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News from ALPA International |
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July 30, 2010—In This Issue:
Other Top News
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This Week’s Press Releases |
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ALPA: Aviation Bill Will Advance Airline
Safety
ALPA president Capt. John Prater today issued a
statement after the U.S. House of Representatives
and Senate voted Thursday and Friday, respectively,
to advance key safety-related provisions as part of
an extension of the FAA reauthorization bill – HR
5900.
Read more.
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House Passes ALPA-Endorsed Laser Legislation |
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 On
July 27, the U.S. House of Representatives
unanimously passed the
Securing Aircraft Cockpits Against Lasers Act of
2010 (H.R. 5810). Sponsored by Rep. Daniel
Lungren (R-CA), H.R. 5810 would amend Title 18 of
the United States Code to establish “criminal
penalties for knowingly aiming a laser pointer at an
aircraft or its flight path,” ranging from a fine to
up to five years in prison.
Since the widely reported Teterboro, N.J., lasing
incident in late 2004 resulted in the first federal
criminal prosecution of laser pointing under the USA
PATRIOT Act, ALPA has increasingly called for
federal legislation to address the rapidly growing
laser-illumination threat to aviation.
The ALPA National Security Committee (NSC) has
led ALPA’s efforts in coordination with the FBI, the
TSA Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS), the Airport
Law Enforcement Agencies Network (ALEAN), and
numerous state, local, and airport law enforcement
organizations, including the National Joint
Terrorism Task Force (NJTTF).
(For more information, please click here.)
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Pilots Approve Transition and Process Agreement, Proceed to JCBA Negotiations |
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This week, the Continental and United MECs approved a
Transition and Process Agreement that was negotiated with
the managements of Continental and United. The Transition
and Process Agreement includes protections and enhancements
for pilots during the transition period between now and when
the merged company begins to operate, as well as defines the
process for negotiating the joint collective bargaining
agreement (JCBA). CAL MEC chair Capt. Jay Pierce said,
“The Transition and Process Agreement gives all of our
pilots important protections and benefits until the merger
is completed and we have a JCBA.”
UAL MEC chair Capt. Wendy Morse added “Just as
importantly, this agreement allows us to proceed to the next
phase of the process: negotiating a JCBA that will provide
our pilots with improvements in the cornerstone areas of our
contract.”
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AirTran to Open Orlando Pilot Base |
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AirTran representatives announced Tuesday that the
airline will open a pilot base in Orlando, Fla., to
supplement its current Atlanta and Milwaukee pilot
domiciles. The Orlando base is projected to include
100 pilots. The airline also announced a new $6.9
million operations center to be located in Orlando.
“We welcome the addition of this new domicile,”
said AirTran MEC chairman Capt. Linden Hillman. “We
look forward to the day when we are able to announce
a new labor agreement with AirTran management to
complement this good news.”
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New White Paper on Aviation Sustainability and Environment |
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 The
President’s Task Force on Aviation Sustainability
and the Environment has written a new
white paper that presents ALPA’s views on the
challenges that the airline industry faces in
meeting today’s demands for continually decreasing
emissions of greenhouse gases.
The paper provides an overview of how these
challenges are being met through advanced technology
and better operating procedures, while highlighting
the enormous strides that the airlines have already
made to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas
emissions. The document focuses on the need to
ensure that safety comes first with any new
operational measures designed to conserve fuel, and
it describes research into new alternative,
renewable fuels.
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Active TCAS-Experienced Pilots Invited to Participate in Volpe Study |
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 The
U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe Center is
conducting an online study about air traffic
displays, and active, TCAS-experienced pilots are
invited to participate. The study takes
approximately 45 minutes to complete. Pilots will
see short videos of traffic displays and answer
questions about the targets on the display. Results
of the study will be considered by the FAA and
industry when developing guidance for future Cockpit
Displays of Traffic Information.
To learn more about the study and to participate,
go to
www.trafficdisplayresearch.net/. Results of the
study may be presented to the RTCA, an industry
group that develops avionics standards and
recommendations (www.rtca.org).
For further information on human factors research at
the Volpe Center, go to
www.volpe.dot.gov/hf/.
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Don’t Miss ALPA’s 56th Air Safety Forum |
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This year’s premier safety event will be held August
30–31 at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C.
The event’s public day begins at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
This year’s Forum will include the following ALPA
committees: Safety, Security, Pilot Assistance,
Jumpseat, and President’s Committee for Cargo.
Need to
register, and want more information?
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Dance Card Empty for Labor Day? |
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 Numerous
events scheduled around the U.S. celebrate the
upcoming Labor Day weekend.
For example, the annual Labor Day Parade in
Euclid, Ohio (near Cleveland) is planned for
Saturday, September 4, from 8:30–10:00 a.m. The
theme of this year’s parade is “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs:
Buy American; Buy Local.”
Click here for event details.
Residents in the Windy City can enjoy the
Labor Day at Millennium Park on Monday,
September 6, from 10:30 a.m.–2:00 p.m. The Chicago
Federation of Labor and its affiliated unions
present a special event for union families at the
Pritzker Pavilion and Great Lawn in Chicago’s
Millennium Park. Please note that ALPA’s Strategic
Preparedness and Strike Committee will be
participating, led by chairman Capt. Mike Donatelli
(DAL), and ALPA president Capt. John Prater and
AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka will be speaking. For
tickets, please contact Capt. Donatelli at
mike.donatelli@alpa.org or call the Chicago
Federation of Labor at 312-222-1000.
Don’t see something near you? Check your local
newspaper or speak with your status rep. Let’s put
the labor back in Labor Day!
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On ALPA’s 50th anniversary—July 27, 1981—the Association represented 27
airlines, had 29,300 active members, employed 225 full-time staff at its home
offices, and operated on an annual budget of approximately $29 million.
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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
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