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News from ALPA International |
September 11, 2012 |
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Pilot leaders and
staff of the Air Line
Pilots Association,
Int’l, gathered in the
beautiful memorial
garden at the union’s
Herndon, Va., offices to
honor the victims of
9/11 and pay tribute to
the crew of United
Flight 93, United Flight
175, American Airlines
Flight 11, and American
Airlines Flight 77 on
this day—September 11,
2012—the 11th
anniversary of the event
that forever changed our
lives.
“In the wake of that
senseless tragedy, we
were unified and
repulsed by the events
that led to the tragic
loss of those on the
aircraft and those on
the ground,” said ALPA
president Capt. Lee Moak.
“We will, as airline
pilots, never again
witness a friend, a
family member, a fellow
crewmember leave us too
early in this manner.”
United MEC chairman
Capt. Jay Heppner read
the names of the flight
crews lost that day. “My
fellow United pilots—Vic
Saracini and Mike
Horrocks of Flight 175
and Jason Dahl and LeRoy
Homer of Flight 93 were
murdered, victims of an
attack that challenged
our national character
and tested our
collective mettle,”
Heppner said.
“The deaths of these
brave pilots, together
with those who were in
command of American
Airlines Flights 11 and
77, serve as reminders
that we cannot afford to
be complacent or
stagnant in the upkeep
of our national
security.”
Read more.
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Everything Matters for the 111th ALPA Executive Board |
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Following a
brief
memorial service for the
11th anniversary of
9/11, ALPA president
Capt. Lee Moak dropped
the gavel to open the
111th regular meeting of
the Association’s
Executive Board. For the
first time, the meeting
took place in ALPA’s
new, state-of-the-art
conference center in its
Herndon, Va., office.
The union’s four
national officers opened
the morning plenary with
their individual
reports, speaking about
recent activities and
accomplishments, and
explaining how
Everything Matters—the
Association’s theme for
this year.
Moak spoke at length
about events happening
around the globe, which
are reshaping the
airline industry,
including the inroads
Emirates Airline is
making into Australia
and Canada, and the
Japanese government’s
bailout of JAL. “The
environment has changed;
our strategy has to
adapt,” said Moak,
emphasizing that
government policy is
preventing U.S. airlines
from fully competing
with their international
counterparts.
Moak told Executive
Board members, “The
union is only what you
make it, so make it
yours, make it strong,
and make it matter.”
Read more.
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The ALPA
Pilot Partisan Agenda
reports that both
chambers of Congress
returned to Washington
yesterday after a
five-week district work
period. The main order
of business is expected
to be the passage of a
continuing resolution,
or CR, that will keep
the government running
for the next six months
in lieu of regular
appropriations bills,
which Congress has been
unable to pass. We will
also be watching for an
administration report
that may shed new light
on the impact of
automatic budget cuts
scheduled for January,
known as
“sequestration,” on
transportation and other
government programs.
Previous
reports have predicted
reductions of 5,000
flights per day and
thousands of aviation
job losses if Congress
fails to prevent the
sequester from taking
effect.
We’re
looking forward to two
House Committees
hearings on Wednesday,
September 12, covering
aviation issues. In the
morning, the Aviation
Subcommittee will be
discussing the FAA’s
management of the
NextGen program. NextGen
investment and
implementation is
critical to the success
of our domestic airline
industry. It will
improve efficiency of
air operations, enhance
safety, increase
capacity, reduce delays
for customers, and cut
down greenhouse gas
emissions. Watch the
live webcast of the
hearing at 10:00
a.m. here.
Read more.
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We Need Your Help: Pilot Fatigue Survey |
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The International
Federation of Air Line
Pilots’ Associations, of
which ALPA is a member,
needs your help. The
Federation is conducting
a survey on fatigue risk
management systems (FRMS),
the scientifically
based, data-driven
process for addressing
fatigue in flight
operations.
