In recent years, laser pointers have become commonplace. Easily purchased in person or online from an office supply store to a big box pet store, they help pinpoint key elements of a presentation or facilitate an entertaining way to interact with pets. However, high-powered laser pointers also pose a serious hazard to airline pilots, the passengers and cargo that sit behind the pilots, and the millions of people whose communities that are beneath an aircraft’s flightpath.

Retired Frontier Airlines pilot, former ALPA member, and one of the last of the legendary Tuskegee Airmen, Robert “Bob” Ashby passed away at his home near Phoenix, Ariz. on March 5. A true trailblazer, Ashby’s remarkable career spanned more than four decades.

This week, ALPA delivered its pilot-partisan agenda to the 117th Congress, industry stakeholders, and members of the news media through a weeklong series of events, aptly titled “Aviation Policy Week,” bringing to center stage the Association’s newly developed policy priority blueprint.

Taking off on the frozen waters of Burlington Bay near Hamilton, Ontario, in a Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” equipped with skis in the place of wheels, 19-year-old Eileen Vollick made history on March 13, 1928, when she successfully passed the Government Civil Aviation examination and became the 77th licensed pilot in Canada¾and the first woman to do so

Growing up in an airline family, I had my sights firmly set on an airline job at an early age. My mom worked in the IT Department at Alaska Airlines and frequent family flights opened my eyes to the opportunity of flying for a living. As part of an elementary-school assignment looking at future career choices, I proudly announced to my class that I wanted to become an airline pilot … and I’ve never looked back.