Air Line Pilot
August 2011
Table of Contents

Aviation Matters
Weighing In
Preflight
Lithium Batteries Are Dangerous Goods—Government Must Act Now!
From ‘Shrimp Boats’ to Satellites
Chronicling ALPA’s Strategic Plan—6 Ways ALPA Made Member Communications Easy: BOD Delegate Committee 5
ALPA@Work
Our Stories
Cleared to Dream
Health Watch
Shaping History

Aviation Matters

Why Pilots Choose ALPA
By Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA President

In my last column, I talked about how union membership among airline pilots in North America has grown while declining in other industries. This month, I’d like to expand on that and discuss some of the reasons I believe pilots actively seek union representation and, more specifically, why they choose the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l.

Pilots are problem solvers. And, as part of a flight crew, pilots are programmed to assess a situation and act decisively as a unified team. The two flight crews who will receive Superior Airmanship Awards during ALPA’s Air Safety Forum in August exemplify that type of critical, coordinated effort. So it’s not surprising that pilots would see the benefit of collective engagement that a union such as the Air Line Pilots Association can provide.

Pilots are used to taking command of a situation; we are not content to just fly airplanes. We want to contribute to our airlines’ success. In recent corporate transactions, ALPA pilots, through their national union, have proven to be effective partners in their airlines’ success. Our message to all other industry stakeholders: constructive partnerships with ALPA pilots are crucial to achieving the full benefits of these business transactions.

The Air Line Pilots Association excels in providing for its pilots opportunities to make a lasting difference. Whether it’s collaborating on scheduling issues to enhance the efficiency of flight operations while also improving pilots’ work rules and quality of life or implementing safety partnership programs such as ASAP and FOQA or advancing aviation safety, there are many recent examples of ALPA pilot groups working together with their managements to achieve their mutual goals.

Inherent in both of these reasons is a third—and, I believe, the most compelling—reason that professional pilots choose the Air Line Pilots Association. Through our union, pilots experience firsthand the power of unity. When we move forward as a coordinated team, we send a persuasive message: we are organized and we are focused—we aren’t going to be distracted from achieving our goals. ALPA pilots convey the message that they aren’t alone, they are backed by their union—more than 53,000 pilots at 39 airlines in the United States and Canada.

Pilots are information junkies—we don’t like not knowing. And, let’s face it, with industry consolidation, the future holds much that is unknown. So it’s understandable that in these situations, pilots might start to get frustrated and think that they could have an impact if they just did it on their own. But I caution against thinking that way. Too often, being “independent” means being “isolated.”

Several “independent” pilot unions experienced that in their contract negotiations. In both cases, they negotiated on their own until talks either stalled or broke down, underscoring how isolationism is ineffective in advancing a pilot group’s goals. Ultimately, both of these independent unions turned to the Air Line Pilots Association for help. And, yes, we gave them our assistance because ALPA is dedicated to the betterment of our profession and raising the bar for all airline pilots.

I’m sure, too, if you ask the pilots of Canadian North, Evergreen, and Capital Cargo—all of whose independent unions merged with ALPA—they would say that the advantage in being members of the world’s largest pilots union was a significant factor in their decision.

The power of unity that the Air Line Pilots Association promotes can also be seen in our affiliation with other international pilot associations within the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations. We are working together to meet the challenges of today’s global air transportation system. And that extends to our colleagues at the Professional Helicopter Pilots Association and Cathay, where we have entered into service agreements to assist them in reaching their goals.

For pilots in North America who don’t have union representation, we offer the advantage of ALPA membership I mentioned earlier. As we go to press, the pilots of JetBlue are voting on whether to join ALPA. We hope that they see the power of unity that our Association offers.

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Weighing In

The Financial Advantages of an International Union
By Capt. Randy Helling, ALPA Vice President—Finance/Treasurer

When people work together to achieve a common goal, they give themselves a tremendous advantage. Membership in the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, affords you this advantage, with the wide range of information and services that comes from 53,000 crewmembers pooling their resources to improve the pilot profession. No other association in Canada or the United States can make this claim, because no other organization represents as many pilots from as many airlines as we do.

ALPA employs attorneys and contracted counsel, safety and security experts, financial analysts, retirement and insurance specialists, communications professionals, and a host of subject-matter experts who are all at our disposal. ALPA pilots also have access to aeromedical doctors who offer critical health advice and work closely with government agencies to resolve medical certification concerns.

