Capt. Black Takes PCRO Message to Winter Ops Conference

Capt. Peter Black (First Air), chairman of the ALPA President’s Committee for Remote Operations (PCRO), conveyed the PCRO agenda to a broader audience yesterday as a speaker at the 3rd International Winter Operations Conference, a two-day event hosted by the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA) in Vancouver, B.C. In particular, Capt. Black emphasized the need for improvements in navigation, infrastructure, and communications in remote operations.

More than 150 stakeholders attended the conference, including pilots and management representatives from Air Inuit, Alaska, American, Bearskin, Cathay Pacific, EVA Air, First Air, Japan Airlines, Porter, Ryanair, and WestJet. Airframe manufacturers Airbus, Boeing, Cessna, and Embraer participated, as did airport operations managers from Denver and Vancouver. Pilot group attendees included ACPA, ALPA, APA, SWAPA, and Vereinigung Cockpit, the German airline pilots’ association.

Presenters at the conference covered a wide range of winter operations issues, including:

• Human factors in ground deicing.
• Turbofan engine ice damage (fan blade icing and nacelle barrel icing).
• The role of safety management systems (SMS) in reducing incidents and accidents during winter operations.
• Canadian regulatory initiatives in the works.
• Improvements in ground deicing technology and procedures.
• Runway friction measurement on contaminated runways.
• Runway overruns and incursions.

Look for more coverage of the conference in the November issue of Air Line Pilot.