The mandatory retirement age for pilots is 65, but only for pilots flying scheduled airline service in the United States. Every other kind of flying — private, corporate, charter, instruction, agricultural, firefighting — has no federally mandated retirement age at all. The cutoff turns on the type of operation, not the type of certificate a pilot holds.1Federal Aviation Administration. What Is the Maximum Age a Pilot Can Fly an Airplane?
The Age 65 Rule for Airline Pilots
Federal regulations bar any airline operating under 14 CFR Part 121 from using a pilot who has reached his or her 65th birthday, and bar the pilot from serving in that role.2eCFR. 14 CFR 121.383 – Airman: Limitations on Use of Services Part 121 is the scheduled airline service that major and regional carriers run every day, passenger and cargo alike. The rule applies equally to captains and first officers. There are no waivers, no extensions, no individual health exemptions. The day you turn 65, your Part 121 flying career ends.
The cutoff used to be lower. Before 2007, airline pilots had to retire at 60. Congress raised the limit to 65 through the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act, signed into law on December 13, 2007.3GovInfo. Public Law 110-135 – Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act The change aligned U.S. rules with the International Civil Aviation Organization, which had lifted its own upper age limit from 60 to 65 the year before.4Federal Aviation Administration. InFO 12017 – Age 65 Law Update
A recent push in Congress to raise the limit to 67 did not succeed. The FAA Reauthorization Act signed on May 16, 2024, kept the mandatory retirement age at 65, and as of 2026 no pending legislation would change it.
The Over-60 Restriction on International Flights
Airline pilots hit a smaller wall five years earlier. A pilot who has reached age 60 may serve as pilot-in-command on flights between the United States and another country only if the other pilot in the cockpit has not yet turned 60.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 U.S. Code 44729 – Age Standards for Pilots This mirrors the ICAO standard. A pilot between 60 and 64 can still fly domestic routes without that crew-pairing requirement.
Airlines with heavy international schedules sometimes reassign pilots over 60 to domestic-only flying, which can shift seniority bidding, route preferences, and pay. Some pilots treat 60 as the start of a career wind-down rather than working straight through to 65.
Pilots With No Retirement Age
Outside Part 121 airline operations, the FAA imposes no age ceiling.1Federal Aviation Administration. What Is the Maximum Age a Pilot Can Fly an Airplane? That covers a wide range of flying:
- Private pilots flying for personal reasons, not for hire, can keep flying at any age as long as they hold a valid medical certificate or BasicMed qualification.
- Corporate and business pilots flying company aircraft under Part 91 have no age limit, even when paid a salary to do so.
- Charter and air taxi pilots operating domestic Part 135 flights have no FAA-mandated retirement age.
- Fractional ownership pilots flying under Part 91 Subpart K for programs like NetJets are outside the Part 121 age rules. Some fractional operators have allowed pilots to fly until age 70.
- Flight instructors have no age limit. Many retired airline pilots move into instruction.
- Agricultural, firefighting, and other specialty operations fall outside Part 121 and carry no mandatory retirement age.
The common thread is the line between scheduled airline service and everything else.
Medical Certification as the Real Age Check
No formal retirement age does not mean unlimited flying. Every pilot must hold a valid medical certificate, and the requirements tighten with age.
Airline transport pilots need a first-class medical certificate. Before age 40 it is valid for 12 months; after 40 it expires every six months, so pilots in their 40s, 50s, and 60s take a full aviation medical exam twice a year.6eCFR. 14 CFR 61.23 – Medical Certificates: Requirement and Duration Private pilots see similar tightening: a third-class medical lasts 60 months under 40, only 24 months after.
The exam screens for conditions that become more common with age. The FAA’s list of automatically disqualifying conditions includes coronary heart disease, cardiac valve replacement, epilepsy, psychosis, and substance dependence. First-class holders also need an electrocardiogram at age 35 and annually after 40.7Federal Aviation Administration. Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners – Synopsis of Medical Standards Any sign of cognitive decline can trigger a full neuropsychological evaluation scored against pilot-specific norms.8Federal Aviation Administration. Decision Considerations Disease Protocols – Neurocognitive Impairment
For non-airline pilots, a failed medical grounds you as completely as the age 65 rule would. Loss of medical eligibility rises sharply in the 60s and 70s, which makes the medical system a practical age check even where no formal one exists.
Flying After 65
Turning 65 ends an airline career but not a flying career. The FAA is explicit that a pilot over 65 can still fly for any company that is not a Part 121 carrier.1Federal Aviation Administration. What Is the Maximum Age a Pilot Can Fly an Airplane? Common paths include corporate flying under Part 91, domestic Part 135 charter work, flight instruction, and simulator work at airlines and training centers. Simulator instruction does not require a medical certificate at all.
One boundary matters here. ICAO standards prohibit pilots over 65 from operating in international commercial service, so post-65 commercial flying is domestic only. Private flying under Part 91 has no such restriction at any age.
Why the Rule Exists and Why It Holds Up
The safety rationale is straightforward. Age-related medical events become more likely as pilots get older, and sudden incapacitation in the cockpit of an airliner carrying hundreds of passengers is a risk the FAA has chosen to manage with a hard cutoff rather than case-by-case review. Heart attack, stroke, and sudden cognitive impairment all become more common with age, and some strike without warning in people who had clean medical records weeks earlier.
Critics argue that the medical certification system already screens for these risks and that a fixed age forces out healthy, experienced pilots while younger pilots with undiagnosed conditions continue to fly. The counterargument, which has carried the day with both the FAA and Congress, is that no exam catches everything and that the statistical increase in serious medical events after 65 justifies a bright-line rule for the highest-capacity commercial operations. The fact that non-airline commercial flying carries no age limit suggests the rule is as much about the consequences of failure in high-capacity air transport as it is about any individual pilot’s fitness.
A mandatory retirement age would normally run afoul of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which generally bars employers from forcing workers out based on age. Federal law carves out an exception when age is reasonably necessary to safe operation, known as a bona fide occupational qualification. For airline pilots, Congress settled the question directly by writing the age 65 limit into 49 U.S.C. § 44729, making it federal statute rather than something airlines defend on their own.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 49 U.S. Code 44729 – Age Standards for Pilots Pilots have challenged the age limit in court and lost. The statutory mandate effectively forecloses litigation over whether the retirement age is discriminatory.