Our organization works closely with lawmakers and regulators to ensure that aviation-related legislation and rules include the pilot perspective. ALPA believes in offering training and national committees to provide information, templates, equipment, and the knowledge that comes from experience so that member groups don’t have to start from scratch. We also have the ability to easily network with pilots from every niche of the airline industry, thanks to the union’s 39 member pilot groups.

In addition, the resources of the Air Line Pilots Association make a tremendous difference in the autonomy and reach of each member pilot group. Each master executive council has the independence to conduct its business in the manner it sees fit as dictated in the Association’s Constitution and By-Laws.

ALPA’s financial war chest—the Major Contingency Fund (MCF)—is an invaluable asset available to assist members when appropriate. These reserve accounts and contingency funds are earmarked for projects and campaigns that may require unusual expenditures. Resources like ALPA’s MCF are a recognized benefit of ALPA membership throughout the airline industry. The MCF has been particularly important in recent years for pilot groups confronting extended contract negotiations, airline bankruptcies, consolidations, and other challenges.

During the global economic downturn and the U.S. banking crisis of the last decade, the Air Line Pilots Association was compelled to carefully examine how it conducted business, defining a new, efficient footprint but still ensuring maximum effectiveness in the service and quality ALPA members have come to expect. Through its reengineering efforts, ALPA’s finances are currently stable, dues income is increasing slightly, and economic indicators point to a more positive future. Resources like the MCF enabled many of ALPA’s pilot groups to continuing conducting business necessary to meet the challenges during difficult times.

Again, working together and pooling our resources was the key.

Anyone with contract negotiations experience understands that member unity is crucial. The ability to speak with a single voice strengthens a group’s authority and its ability to be heard. As the group grows, so does that credibility and the attention it commands. In addition, a larger budget generated by an increased member population broadens the scope of what the group can do. To put it simply, it’s able to accomplish more with more.

Other pilot groups are continuously recognizing this simple point and joining our ranks. In recent years, write-in campaigns and ALPA organizing efforts have successfully grown our organization and expanded what we can do…and ALPA’s members have benefited.

ALPA finances are fundamental to its goals, and I’m proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish to improve efficiencies and effectiveness to help the Association prevail. We still have a way to go, but we’ve made great strides and progress. We could only have managed this together, and only together can we continue to accomplish great things for our pilots.

Years ago, a popular credit card advertised that “membership has its privileges.” From my experience with this great organization, I couldn’t agree more. I hope you find that to be true as well.

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Preflight

Airline Industry Update

• According to the FAA, the number of serious runway incursions—classified as Categories A and B—dropped by more than 90 percent from fiscal year 2000 through fiscal year 2010. In fiscal year 2010, which ended Sept. 30, 2010, there were six serious runway incursions, 50 percent fewer than the previous fiscal year, and the second consecutive year with a 50 percent drop in serious incursions.

• Transportation Security Administration screeners chose the American Federation of Government Employees over the National Treasury Employees Union to represent them, reported the Associated Press. A runoff vote was conducted after neither union received a majority in a previous vote.

• Bloomberg reported that FedEx Corp. declared $558 million in fiscal fourth-quarter profits, up 33 percent from the comparable quarter a year earlier. The company said fuel surcharges boosted its returns despite higher fuel costs.

• In late June, the NTSB announced its new “Most Wanted List,” which highlights 10 safety issues that affect transportation nationwide. Included in the list are pilot and air traffic controller professionalism, human fatigue, safety management systems, and runway safety. Go to www.ntsb.gov/mostwanted to see the complete list.

• About 150 turtles crawled onto the tarmac at New York’s JFK Airport on June 30 in search of beaches to lay their eggs, delaying dozens of flights, according to Flight Safety Information. “We ceded to Mother Nature,” said Ron Marsico, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Workers from the Port Authority and the U.S. Department of Agriculture were scooping up turtles and moving them across the airport, he said. Flight delays averaged about 30 minutes. “We built on the area where they were nesting for generations, so we feel incumbent to help them along the way,” Marsico said.

• AAAE Security SmartBrief reported that the Transportation Security Administration and U.S. airlines are working together to launch a trusted traveler trial program. Airlines are currently looking for travelers willing to participate in the program. Travelers who participate in the pilot program would still pass through security checkpoints, but they may be able to keep their laptops in their cases and their shoes on their feet.

