Capt. Moak Opens ASF by Challenging Attendees to Act in the Spirit of the Giants
August 6, 2014 - ALPA president
Capt. Lee Moak formally opened the 60th Air Safety Forum on
Wednesday morning with a rousing celebration of safety,
security, and pilot assistance advancements obtained through
the hard work of ALPA pilot representatives and staff.
The highlight of the packed
meeting was the recitation of outstanding achievements from
the past, focusing on ALPA’s giants in whose footsteps
current representatives now walk. Capt. Moak recalled
several pilots who ALPA honored with the safety, security,
or pilot assistance awards over the years. (View
a special video celebrating past award winners.) And he challenged
the pilots present to ask themselves—in the spirit of these
giants—how they can contribute and what they
can do.
ALPA’s Air Safety
Organization (ASO), the largest nongovernmental aviation
safety organization in the world, will remain the leaders in
advancing the piloting profession, he said. Capt. Moak
emphatically stated that ALPA will continue to focus on the
three main pillars of the ASO and celebrated ALPA’s strong
partnerships with industry and government, welcoming the
invited guests from those arenas. Those partnerships, he
confirmed, are what allows ALPA to be the strongest voice
for airline pilots and, with the International Federation of
Air Line Pilots’ Associations, the conscience of the global
industry.
Capt. Moak emphasized three
upcoming issues that ALPA will exercise its collective voice
on: carriage of lithium batteries, closing and restricting
airspace, and denying Norwegian Air International its
application to operate in the United States. While the
International Civil Aviation Organization has improved the
safety standards for transport of lithium batteries as
cargo—and the U.S. government recently harmonized with those
standards—the transport restrictions on cargo airliners do
not go far enough and ALPA will continue to advocate for
additional improvements. ALPA also expects to share the
pilot viewpoint in upcoming FAA summits on the political
balancing acts involved with closing airspace. And finally,
Capt. Moak spoke at length about the “Deny NAI” campaign and
the security concerns involved, such as the question of
oversight.
After his rousing opening,
Capt. Moak introduced Ed Bolton, the FAA’s assistant
administrator for NextGen, to speak to the crowd about the
forthcoming modernization efforts. Bolton shared that the
FAA is looking at NextGen in three basic phases: now, the
midterm (2018–2020), and the distant future (2020–2025). He
announced to attendees that the FAA would publish a road map
by October 18 that lays out the milestones, timelines,
metrics, and cost of the first set of priorities over the
next one to three years.
In explaining the importance
of NextGen, Bolton drew a comparison to the U.S. space
industry. Previously number one in the world, Bolton said
the United States’ ranking has slipped. NextGen, he
concluded, is the way to make sure the United States remains
number one in the global aviation industry.
Keep an eye on
safetyforum.alpa.org
for continuing coverage of the events at the 60th Air Safety
Forum, and join the conversation on Twitter
@WeAreALPA and
#ASF60. And
watch the webcast to “attend” the event from wherever
you are. |