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News from ALPA International |
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February 12, 2010—In This Issue:
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ALPA Promotes Trust-Based Security System to Canadian Legislators |
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 ALPA’s
Canada Board participated in a “Roundtable Forum on Aviation
Security” February 10 on Parliament Hill to discuss the
current state of aviation security methods and equipment,
and what should be done to improve them. ALPA was
represented by Captain Nick Rapagna, ALPA Canada Board
officer. The recommendations contained in ALPA’s new white
paper, “Meeting
Today’s Aviation Security Needs: A Call to Action for a
Trust-Based Security System,” were promoted to the 19
members of Parliament and 6 senators in attendance at this
forum.
In addition to ALPA, representatives of airports and
airlines, civil libertarians, and others gave differing
perspectives on what enhancements are most needed to improve
security. Considerable interest was shown in ALPA’s call for
detection of hostile intent, but some expressed a desire to
continue our current focus on technology improvements.
ALPA’s National Security Committee is presently developing
specifics on how the new trust-based security system should
function, and that vision will be promoted to key decision
makers in the U.S. and Canada very soon.
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Spirit Pilots to Picket February 19 & 22 in South Florida |
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The Spirit MEC and SPSC will hold informational picketing on Friday, February
19, at the upper level of Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood Airport, and on Monday,
February 22, outside Spirit corporate headquarters in Miramar, Fla.
Both events
will start at 10:00 a.m. and last until 2:00 p.m.
Pilots from other airlines are
encouraged to come out and show their support.
The Spirit pilot group has been bargaining for more than three years with
very little movement from the company on the cornerstone or key economic
provisions in the contract. This week they are entering into the final weeks of
scheduled negotiations. The company has been responding to ALPA’s central
proposals with demands for concessions that sometimes even ignore the tentative
agreements already reached. The Spirit pilots expect to hear from the National
Mediation Board in the next few weeks as to whether they will be released to
seek self-help.
For more information about the events, including staging area details,
contact the Spirit SPC Chair, F/O Paul Hopkins, at
paul.hopkins@alpa.org.
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Alaska Airlines to Add New Base |
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Alaska Airlines plans to add a new base to its system on June 1. Last week, the
airline issued a bid creating a Portland, Oregon, base. The bid also contains an
increase in first officers in Anchorage and a decrease in the number of pilots
in Seattle and Los Angeles. Currently, Alaska’s pilots are based out of Seattle,
Anchorage, and Los Angeles. Return to top
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ATI Crewmembers Conduct Military Relief Missions to Haiti |
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 ALPA
continues to receive photos and stories about relief
flights to earthquake-ravaged Haiti by ALPA members. The newest members of ALPA,
crewmembers of Air Transport International (ATI),
conducted missions for the U.S. military the first
week after the earthquake. The first trip was on
January 16 from Martinsburg (WV), and the second
trip took place on January 19 from Martinsburg to
Port-au-Prince and back to their hub in Miami.The crew—Captain Wesley Petty, First Officer Dan
Myers, and Professional Flight Engineer Scotty
Olson—were hauling generators, tents, water, and
medical supplies. ATI crewmembers, 170 strong, fly
DC-8 and B-767 passenger, military, and cargo
operations around the world.
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ALPA Invited to Participate in Development of Plans for NextGen Implementation |
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Last year, ALPA participated in the discussions of
RTCA’s Task Force 5 (TF5) on developing mid-term
(2015–2018) goals for NextGen capabilities. That
activity resulted in a report detailing the
capabilities that the FAA and the industry agreed
should be pursued as an interim step toward the
eventual full transformation of the national and
international airspace systems over the next
decades. As a direct result of that activity, the
NextGen Implementation Working Group was formed to
develop the means to turn the goals defined by TF5
into reality. ALPA was recently invited to be a
participant in that working group to ensure that
line-pilot expertise is directly involved in the
development of the plans and procedures necessary to
implement the TF5 concepts. The Working Group will
meet frequently over the next several months. Return to top
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This Week’s ALPA Press Releases |
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If you missed ALPA’s news distribution this week,
check out these links:
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In 2003, ALPA expressed concerns to Transport Canada over the lack of a Canadian
version of the Common Strategy. As a result, significant changes to the security
training guidelines for crewmembers are made, including the four levels of
response to incidents on board aircraft. Return to top
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Feedback & E-mail Address Changes |
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| Questions or comments on this FastRead? Give us your feedback at
communications@alpa.org. If you have moved or changed your ISP or e-mail
address, please update your ALPA records. If you don’t, you
will no longer receive the ALPA FastRead and other e-mail bulletins and notices,
and once your postal forwarding order expires, you’ll no longer receive the
magazine and other ALPA mail. You can do it yourself by going to
https://crewroom.alpa.org and logging
in. Go to “My ALPA” on the left side of the page, and from there, you’ll be
instructed how to make the necessary changes. If you don’t have access to
https://crewroom.alpa.org, you can
e-mail your requests by sending them to
membership@alpa.org. Be sure to include your member number or enough other
information so that we can identify you in the membership database, and tell us
what information needs to be updated. Please note that it is not sufficient
just to notify your LEC or MEC of these changes—you should register them with
the ALPA Membership Department in Herndon. Can’t remember your member number
or how to log in? Need information about your ALPA insurance programs? These and
other questions about ALPA services can be answered by contacting
membership@alpa.org. Return to top
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Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l
1625 Massachusetts Avenue NW
| Washington, DC 20036 | 703-689-2270 |
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