• “I am deeply honored to be renominated to serve as chairman of the NTSB. It has been a privilege to lead this remarkable organization with its dedicated and professional employees. I am grateful for the faith that President Obama has placed in me and look forward to working with my fellow Board members to make transportation—across all modes—safer for our citizens,” announced Deborah Hersman in late June regarding the president’s intention to renominate her for a second term as NTSB chairman.

• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adopted a code of conduct to oversee the collection, sharing, and use of aviation safety information, reported ATWonline.com. “Transparency and sharing of safety information are fundamental to a safe air transportation system. The new code of conduct will help ensure that the information is used in a fair and consistent manner, with the sole objective of improving safety,” said Roberto Kobeh González, ICAO Council president.

• In late June, Solena Fuels and several airlines—including Air Canada, Alaska, American, FedEx Express, Frontier, JetBlue, Lufthansa, Southwest, United/Continental, and U.S. Airways—signed a deal in which they will use the company’s “Green Sky California” fuel on flights out of the San Francisco Bay area. Domesticfuel.com reported that Solena will produce the renewable fuel from recycled agricultural and urban waste at a plant in Santa Clara County, Calif., to be constructed by 2013. The company said it will have the capacity to produce up to 16 million gallons of jet fuel a year by 2015 to support airline operations at airports in Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose.

Front Lines

Trans States Pilots Reach Tentative Agreement

After more than five years of contract negotiations, Trans States pilot leaders announced on July 12 that they had reached a tentative agreement with management on a new four-year contract. The agreement, which includes wage increases, better work rules, and stronger job security provisions, will be sent to the entire pilot group for ratification in the next few weeks.

“The proposed new agreement includes improvements in many sections of our contract with significant improvements in compensation,” said Capt. Jason Ruszin, the pilots’ Master Executive Council chairman. “No longer will first officer second-year pay be 25 percent below industry average or will the five-year limitation on their pay scale be a limitation on their earnings. Cancellation pay on a leg-by-leg basis, industry average wage rates across the board, and the closing of many contract loopholes will not only put all our pilots’ pay on par with others in the industry, but also will provide for a better overall work environment.”

Trans States pilots have been among the lowest-paid in the industry, and this new agreement will bring them closer to the industry standard with an average 11.7 percent increase in captain’s pay and an average 14.5 percent increase in first officer’s pay. The pilots will also receive a signing bonus.

“I congratulate the patience and unwavering perseverance that the pilots have shown in their pursuit of a fair contract that recognizes their professionalism and expertise,” said Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA’s president. “The dedication and focus of the pilot leaders to reach a deal in this current economic climate is commendable. As we enter the voting phase of these negotiations, the pilots are well positioned with the full support, resources, and voice of the world’s most powerful pilots union.”

“Trans States pilots provided Trans States Holdings [the airline’s parent company] with the financial resources to start up GoJet Airlines and purchase Compass Air,” said Ruszin. “This tentative agreement finally recognizes the sacrifices the pilots have made to the continued growth of the company and will allow both parties to move forward and expand this airline together.”

FedEx Express Pilots Sign New Contract

Capt. Scott Stratton, the FedEx Express pilots’ Master Executive Council chairman, and the pilots’ Negotiating Committee, joined by Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA’s president, met with management the week of July 4 to sign a new collective bargaining agreement. The pilots ratified the short-duration contract on March 23, 2011.

The two-year agreement is in effect retroactive to Feb. 28, 2011, and runs through March 2013, subject to the pilots’ option to make it amendable effective March 2012. The pilots have until Jan. 24, 2012, to exercise the 2012–2013 option. Accompanying the agreement is a written commitment to engage in continuing discussions in an effort to narrow, clarify, or resolve issues before the contract’s amendable date.

“This unique agreement provides improvements while maintaining our strategic positioning for the next agreement,” said Stratton. “The signing of the agreement solidifies our goal of gaining improvements for our pilots while preparing for the next agreement.”

The new agreement provides across-the-board increases to hourly pay rates, increases to domestic and foreign per diem rates, an improved foreign duty assignment letter of agreement, three vital safety programs, and other positive modifications.

