The job of the November 8 conference was to work out the differences between the House-passed and the Senate-passed Transportation Appropriations bills. Language to change the upper age limit was part of the Senate bill in the form of the Stevens amendment, which the Senate unanimously approved on September 12. The House bill passed on July 24 did not include any language pertaining to the upper age limit; however, the House and Senate conferees agreed to add the Stevens amendment to the final conference report. The Stevens amendment is the same as the ALPA-endorsed Oberstar language in the House FAA reauthorization bill. The Senate is expected to pass the appropriations bill conference report, perhaps before the end of the week.

The conference report on the appropriations bill is $3 billion more than the administration requested, which has prompted a veto threat. Although the Senate’s September 12 vote on the Transportation Appropriations bill comfortably exceeded the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto, the 268-153 House vote taken on July 24 did not. If the two houses cannot override a veto, the White House and the conferees will probably begin negotiations at some point to seek agreement on transportation appropriations legislation before the end of the year.

Return to top

The letter, signed by Capt. John Prater and by James C. May, president and CEO of the Air Transport Association, said, “While we fully appreciate the difficult position that the Department faces to identify solutions to combat delays at JFK airport, we strongly urge you to focus on solutions other than instituting unreasonable caps on U.S. airlines at JFK or implementing congestion pricing. Either of these ‘solutions’ are fraught with negative and unintended consequences. Quite simply, these ‘solutions’ will raise airfares, undermine sacrifices already made by U.S. workers, and do little to relieve congestion in the long term.”

(For more, please click here.)

Return to top

#UAL 071114
November 14, 2007

CHICAGO, Ill.---Contrary to various media reports regarding “talks” between United and Delta concerning a possible consolidation, the United Master Executive Council has established that there are no such talks between the two carriers, according to Captain Mark Bathurst, chairman of the United pilots Master Executive Council, a unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA).

In a statement to the Associated Press, Delta said, “There have been no talks with United regarding any type of consolidation ….” United called reports of recent talks as “wholly inaccurate.”

“The United pilots have made a significant investment in the future of our airline and have made it abundantly clear to management that we will be opposed to any transaction that does not fully recognize our sacrifices and contributions,” said Captain Bathurst. “We will protect the interests and the future of United pilots. All interested parties should understand that any plans to merge or consolidate with Delta or any other carrier will not be met with a rubber stamp from this pilot group.”

“We also remind management – and Wall Street – that it is the pilots and other employees who have suffered under this management group. Interested parties need to recognize that the true assets of this corporation are the pilots and other employees and we will not sacrifice again to facilitate consolidation,” he said.

Return to top

DALMEC 07-08
November 14, 2007

Atlanta—Captain Lee Moak, master chairman of the Delta Air Lines pilots union, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), responds to comments by Pardus Capital Management LP regarding Delta’s role in consolidation by issuing the following statement:

“Today’s Wall Street Journal article discusses a letter from hedge fund Pardus Capital Management LP to Delta’s senior executives encouraging a merger between Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

The Delta pilots’ union is aware of the recent overtures made by Pardus and other hedge fund managers who see value in the “financial transaction” aspect of a consolidating event such as a merger, often without regard for the long-term consequences to the corporations, the employees, the traveling public or the communities we serve.

Many analysts have suggested that airline industry consolidation is inevitable. The Delta pilots are not opposed to a rational and sensible consolidation scenario. The “right” merger opportunity could draw our support and result in a successful merger. However, we are not interested in a transaction just for transaction’s sake.

It is crucial that all parties involved understand this very important point, that the Delta pilots will be critical participants from the beginning in any consolidation discussion and potential resultant event, not an afterthought to be considered at a later date. Any consolidating event which involves the Delta pilots will not happen without our active participation and consent.”