As part of its work
with the International
Civil Aviation
Organization, IFALPA is
participating in the
FRMS Forum and surveying
airlines, regulators,
members of the
scientific community,
and pilots of IFALPA
member associations to
assess the current
culture of organizations
that could support FRMS
implementation. The
Federation plans to
present its survey
results at the forum’s
next conference in 2013.
IFALPA president
Capt. Don Wykoff (Delta)
recently circulated a
letter to ALPA and other
Federation members
stating that he firmly
believes FRMS will be a
prominent feature of our
industry in the future.
He stressed that it’s
vital that FRMS be
introduced properly to
advance pilot fatigue
management, and that
this is our opportunity
to help influence
international policy on
this important issue.
Make your voice heard.
Take the survey.
Read ALPA’s white paper
on Fatigue Risk
Management Systems.
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Catch the Latest Aviation News! Read ALPA Daily |
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The
aviation industry is changing faster than ever before. The new
“ALPA Daily”
feature at www.alpa.org will keep you informed
of the latest industry developments and analysis from around the globe. Check it
out each day to stay up-to-date on the news that affects pilots and the piloting
profession.
ALPA Daily continues to grow in popularity, and members have contacted us
asking if this information can be e-mailed to their Macs and PCs. ALPA’s
Communications and IT Departments are working toward that end. If you want to
receive the electronic version of ALPA Daily, e-mail your name, ALPA number, and
preferred e-mail address to
communications@alpa.org. We’ll let you know when you can expect “home”
delivery.
• According to USA Today, a refrigerator-door-size piece of a Boeing
767 fell from the sky and crashed to the ground in Kent, Wash., on Friday.
Read more.
• The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that a year after the
dedication of the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pa., the project
remains short of its financial goal and is the only one of the three major 9/11
tributes that isn’t fully funded.
Read more.
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ALPA’s 2012 Voter Guide is Here |
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The 2012 election is
just 56 days away. ALPA
pilots—will you be
flying on November 6? On
call? Not sure? For our
members who are flying
or may be called to fly
on Election Day,
absentee and early
voting offers a
convenient way to ensure
your vote is counted in
November. However, many
states have adopted new
laws that include
changes to voting rules
and registration
requirements for the
2012 election. This
means that if you have
voted early or absentee
in the past, changes may
be in place in your
state that could affect
your ability to
successfully vote in
November.
So even if you’ve
done it before, check
out ALPA’s handy
voter information guide,
available on our
website, to find out all
the rules and deadlines
for registration and
early and absentee
voting in your state. We
hope you find it useful
and we hope that you
will vote!
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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.
Read one pilot’s
memories of 9/11 on page
33 of the
September issue of Air Line Pilot magazine.
On the 18th
installment
of
The
FlightDeck,
learn about the pilots’
bill of rights. 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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2012 Dulles Day Festival and Plane Pull |
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The
Dulles Day Family
Festival and Plane Pull
at Washington Dulles
Int’l Airport celebrates
its 20th anniversary
this year. Be a part of
this special tradition,
Saturday, September 22,
for a full day of fun.
Highlights of this
annual Special Olympics
Virginia benefit include
a team-competition plane
pull, aircraft and auto
exhibits, displays and
activities, vendors,
food, and entertainment
for all.
Join the fun and
support Special Olympics
at this annual community
event. For details,
visit
www.planepull.com.
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The most horrific day in aviation history occured on September 11, 2001.
Terrorists commandeered four U.S. airliners, using them as guided missiles to
kill thousands of innocent people and wreak economic havoc. The repercussions
from that tragic event can still be felt. In response, ALPA took immediate
action, creating the ALPA Security Task Force, a multidisciplinary group of
pilots and staff led by the ALPA first vice president. During the next few
years, this group developed, lobbied for, and helped implement dozens of
security-enhancing initiatives in the United States and Canada. ALPA created and
staffed a 24/7 crisis command center for several months, which fielded hundreds
of phone calls from pilots with security-related questions and served as a
liaison with law enforcement and regulatory agencies. 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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