“The FedEx Express agreement is an innovative approach to negotiations. This agreement recognizes that the pilots deserve improvements in pay and benefits, while also allowing the pilot group and management to continue discussions on other issues as they move forward,” said Moak. “In particular, given the uncertainty associated with the FAA’s notice of proposed rulemaking on flight time/duty time, this short-duration agreement is an outstanding achievement.”

Piedmont Pilots Demand End to Stall Tactics

Braving record heat, Piedmont pilots recently demonstrated at La Guardia and Charlotte airports, demanding an end to management’s stall tactics. The pilots are currently operating under a contract dating back to May 2000 and have been in negotiations for more than two years.

Despite coming to the table, management has been reluctant to respond to pilot proposals or to offer reasonable provisions. Piedmont, a wholly owned subsidiary of US Airways, flies regionally in the southeastern United States and has approximately 400 pilots.

United Pilots Welcome Recall of Up to 200 Pilots

On July 15, United Airlines announced the return of 100 to 200 furloughed pilots. United pilots hope that this is the first of a wave of recalls that will eventually lead to the return of all 1,437 furloughed pilots.

“When a furloughed United pilot returns to our cockpits, whether United or subsidiary Continental, it is welcome news,” said Capt. Wendy Morse, the pilots’ Master Executive Council chairman. “No pilots have paid a higher price for the recent shocks to the aviation industry than the 1,437 United pilots who have been on furlough.”

Training could begin as early as late September. While these pilots will be hired to staff Continental aircraft, they will retain seniority rights in position on the United pilot seniority list. The seniority lists of both airlines will only be merged after the completion of a joint collective bargaining agreement, allowing United to recognize the benefits of finally completing the merger.

“We still have work to do to get the remaining United pilots off the street,” added Morse. “We remain focused on securing a joint collective bargaining agreement with United and getting all of our pilots back to work. We look forward to that day and will not rest until they return.”

Continental Pilots Protest Additional Scope Violations

Continental pilots have filed two group grievances against United to protest violations of scope provisions in their collective bargaining agreement applicable to a merger during the period of separate pilot contracts and operations of the two airlines. The first, filed June 2, 2011, concerns removing B-767s from the Continental fleet (by sale). The second charge, filed June 16, 2011, concerns reducing the ratio of Continental to United flying required with respect to twin-aisle aircraft, specifically for the third quarter of 2011. ALPA is seeking to have the company promptly correct these issues, including stopping any attempts at further sales of B-767s, correcting the ratio of flying performed by Continental to United, monetary damages, and all other appropriate relief.

“Once again, management is seeking shortcuts to the merger process and is trying an end-run around our contract instead of negotiating at the table,” said Capt. Jay Pierce, the Continental pilots’ Master Executive Council chairman. “In the airline industry, attempts to cut corners typically lead to very bad results. Blatantly disregarding our existing contract runs contrary to management’s stated interest in reaching ‘fair’ resolution on a new contract and is no way to make progress toward successfully completing the merger and securing much-anticipated benefits for passengers, shareholders, and employees.”

These two incidents mark the second and third time since the merger close date in October 2010 that ALPA has been forced to fight off management attacks to the Continental pilots’ contract. In December, an arbitrator ruled in favor of the pilots and against Continental management in its attempt at circumventing scope provisions related to 70-seat jet flying.

ALPA Pilots Continue Call for Fatigue Rule

ALPA’s fatigue experts took the floor at a leading industry symposium this summer to call for the swift issue of standardized rest regulations. They also underscored the need for true collaboration among regulators, airlines, and employees.

Capts. Don Wykoff (Delta) and Greg Whiting (United) were among the panelists at MITRE’s Aviation Fatigue: Building a Bridge Between Research and Operational Needs symposium. The event attracted influential policymakers and researchers who explored how best to apply current fatigue research to military and civilian flight operations.

“For nearly 80 years, ALPA has pushed to schedule with safety,” said Wykoff, ALPA’s Flight Time/Duty Time Committee chairman. “ALPA will seize every opportunity to make clear our science-based position that pilots’ bodies do not feel fatigue differently based on whether they are flying cargo or passengers and that one standardized rest regulation must apply to pilots in all airline operations.”

The MITRE sessions covered scheduled operations as well as on-demand, military, and shift work. Panelists discussed the current tools that are available to measure and predict fatigue. Wykoff presented ALPA’s views to the hundreds gathered, as did Whiting, chairman of ALPA’s Fatigue Mitigation Implementation Committee.

