The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), issued the following statement regarding the release of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) cost-benefit analysis.

“After reviewing the FAA supplemental cost-benefit analysis of cargo operations in the new Federation Aviation Regulation (FAR) 117 flight-time/duty-time rule generated in response to the Independent Pilots Association suit, ALPA remains committed to ensuring One Level of Safety for all passenger and cargo operations.

“We believe calculating cost versus benefit based on the absence of an aircraft accident and resulting passenger fatalities is a fallacy, and a severe deficiency in the cost-benefit process. Because cargo aircraft do not carry passengers, it’s not surprising that the cost outweighs the benefit, yet cargo aircraft share the skies and airports with airlines conducting passenger operations. While government has shifted to evaluating safety improvements by eliminating accident precursors in other areas, it chose not to do so in this case. ALPA firmly believes that there is no price tag on the safety of our skies.

“We remain committed to pursuing a fix to the flawed cargo cutout from the new flight-time/duty-time rule, both through regulatory action and pursuit of the Safe Skies Act on Capitol Hill.”

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ALPA, joined by Airlines for America and the Regional Airline Association, wrote FAA Acting Administrator Huerta to urge the agency to grant flight-hour credit to current pilots based on their airline training and experience as they draft new regulations to raise certification standards for newly hired airline pilots.

This flexibility is important to ALPA pilots who have been flying for a considerable amount of time, but who may not meet the requirements needed to possess an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate. An ATP certificate will be required by law for all pilots in FAR 121 operations effective August 2, 2013.

Granting experienced and professional pilots credit for their training and employment experience will allow them to qualify for a new “restricted” ATP that will ensure ALPA pilots remain in the air and do not experience a break in employment as a result of the new rules.

ALPA also urged the FAA to act quickly and issue a final rule on the ATP requirement before August 1, 2013. Read the letter.

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The good news is that we, as members of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, have the ability to directly influence the decision on this proposal—by contacting the White House and telling the administration that this plan would represent a serious threat to our jobs and the U.S. airline industry.

Read ALPA president Capt. Lee Moak’s letter, which explains why a CBP preclearance site would be a mistake and why your support for this campaign is so crucial.

Participate in this important ALPA Call to Action.

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“We have a pilot partisan agenda, and we are willing to build a coalition with anyone who will work with us on our issues,” said Moak in the latter story. “We do our best work when we bring our own executive team, government, industry, and labor together—that is how you get things done in Washington.”

Read “How Lee Moak Changed the Airline Industry” and “What Lee Moak Learned in Washington.”

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Check out our second annual “swimsuit” issue on page 19 of the December issue of Air Line Pilot magazine.

On the 20th installment of The FlightDeck, learn what issues make this year’s National Transportation Safety Board Most Wanted List.

Remember that both Air Line Pilot and The FlightDeck can also be accessed from the members-only portion of the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.

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Because AERF provides for the immediate needs of ALPA pilots and their families who fall victim to widespread disasters, your donations make a tremendous difference in helping these fellow members begin to put their lives in order.

To make a donation, please visit www.alpa.org/ReliefFund. Remember that contributions are tax-deductible in the United States. Watch a brief video about the importance of AERF and how it helped an ALPA family in need.

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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.

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