Release #13.42
July 18, 2013

F/O Mark Rogers Receives ALPA’s Air Safety Award
San Francisco, Calif. Pilot Recognized for Promoting Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods

WASHINGTON—The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l. (ALPA) will recognize United Airlines First Officer Mark Rogers with the Air Safety Award for 2012 for his extraordinary efforts promoting the safe transport of dangerous goods. F/O Rogers will be presented with the award, which is the Association’s highest safety honor, today at the 59th Air Safety Forum in Washington, D.C.

“Knowing what you’re carrying and how to handle it is critical to the safety of flight. F/O Mark Rogers is one of the world’s foremost experts in the safe transport of dangerous goods on passenger and cargo aircraft. He is a staunch advocate for the proper training and handling of hazardous materials, and his work to advance aviation safety and lead ALPA’s efforts in this field for more than a decade is to be commended,” said Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA’s president.

F/O Rogers has successfully worked on projects to improve the information available to pilots about their cargo; training for crews responding to hazardous materials events; and the safe transport of lithium batteries, fuel cells, explosives, radioactive material, magnetized material, and other hazardous materials.

An internationally respected authority on the matter, F/O Rogers has testified about the hazards of lithium batteries in aviation to the United States Congress, National Transportation Safety Board, United Nations, and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). He was instrumental in securing ICAO standards and recommendations for the transportation of large shipments of lithium batteries by air. Among other requirements, shippers and operators must be trained on the transportation of dangerous goods; packages must have a dangerous goods acceptance check and be inspected; and the pilot-in-command must be notified of the shipment. These are tremendous steps forward in the international arena, and ALPA continues to push for the United States to align its policy for transporting lithium batteries with ICAO standards and recommendations.

F/O Rogers’ ALPA safety career began in 1998 when he joined the United pilots’ Central Air Safety Committee. From 1999 to 2001, he served as the safety chairman for Local Council 34 in San Francisco. In 2000, Rogers became the director of ALPA’s Dangerous Goods Programs and also joined the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations’ (IFALPA) Dangerous Goods Committee. In 2006, he was elected to serve as the chairman for IFALPA’s Dangerous Goods Committee—a position he continues to hold. In this role, he serves as a voting member of the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the world’s largest pilot union, representing more than 50,000 pilots at 33 airlines in the United States and Canada.

# # #

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