The symposium also covered operational strategies to mitigate fatigue, such as fatigue risk management systems (FRMS) that include fitness-for-duty programs, fatigue countermeasures, and real-time fatigue measurement.

While comprehensive FRMS programs create an additional safeguard against pilot fatigue, Wykoff stated in no uncertain terms that a minimum rest requirement and standardized flight- and duty-time regulations that apply to all airline pilots are essential and that a collaborative process is necessary to successfully implement the rule and truly enhance safety across the airline industry.

ALPA Pursues Threat-Based Approach to Aviation Security Screening

On July 12, ALPA president’s, Capt. Lee Moak, sent a letter to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Transportation Security reinforcing the Association’s call for a threat-based approach to security screening that focuses on intent rather than on objects, and for a Transportation Security Administration reauthorization bill that enhances successful security programs while working to close existing gaps.

“We are gratified by the Transportation Security Administration’s positive response to ALPA’s position that a philosophical shift is needed in this country’s approach to aviation security,” Moak said. “Airline pilots are already thoroughly screened as a condition of their employment. We are particularly pleased with the administration’s support of alternative screening for pilots because it uses limited resources more effectively and moves away from a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to security.”

In the letter, which was sent in preparation for the Subcommittee’s hearing entitled “Industry Perspectives: Authorizing the Transportation Security Administration for FY 2012 and 2013,” Moak emphasized the Association’s call for a screening system that allows passengers with known backgrounds to be promptly cleared through security and focuses greater resources on those individuals whose background is unknown or in doubt. In 2010, ALPA released a white paper titled “Meeting Today’s Aviation Security Needs: A Call to Action for a Trust-Based Security System,” which advocated determining the risk posed by each passenger through a combination of publicly available information, human interaction, and behavior-pattern recognition.

Moak also cited the successful and widely respected Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program, which positions federally credentialed, armed pilots trained and managed by the Federal Air Marshal Service to serve as the last line of defense of the cockpit. He appealed to Congress to significantly increase funding and managerial oversight of the FFDO program to help realize its full potential as one of the most cost-effective security initiatives implemented since 9/11.

The Association also underscored to the Subcommittee the need to improve threatened airspace management through the creation of a clearly defined, prioritized plan to control the national airspace in the event of a major terrorist attack. Such a plan would ensure the security of the air transportation system but avoid a total or substantial closure of the airspace.

Moak pointed out the importance of pursuing known solutions to closing existing gaps in the security of all-cargo flight operations. All-cargo flights remain exempt from many security practices that are mandated for passenger airlines, such as requirements for a hardened flight deck door and fingerprint-based criminal history record checks for persons with unescorted access to aircraft and cargo. Moak asked Congress to address these deficiencies to ensure the safety and security of the crew and other individuals both aboard these aircraft and on the ground below their routes.

“ALPA recognizes the significant progress made under the TSA’s leadership toward truly realizing a threat-based approach to aviation security,” Moak concluded. “We look forward to the tremendous opportunity presented by this reauthorization and other initiatives to make aviation security and the passenger screening process as efficient and effective as possible to the benefit of everyone who depends on air travel.”

Canada

Canadian North Pilots Ratify Labour Agreement

Members of ALPA’s newest Canadian pilot group, Canadian North, recently ratified a tentative contract agreement. Nearly 80 percent of those who cast ballots voted in favor of the agreement, which is the group’s first collective agreement as ALPA members.

The agreement reflects advances in employment protection for long-term job stability, increases in per diem and pay rates, and quality-of-life improvements. Capt. Chris Kampen, the pilots’ Master Executive Council chairman, credits the dedication of the Canadian North pilots and the experience and leadership of ALPA as crucial in finalizing the agreement.

The contract ratification represents the culmination of more than two years of hard work at the negotiating table. “I want to congratulate the Canadian North flightcrew members for demonstrating an unwavering dedication toward accomplishing their contract goals,” said Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA’s president. “The pilots are well positioned to implement their newly ratified contract with the full support, resources, and voice of the world’s most powerful pilots union.”

Canadian North is a major provider of scheduled passenger and cargo services from Edmonton and Ottawa to points throughout the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. The airline offers nonscheduled charter flights throughout Canada and the U.S. Canadian North is headquartered in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and operates a fleet of B-737-300s, B-737-200s, and Dash 8-100s.

