Yesterday, during ALPA’s 47th biennial Board of Directors meeting in Washington, D.C., the union’s highest governing body elected new officers to lead the Association for the next four years. They will take office on January 1, 2019.

Did you know that only 6 percent of airline pilots are women? With 50 percent of the world’s population being female, we clearly have some work to do to add some balance to our profession.

As Canada celebrates Thanksgiving on October 8, ALPA is thankful for our more than 5,100 Canadian members and their dedication to the airline pilot profession. They—as all 60,000-plus ALPA members do—work year round to ensure that the traveling public and packages get safely and securely to their destinations. 

Each year, about 1,100 hazmat incidents result from the shipment of undeclared hazardous materials. More often than not, these hazardous materials go undeclared simply because of a lack of awareness or understanding on the part of the shipper or their customers. 

Seventeen years ago, on September 11, 2001, the unthinkable happened—the very aircraft we operate each day to deliver passengers and cargo to destinations around the globe were used as weapons in terrorist attacks. And today, every time pilots and passengers fly, there are reminders of the tremendous impacts that day had on our industry.