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FFDO Funding Update
 The House Appropriations Committee approved its FY14 bill last week, which will allocate funds for the Department of Homeland Security and related programs for the next fiscal year. ALPA was disappointed to see that the committee’s bill includes only $12.5 million for the FFDO program—a 50 percent cut from current levels.
ALPA is working aggressively with its allies on Capitol Hill to restore funding for the FFDO program before the bill becomes law. It is especially critical during this time that ALPA pilots communicate the importance of the FFDO program to their elected representatives. ALPA pilots can log in and
write to Congress here, or tell your friends and family to write in support of the FFDO program
using POPVOX.
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House Limits Abu Dhabi CBP Preclearance Plans
 U.S. House of Representatives appropriators have approved additional language as part of its FY14 bill, which will further limit the Administration’s plans to build a new Customs and Border Protection preclearance site in Abu Dhabi. The bill requires the Administration to provide a national security rationale to Congress and an economic impact analysis of the new preclearance site on U.S. airline carriers before spending any money on a new preclearance site.
ALPA has been working tirelessly to educate members of Congress about this misguided proposal, and thousands of ALPA pilots have written and called their representatives to protest the new facility. These efforts are bearing fruit as a growing chorus of congressional representatives
speak out and take legislative action to prevent this facility from moving forward.
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 ICAO to Stay in Montreal Until 2036
On Monday, May 27, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Raymond Benjamin, secretary-general of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), signed an agreement to maintain the United Nations agency’s headquarters in Montreal until 2036, according to Canadian news media.
Read the full story here.
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 NOW AVAILABLE – ALPAgear.com; ALPA’s online store!
By popular demand, introducing ALPAgear.com:
casual clothing and merchandise for the airline pilot or airline
pilot enthusiast.
Polo shirts, jackets, and
accessories—products to suit your off-duty, casual lifestyle. Wear
ALPAgear apparel and show your unity and your pride!
Shop now at
ALPAgear.com! |
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DOD Issues Contract to Advance Biofuels
 On Friday, May 24, the Pentagon issued
three contracts for the planned construction of a
biofuel plant capable of producing over 150 million gallons of advanced biofuels at prices that are competitive with fuels derived from oil. ALPA and our coalition partners fought very hard to ensure that the Pentagon is able to continue its work in securing our energy future.
Today, our coalition issued a press release regarding these contract awards. The Pentagon utilized funds appropriated to them through the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA). Contrary to the claims made by some, the DPA has been in existence for over 50 years and has helped create commercial markets for many products we take for granted today. ALPA will continue to be actively engaged with our coalition partners as we work to stabilize energy prices in our industry.
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Pilots Requested for Carcinoma Research
The ALPA Aeromedical Office has been asked to help identify pilots who have had skin cancers and may be willing to assist with a research study on basal cell carcinoma (BCC), the most common of all human cancers. This study, which is being conducted by Dr. Ervin Epstein of the Children’s Hospital of Oakland, Calif., is focused on the incidence of mutations in BCCs.
Read the full story here.
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Pilots Wanted for Survey on Low-Visibility Ops
The Volpe Center is completing an FAA-sponsored survey that will be used to evaluate Low-Visibility Operations/Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (LVO/SMGCS) symbols used on LVO/SMGCS low-visibility taxi charts. They will be presented in varying contextual backgrounds to evaluate intuitiveness and usability for determining best practices for taxi charts currently in the National Airspace System. The Volpe Center is looking for ATP Cat III qualified pilots, preferably with five years of experience, to complete a survey on chart symbols. The survey is anonymous, will take approximately 45 minutes, and will be conducted in June. At the conclusion of survey, 50 pilots will be randomly chosen to receive $50 gift certificate to Amazon.com.
To participate, contact Andrea Sparko at (617) 494-3363,
andrea.sparko@dot.gov or
Stephanie Chase at (617) 494-6348, stephanie.chase@dot.gov.
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 Has U.S. Mainline Flying Undergone a Fundamental Change?
Unless you are new to the airline industry, you know—and have most likely experienced—the dramatic changes that the mainline U.S. passenger airline industry has experienced during the past 10-plus years due to bankruptcies, restructuring, and mergers. Though airlines are again profitable, it comes only after significant sacrifices made by pilots and many other industry stakeholders. Read more of this story in the June 2013 issue of
Air Line Pilot. |
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| FEEDBACK & EMAIL ADDRESS
CHANGES 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
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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
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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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ALPA
represents more than 50,000 pilots at 33 airlines in the
United States and Canada.
Visit us online at
www.alpa.org. |
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