TSB Accuses TC of Stalling on Aviation Safety

The chairman of the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) recently criticized Transport Canada (TC), the Canadian regulatory body for transportation safety, for inadequate progress on key aviation safety issues highlighted on the TSB’s Watchlist.

On July 7, the TSB declared that a “stronger effort” is needed to resolve these issues—landing accidents and runway overruns, risk of collisions on runways, and “collisions with land and water” (i.e., controlled flight into terrain).

Released in March 2010, the Watchlist contains nine key issues that the TSB feels pose the greatest risk to safety. A series of 41 specific recommendations aimed at both industry and regulators expand on those issues.

Wendy Tadros, the TSB chair, said that while the past year has seen progress on marine and rail safety issues, with seven recommendations receiving the Board’s highest grade of “Fully Satisfactory,” she called the lack of similar progress in aviation “troubling.”

Tadros declared, “We need to do more. Without strong leadership, we won’t reduce the risk of collisions or aircraft overruns at Canada’s airports, nor can we ensure better data and voice recorders on aircraft—areas where Canada needs to meet new international standards.”

She added that the TSB plans to release a periodic “scorecard” aimed at tracking developments and commitments by Transport Canada. “We will report publicly on the results next spring,” Tadros said, “when we update our Watchlist. Those issues that have been squarely addressed will be removed, and if necessary, we’ll add new issues of concern at that time.”

Transport Canada issued a statement in response, asserting that the agency “has made robust progress to date on a number of fronts and continues to make the TSB’s recommendations a priority.”

Legislative Update

Still No Long-Term NextGen Funding

In late June, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the 20th “short term” extension, good through July 22, 2011, to keep the FAA operating pending a final, multi-year authorization bill.

Negotiations continue within Congress on how to resolve a handful of remaining differences to send a comprehensive bill to the president in the next several weeks. The House and Senate are at an impasse over funding levels, takeoff and landing slots at Washington’s Reagan National Airport, essential air service, regulating lithium batteries, and changes in election procedures at the National Mediation Board, among other items.
The last reauthorization bill expired in 2007.

Engineering and Air Safety Update

ALPA Holds Advanced Accident Investigation Training Course

In mid-June, ALPA held its Advanced Accident Investigation Course (AI3) at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, N.D. Twelve pilot volunteers from nine airlines conducted a mock accident investigation that included examining actual aircraft wreckage.

As part of the investigation, course attendees participated in six technical groups, including Air Traffic Control, Cockpit Voice Recorder, Maintenance Records, Operations, Structures, and Survival Factors. The course exposes pilots to the various aspects of an accident investigation so they will be prepared to serve as the ALPA party coordinator and/or an investigative group member.

Beyond the technical groups, the pilot volunteers also simulated an organizational meeting, various mock NTSB progress meetings, and ALPA progress meetings. ALPA’s AI3 course is the capstone of a three-part training program designed to prepare ALPA pilots to participate in major aircraft accident investigations that the NTSB and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSBC) conduct.

ALPA Conveys Concerns About UAS

ALPA’s president, Capt. Lee Moak, recently sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood expressing the union’s concerns about integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into civil airspace before all necessary research, testing, and operational safeguards are in place. The Association offered its assistance to the DOT as it considers the future of UAS in the national airspace system (NAS).

ALPA pledged to collaborate with the DOT and FAA to ensure the safety of the NAS, as some members of Congress are calling for arbitrary deadlines that threaten to put untested and unregulated UAS in the same airspace as airliners.

ALPA has initiated a Call to Action to urge Congress to oppose any deadlines for UAS integration until proper safety regulations are established. Go to the members-only site of www.alpa.org and click on the Legislation & ALPA-PAC site to participate.

New Airline Pilot Rest Rules Needed Now

ALPA submitted supplemental comments to the FAA on June 29 urging the agency to dismiss groundless stall tactics by some in the airline industry and issue the flight- and duty-time regulations and minimum rest requirements for airline pilots that are urgently needed to ensure the safety of air transportation.

“Over the past two years, the FAA, the airlines, and airline employees have joined together in a tremendous effort to develop flight- and duty-time regulations and minimum rest requirements for airline pilots that are based on sound science,” said Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA’s president. “No justification exists for delaying the result of this unprecedented collaboration when new rules are needed now to safeguard passengers, crews, and cargo.”

