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News from ALPA International |
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April 17, 2012 |
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Moak Statement on Safe Skies Act |
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 Capt. Lee Moak, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l,
issued the following
statement on the
introduction in the U.S.
House of Representatives
of the Safe Skies Act of
2012 (H.R. 4350):
“The Air Line Pilots
Association, Int’l,
hails the introduction
of the Safe Skies Act of
2012 as serious action
to enhance the safety of
air transportation by
ensuring that all-cargo
airlines meet the same
high safety standards as
the passenger airlines
with which they share
airports and airspace.
“Airline pilots strongly
commend Rep. Chip
Cravaack (R-MN) and Rep.
Tim Bishop (D-NY) for
their leadership in
introducing this bill.
If passed, the
legislation would direct
the U.S. Department of
Transportation to apply
the Federal Aviation
Administration’s flight-
and duty-time
regulations and minimum
rest requirements to
all-cargo airline
operations in the same
way that the
science-based
regulations currently
apply to passenger
operations.
“All airline pilots are
human beings, and all
airline operations
should benefit from the
same high safety
standards. This bill
would achieve what
Congress intended when
it passed the Airline
Safety and Federal
Aviation Administration
Act of 2010 (P.L.
11-216), by mandating
that the FAA’s
regulations apply to all
commercial airline
pilots, regardless of
whether they fly
passengers or cargo.
ALPA urges Congress to
take up and pass the
Cravaack-Bishop bill as
swiftly as possible.”
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ALPA Hosts Cargo Safety/Security Conference |
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An ALPA public
conference, “Air Cargo
Safety and Security:
Closing the Gaps,” got
off to a rousing start
this morning when Rep.
Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.)
described the bill he
introduced in the U.S.
House of Representatives
yesterday evening to
overturn the “cargo carveout”
in the FAA’s recent
final fatigue rule for
airline pilots. The
bill, HR4350, was
co-sponsored by Rep. Jim
Bishop (D-NY). More
than 100 ALPA members
and leaders, government
and industry
representatives, and
news reporters gathered
in Washington, D.C., for
the full day of panel
presentations and
freewheeling discussion
of issues in all-cargo
safety and security.
Panel subjects included
government and industry
perspectives, lithium
batteries as air cargo,
all-cargo security,
flight time/duty time
issues, bilateral issues
and trade agreements,
and airport firefighting
for all-cargo
operations.
ALPA’s president,
Capt. Lee Moak, noted,
“We’ve made a lot of
progress” in passenger
airline security since
9/11, but the same level
of success has proved
elusive in the all-cargo
world. Moak stressed
that ALPA does not
endorse a
“one-size-fits-all”
solution to the
inequities between
passenger and all-cargo
safety and security, but
argued that “greater
commonality” could be
achieved by all
stakeholders working
together.
Read more.
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Congress: Protect Our Jobs in Ex–Im Bank Reauthorization |
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 Airline
pilots from across the
nation, representing
ALPA and the Allied
Pilots Association (APA), took
to Capitol Hill today to
attend a U.S. Senate
Banking, Housing, and
Urban Affairs Committee
hearing on the
reauthorization of the
Export-Import Bank of
the United States. The
pilots delivered letters
to members of the
committee highlighting
airline industry
workers’ concerns about
the subsidies the Ex–Im
Bank provides to foreign
airlines that put U.S.
airlines at a
disadvantage in the
global marketplace and
threaten thousands of
U.S. airline employees’
jobs.“Airline pilots
and thousands of airline
industry employees
across the country need
the U.S. Congress to
seize the opportunity
presented by the Ex–Im
Bank reauthorization to
protect U.S. workers and
their jobs,” said ALPA
president Capt. Lee Moak.
ALPA also placed an
advertisement
underscoring pilots’
concerns.
During the past five
years, the Bank has
provided financing for
dozens of wide-body
aircraft to foreign
airlines, with aircraft
financing representing
more than 40 percent of
all Bank financing. This
financing is provided at
rates that are not
available to U.S.
airlines, and many of
these Bank-subsidized
aircraft are being used
on routes that are, have
been, or could be served
by U.S. airlines. U.S.
carriers have found that
they have needed to
withdraw from or not
enter routes that might
otherwise be
economically viable,
costing airline workers’
jobs.
