with four exceptions, including the United States, which enacted the age 60 cutoff in 1959.
In January, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Marion Blakely announced that the agency would propose raising the age, but the formal notice isn't planned until later this year and an 18-month period for public comment would follow that.
A group of older pilots has sued the FAA, seeking to put a faster end to the 'Age 60 Rule.'
The Senior Pilots Association contend the rule never was based on scientific evidence about the age and health of pilots. Their lawsuit also notes Americans now live longer and healthier lives, that airline pilots tend to be exceptionally fit and that there are no known in-air incidents attributable to pilot age.
Weiss, who was widowed seven months ago, said he probably will take the summer off and look for a new job in aviation.
He expects to fly in the months ahead as a Southwest passenger to visit a daughter in Texas, but he'd prefer the cockpit.
'What I really hope for is, with the pressure building, the FAA will make this change,' Weiss said. 'I missed the boat. I didn't quite make it, but there's a lot of great guys out there who are losing their careers every day.'
Cathy Woodruff can be reached at 454-5093 or by e-mail at cwoodruff@timesunion.com.
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PHOTOS BY LORI VAN BUREN/TIMES UNION EACH MONTH, some 100 U.S. commercial pilots are forced to retire after turning 60, as was Ballston Spa's Rick Weiss. RICK WEISS lands his last commercial plane Monday at Albany International Airport before retiring from Southwest Airlines. The FAA has plans to propose raising the retirement age.