In its supplemental comments, the Association cited the federal law that mandates that the FAA issue a final flight limitation rule by Aug. 1, 2011, and emphasized that any delay would be in violation of the will of Congress and of the American people.

To read more, go the members-only site of www.alpa.org and click on the Safety and Security tab.

ALPA: LightSquared Broadband Proposal Threatens GPS

In a letter sent on June 22 to the House Aviation Subcommittee, ALPA declared adamant opposition to a private company’s bid to expand its broadband communications services in a way that would jeopardize the Global Positioning System (GPS) and threaten the tremendous contribution that the satnav system makes to ensuring efficient and safe airline operations. Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA’s president, sent the letter as the Subcommittee prepared to hold a hearing on this issue.

Since 1983, when GPS became available for civilian use, the system has become an indispensable tool for aircraft navigation, all-weather approaches and landings, surveillance, maintaining required separation between aircraft, and pilot situational awareness. GPS signals are low-power by design, to allow them to be based on satellites, but this low-energy environment also makes them susceptible to interference from other radio transmissions. For this reason, only low-powered satellite-based signals historically have been permitted in the radio frequencies that are closest to GPS bandwidth.

LightSquared, a privately held broadband provider, proposed to the Federal Communications Commission to deploy 40,000 high-powered, ground-based transmitters in the radio frequency spectrum that is directly adjacent to GPS bandwidth. Rigorous industry and government testing recently demonstrated that, if the proposal was allowed to proceed, GPS would be inaccessible over large regions of the United States at altitudes normally flown by airliners. As a result, airline pilots would lose a fundamental navigation tool that is particularly important in mountainous terrain, remote areas, and bad weather.

Along with immediate operational issues, jeopardizing GPS would also seriously undermine existing efforts to modernize the U.S. ATC system. ALPA strongly supports airspace modernization through NextGen (see “From ‘Shrimp Boats’ to Satellites”) and its potential to improve safety, increase capacity and efficiency, and reduce aviation’s environmental effects. The FAA has already invested more than $1 billion in GPS-based technology that is designed to replace radar-based surveillance of air traffic, and as NextGen continues to mature, GPS will become increasingly important.

ALPA Negotiations Update

The following is a summary of the status of ALPA contract negotiations by airline as of July 15, 2011:

Air Transport International—A tentative agreement (TA) was reached on Dec. 3, 2010. On March 14, the pilots voted against ratification. Mediation continues.

Air Wisconsin—A Section 6 notice was filed on Oct. 1, 2010. Negotiations continue August 9–11, September 7–9, and October 4–6.

Atlantic Southeast—A Section 6 notice was filed on May 20, 2010. Negotiations are under way. A joint Section 6 notice was filed on March 28, 2011. See ExpressJet.

Continental—Negotiations are under way on the Continental/United joint collective bargaining agreement (JCBA). The parties requested assistance from the National Mediation Board (NMB) on Dec. 17, 2010. Mediation is under way.

Comair—A Section 6 notice was filed on Sept. 27, 2010. Negotiations continue August 29–September 1 and September 12–16.

CommutAir—A Section 6 notice was sent on Feb. 2, 2009. An application for mediation was filed with the NMB on Dec. 2, 2010. Mediation continues August 8–12; September 6–9, 12–16; October 10–14; and October 31–November 4.

Evergreen—Negotiations began in December 2004. ALPA became the pilots’ bargaining agent in November 2007. A tentative agreement was reached on April 16, 2010. The pilots voted against ratification on Aug. 16, 2010. Mediation continues August 8–11.

ExpressJet—A Section 6 notice was received on May 28, 2010. A joint Section 6 notice was filed on March 28, 2011. Atlantic Southeast/ExpressJet joint negotiations continue July 26–28; August 1–3, 9–11, 16–18, 23–25; September 6–8, 13–15, 20–22; October 4–6, 18–20, 25–27; and November 1–3.

First Air—A notice to bargain was filed on Oct. 1, 2010. Negotiations are under way.

Mesa—A Section 6 notice was filed on Sept. 10, 2010. Negotiations continue.

Piedmont—A Section 6 notice was sent on March 13, 2009. An application for mediation was filed with the National Mediation Board on April 21, 2010. Negotiations are under way.