Return to top

“Our nation’s airline pilots have endured a lot and sacrificed more than any other stakeholder since 9/11 to save our companies and our industry, weathering consolidations and mergers left and right,” said Prater. “In fact, pilots alone have contributed $5 billion per year over the past five years to keep their companies in operation.”

(For more, please click here.)

Return to top

The ALPA Operations Bulletin includes these interim recommendations:

• Note any speed restrictions associated with altitude constraints at waypoints for the RNAV procedure for which you are cleared.

• Exercise extra vigilance regarding the speed mode, especially if any preceding “at or above” altitude constraints are met before reaching that waypoint.

• If the FMC appears to have dropped the speed constraint, select a speed mode (in accordance with your airline’s procedures) that will honor the associated speed constraint.

• Consider selecting speed manually when departing on SIDs with coded speed constraints.

Please contact your MEC’s Central Air Safety Committee and/or the ALPA Engineering and Air Safety Department to report occurrences of this problem. Include the date, time, place, SID name, airplane type, and a brief description of the observed FMC behavior.

ALPA members may contact the ALPA Engineering and Air Safety Department via the Association’s 24-hour air safety reporting line, 1-800-424-2470, or via EAS@alpa.org.

(For more on this problem with Honeywell FMCs, click here.)

Return to top

Unlike last winter, your airline’s FAA-approved deicing/anti-icing program now may allow operations in moderate ice pellets and may also allow operations in ice pellets mixed with other types of precipitation. Flight crews now also have greater latitude in determining the intensity of the precipitation they encounter.

The problem is that if a flight crew does not correctly identify the precipitation as ice pellets, rather than freezing precipitation, dilution of the anti-icing fluid could result in significant ice remaining on the airplane’s surfaces.

ALPA recommends that you exercise caution when operating in such conditions and that you do the following:

• Review your airline’s deicing/anti-icing program to ensure that you are authorized to operate in the conditions being encountered. In all cases, ensure that you comply with your airline’s deicing/anti-icing procedures.

• Ensure that the weather report is current and accurate. If in doubt, ask for a new report.

• Be especially alert to rapidly changing conditions, which may not be reported accurately.

• When applying your professional judgment in determining precipitation intensity, err on the side of greater intensity, which will result in shorter allowance times for ice pellets or holdover times for other types of precipitation.

• Be vigilant when applying ice pellet allowance times.

(For more on this important aviation safety issue, click here.)

Return to top

Seventy-six folks from the airline and aircraft rescue and firefighting (ARFF) communities met at ALPA’s Herndon, Va., offices November 13-14 for an energy-charged Cargo ARFF Symposium organized and hosted by ALPA.

Attending the Symposium were

• 27 ALPA representatives from nine pilot groups—Alaska, Atlas Air, ASTAR Air Cargo, ExpressJet, FedEx Express, Gemini Air Cargo, Kitty Hawk Aircargo, United, and US Airways;

• 17 fire/rescue and airport representatives from eight U.S. airports—Boston Logan; Baltimore-Washington International; Grand Forks, N.D.; Metropolitan Washington [D.C.] Airports Authority; Reno-Tahoe, Nev.; San Jose, Calif.; and Wilmington, Ohio; and

• 32 industry and airline representatives from outside ALPA—Air Transport Association, Airbus, Boeing, American Association of Airport Executives, Cargo Airline Association, Cargo Airline Association of Singapore, FAA, Flight Safety Foundation, Independent Pilots Association (UPS), Kalitta Air, Life Mist Technologies, National Air Traffic Controllers Association, NTSB, Teamsters Local 1224, Transport Canada, UPS, and Aviation Fire Journal.

Look for more on this landmark gathering in Air Line Pilot, January 2008.

Return to top

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 https://crewroom.alpa.org and logging in. Go to “My ALPA” on the left side of the page, and from there, you’ll be instructed how to make the necessary changes.

If you don’t have access to https://crewroom.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

Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l
1625 Massachusetts Avenue N.W. | Washington, DC  20036 | 703-689-2270