Release #13.57
November 5, 2013

ALPA Commends FAA and DOT upon Announcement of New Pilot Training Rules

WASHINGTON—Today, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) applauded an announcement made by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to move forward with the implementation of new training rules for air carrier pilots. The new rules were announced today by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx and Federal Aviation Administrator Michael Huerta at a press conference at the Department of Transportation (DOT) Headquarters in Washington D.C.

The new rules represent a significant safety enhancement and improve the way airline pilots are trained. ALPA participated in the formulation of these rules as a member of the FAA’s Aviation Rulemaking Committees, offering particular expertise in the areas of pilot training, qualification and stall and upset recovery training. These new regulations not only improve training in the areas of stall prevention and recovery, effective pilot monitoring, and runway safety enhancements to name a few, they also improve standards applicable to flight simulators, the devices used to train pilots.

ALPA president Capt. Lee Moak hailed the implementation of the new rules as “another step forward in making a safe industry even safer” and said that “ALPA is especially pleased about the rollout of these new rules because of the significant contributions that they make to the safety of passengers and airline pilots. We thank the FAA and the DOT for their commitment and tenacity in working through the issues associated with developing these new, improved, regulations. The training mandated by these rules has very accurately addressed factors that have been identified in a number of accidents.”

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing nearly 50,000 pilots at 32 airlines in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.

###

CONTACT: ALPA Media, (703) 481-4440, Media@alpa.org