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News from ALPA International

March 22, 2012

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The FlightDeck

In This Issue:

Progress Needed to Realize Risk-Based Air Transportation Security
Proven Federal Flight Deck Officer Program Must Be Fully Funded
Capt. Lee Moak, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, applauded the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Homeland Security for holding a hearing titled “Balancing Prosperity and Security: Challenges for U.S. Air Travel in a 21st Century Global Economy,” and issued the following statement highlighting the Association’s written statement submitted to the subcommittee.

“(ALPA) recognizes the Transportation Security Administration’s commitment to shift away from a one-size-fits-all approach to air transportation security and embrace a more intelligence-driven, risk-based philosophy. The TSA has taken important action toward instituting risk-based security by advancing many initiatives that ALPA has advocated, including launching the Known Crewmember program, which provides enhanced security screening for professional flight crews.

“While important progress, these efforts must mark the first actions in a determined drive toward a completely risk-based approach that will help enhance aviation security, make air transportation more customer-friendly for airline passengers and air cargo shippers, and ensure the U.S. airline industry continues to fuel the nation’s economy and provide jobs.”

Read more.

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EGL Pilot Leader Responds to Management Proposal
American Eagle MEC chair Capt. Tony Gutierrez released the following statement yesterday:

“Today, in a meeting with the various American Eagle labor group leaders, American Eagle management presented their view of what it will take to restructure our airline. Individual meetings with each labor group followed this larger gathering where management delivered their terms sheet proposal. This proposal represents what Eagle management claims is necessary from the pilot group in order to reach its goals and exit bankruptcy as a successful, competitive, and thriving company.

“During the next few weeks, ALPA’s economic and financial experts, bankruptcy counsel, and negotiators will analyze the proposal, management’s overall restructuring objectives, and its financial justifications. This analysis will consist of cost comparisons and validation, as well as alternative cost savings.

“Following this analysis, ALPA will begin negotiations with the intent to negotiate a consensual deal with management that is workable from both sides of the table that provides management with justifiable cost savings while protecting the quality of life for all Eagle pilots and its ability to recruit new pilots.”

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ALPA Tech Group Chairs Meet


Dick Healing, former NTSB member, describes his company’s
prototype collision avoidance system designed
for remotely piloted aircraft.

On March 20–21, ALPA’s Aviation Safety chair, Capt. Chuck Hogeman (UAL), convened a meeting of the ALPA technical group chairs in Herndon, Va.

The two-day agenda included individual updates on the groups’ activities; a presentation on a small, relatively inexpensive collision avoidance system developed for aircraft without conventional electrical systems, including some UAS; a discussion of advances in radar developed specifically to detect birds near airports; planning for the 2012 ALPA Air Safety Forum; reviewing nominations for safety awards to be presented at the Forum; budget reviews; and updates to ALPA websites.

Capt. Sean Cassidy, ALPA’s first vice president and national safety coordinator, actively participated in the meeting. “Busy as I thought my first year in these positions was, it’s been even busier this year,” he said. “Going to meetings and events, making lots of contacts, leads to more meetings, events, and contacts.”

Read more.

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ALPA ACE Club Sprouts at UND


Capt. Dave Ryter and UND students.

ALPA Education Committee chairman Capt. Dave Ryter (EGL) and Capt. George Burnette (DAL) attended the first meeting of the University of North Dakota’s ALPA ACE Club this month along with the club’s student president Kou Omori and other club officers and members.

The ALPA ACE Club is a student-led organization whose purpose is to promote an attitude of professionalism and a culture of safety among future airline pilots. The Education Committee strives to bring the industry to the students through monthly presentations on various student-selected aviation topics. The first meeting included an overview of the ACE Club’s organization followed by questions and answers on a variety of industry-related subjects.

The first Education Committee presentation to the UND ACE Club was held on March 21. Nearly 40 students gathered for the meeting to hear the pilot representatives discuss, “A Day in the Life of an Airline Pilot.” The topic was presented to the students by F/Os Larry Deist, Shannon O’Neal, Pete Strople (all DAL), Capt. Mark Nagel (PCL) and F/O Jann Waldhauser (CAL).

Read more.

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Stay Connected
Stay connected with your union, your profession, and your industry by reading Air Line Pilot magazine and watching monthly episodes of The FlightDeck.

Read what ALPA actuary Jack Parrack had to say about preparing for retirement on page 32 of the March issue of Air Line Pilot magazine.

On the 13th installment of The FlightDeck, learn about potential FFDO funding cuts.

Remember that both Air Line Pilot and The FlightDeck can also be accessed from the members-only portion of the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.

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Cargo Conference Next Month
Plans are being finalized for a one-day conference on all-cargo operations to be held April 17 in Washington, D.C. The conference, titled “Air Cargo Safety and Security: Closing the Gaps,” will feature congressional and other government and aviation industry leadership to highlight numerous safety- and security-related deficiencies inherent in all-cargo operations and identify ways to remedy these problems.

The keynote address will be delivered by Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN), who transported cargo as a former Northwest Airlines pilot. Cravaack serves on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Transportation & Infrastructure Committee and Homeland Security Committee. The agenda also includes the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, the chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, and several senior representatives from government and industry.

The conference is to be held in the historic Blue Room of the Omni Shoreham Hotel. The agenda and registration information are available at cargoconference.alpa.org.

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We Want Photos from the Line
The ALPA Facebook page will be getting a facelift using your photos. Send your best pictures of flying the line and you could see them posted on the We Are ALPA Facebook page, in Air Line Pilot magazine, and on The FlightDeck. Submit your quality images to photos@alpa.org.

Please adhere to the appropriate FARs, CARs, and company policy when taking pictures. Thanks!

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Space Shuttle Discovery, Coming to D.C.
For those of you who will be near Washington’s Dulles International Airport on Tuesday, April 17, the Space Shuttle Discovery will be transported to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the companion facility to the National Air and Space Museum. The Discovery is expected to arrive sometime midmorning atop a modified B-747, which will depart from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center earlier that day. The flight path of the Discovery will not be publicized.

Discovery completed 39 trips from 1984 through 2011, spending a total of 365 days in space.

Click here for more information about the upcoming event.

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Other Industry News
Aviation Today reports that Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on the development of drop-in, affordable aviation biofuels. Read more.

• According to Business Review Canada, Air Canada pilots are asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to rule that federal legislation passed last week, forcing them to fly and accept a contract imposed through arbitration, contravenes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Read more.

• Per Bloomberg News, Sanford “Sandy” McDonnell, whose career spanned from the World War II Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb to running the aerospace company that bore his family name, has died. He was 89. Read more.

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FastFact

According to a recent study titled, “Aviation: Benefits Beyond Borders,” from the Air Transport Action Group and Oxford Economics, the global aviation industry produces more than 56 million jobs as well as enough economic wealth to make it the 19th largest global economy (if it were a country). The report identified 1,568 registered commercial airlines, adding that the “gross domestic product” of this would-be nation totaled $2.2 trillion. Click here to access the report.

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Feedback & E-mail Address Changes
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 www.alpa.org and logging in. Go to “My ALPA” in the menu at the top of the page, and from there, you’ll be instructed how to make the necessary changes.

If you don’t have access to the members-only section of www.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.

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Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l
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