Read more.
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Dallas-Area EGL Pilots Rally |
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ALPA’s American Eagle
MEC and SPC held a
family awareness rally
and picnic at Six Flags
Over Texas on Saturday
to provide Dallas/Fort
Worth-area pilot
families with an
opportunity to network,
ask questions, and get
information from their
elected leaders about
the AMR bankruptcy.
“Bankruptcy affects
the entire family, not
just the employee,” said
Capt. Tony Gutierrez,
EGL MEC chairman. “ALPA
strongly believes that
large family decisions
are made collectively at
the dinner table. With
that in mind, ALPA
sponsored this event to
help educate the pilots
and their families on
what lies ahead.”
More than 500 Eagle
pilots and their family
members feasted on a
traditional Texas
barbecue and enjoyed a
day together at the
park. Speakers included
ALPA vice
president–administration
Capt. Bill Couette (an
Eagle pilot), MEC vice
chairman Capt. Dave
Ryter, SPC chairman F/O
Hector Corpeno, and
Negotiating Committee
chairman Capt. Doug
Gibbs. SPC Family
Awareness coordinator
Capt. Herb Wall
coordinated the event.
For more details, see
the June/July issue of
Air Line Pilot.
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ALA Pilots Help Kids with Disabilities |
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From the left are Jon Botten, CEO of Dynamic Partners; F/O Craig Davidson, AAPCF Board Associate; Capt. Dan Hoffman, AAPCF Board President; and Patrice Briggs, Community Relations Contact for Dynamic Partners. |
A $14,150 grant from
the Alaska Airlines
Pilots Charitable Fund
will help provide
therapy for thousands of
children with
disabilities around the
Greater Puget Sound,
Wash., area.
Last year, Dynamic
Partners, a consortium
of organizations that
collaborate to help
children with special
needs reach their full
potential, served 2,300
kids in Washington
State’s South King and
Pierce Counties.
Dynamic Partners,
which is headquartered
in Kent, Wash., is
expanding its ability to
serve children by
opening a third location
in Burien. That
location, already under
renovation, will allow
the organization to
double the number of
kids it can serve within
the next five years.
Read more.
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ALPA-PAC Recurring Contribution Option via Credit/Debit Card |
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 As
of today, ALPA members
can contribute to ALPA-PAC
on a monthly basis via
credit or debit card, in
addition to one-time
credit/debit
contributions. This low
maintenance, easy-to-use
option will allow pilots
to give to the PAC in
small installments every
month using any card
with a Visa, Mastercard,
Discover, or American
Express logo.
Recurring contributions
enable the PAC to better
budget its resources and
plan more effectively
for the future; allowing
pilots to get the most
for your money. This new
option will be
especially useful for
ALPA members at AIS, ARW,
ATI, CMR, CMT, EIA, NAA,
PSA, RYN, SCA, TSA, and
TSC who do not currently
have a check-off option
for PAC contributions.
Click here to become
a pilot partisan and
join ALPA-PAC with a
recurring contribution
today. With your help,
ALPA-PAC is building a
pro-pilot congress to
level the playing field
globally for our
industry and our
profession.
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  Stay connected with your
union, your profession,
and your industry by
reading Air Line
Pilot magazine and
watching monthly
episodes of The
FlightDeck.
Learn how to maximize
your Social Security
benefits on page 48 of
the
April issue of Air Line Pilot magazine.
On the 14th
installment
of
The
FlightDeck, hear
the latest in the
Export-Import Bank
debate.
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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We Want Photos from the Line |
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• USA Today examines how Boeing has updated its 737 for a new era.
Read more.
• According to the Huffington Post, Richard Branson Is Quite Busy Not
Owning Virgin America.
Read more.
• USA Today also reports that pilot fatigue was to blame for a January
2011 onboard incident that left 16 people injured, the Transportation Safety
Board of Canada concluded in a report released Monday.
Read more.
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On this day in 1973, Federal Express began operations, using a fleet of 14
Dassault Falcon 20 jets to transport air cargo among 25 cities, with Memphis
International Airport as a central sorting hub. 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
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. 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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