PSA—A Section 6 notice was sent on Jan. 19, 2009. Negotiations continue July 25–28, August 29–Septem-ber 1, and September 19–22.

Sun Country—A Section 6 notice was sent on Feb. 23, 2010. Negotiations are under way.

Trans States—A TA was reached on July 8. In the coming weeks, the pilots will vote on ratifying the TA.

United—A Section 6 notice was sent on April 6, 2009. Negotiations continue on the United/Continental JCBA. See Continental.

Mailbag

Thank you

I would like to thank the Air Line Pilots Association for the award I was given at this year’s National SAFECON competition. It was a great honor to receive the Regional Top Pilot Award. This award is something I have been working toward since I began my flight training four years ago. I have used the monetary award to obtain my aircraft dispatcher rating to further my credentials with the goal of obtaining a job as an airline pilot in upcoming months.

Thomas Fogarty, Lewis University Flight Team

Invasive searches

I have an artificial knee and always set off the metal detector when going through security screening. Since the new patdowns were implemented, I’ve been going through searches that are increasingly invasive. I go through when I commute to work and again each day I fly, for a total of about five times a week. It has become very uncomfortable.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers often start by running their fingers through my hair, which is very short with clearly no place to hide weapons. Then they put their fingers roughly in my collar, then pat my chest, armpits, groin, and often my feet. I routinely take off my belt and shoes to save time, because they will normally X-ray them anyway. The searches are humiliating and violating.

When scanners are available, I opt to go through those to avoid a patdown. I do not have a problem with this, but sometimes they pat you down afterwards if they fail to “resolve” the image. I do not really take advantage of the private screening. Perhaps I should, but I am usually pressed for time.

I view this more as a labor issue than an abuse of government power, but I do not know how constitutional law (4th Amendment) applies to this.

I feel that ALPA should push harder to get the Known Crewmember program immediately implemented at all airports so that other pilots don’t have to experience what I’ve gone through.

F/O David Kramer (ExpressJet)

Editor’s note: ALPA agrees that passenger-style security screening of airline pilots is not appropriate and has long championed an alternative form of airport screening for all airline pilots. In response, the TSA approved and implemented ALPA’s CrewPASS concept at three airports. The latest evolution of that program, Known Crewmember (KCM), is soon to be tested at MIA and ORD, with five more “test” airports scheduled to go online within a few more weeks. Pending the successful conclusion of a 90-day test, dozens more airports are planned to be equipped with KCM later this year. ALPA’s goal is to see this program expanded nationwide as quickly as possible.

“Good old days”

Long ago when Charley Ruby was ALPA’s president, I was the Master Executive Council chairman at North Central Airlines. (I’m 89 now and was able to successfully solve the sudoku in the June/July issue of Air Line Pilot, so perhaps it was too easy—though it took me two days to solve it.) ALPA was still located in the headquarters that Dave Behncke built across the street from Midway Airport then. Charley soon moved ALPA to Washington, the right thing to do, although I opposed the move at that time. There have been a multitude of problems since those “good old days,” and ALPA has been right on top of each one of them.

Capt. Oak Mackey (Northwest, Ret.)

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Lithium Batteries Are Dangerous Goods—Government Must Act Now!

By John Perkinson, Staff Writer

Did you know that common aircraft fire suppression systems are incapable of extinguishing lithium-metal battery fires, and yet air cargo pilots don’t have to be advised when transporting large quantities of this highly combustible commodity? If improperly packaged or mishandled, these batteries can easily self-ignite and pose a serious threat to aviation safety. This is one of a variety of reasons that the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, is pushing for regulators and lawmakers to act immediately to ensure that shipments of all lithium batteries are fully regulated as dangerous goods.

Despite NTSB recommendations three years ago and last year’s U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) notice of proposed rulemaking (PHMSA- 2009-0095, HM-224F) to “comprehensively address the safe transportation of lithium cells and batteries in cargo,” the issue is now mired in political debate on Capitol Hill. The House and Senate have included language to address this matter in their respective FAA reauthorization bills (S. 223/H.R. 658). However, the House version includes a roadblock to needed regulation, thanks in large part to the lobbying efforts of consumer electronic and medical device groups, battery manufacturers, and other powerful groups.

In response, ALPA issued a Call to Action in April, encouraging members to weigh in on this important matter with their elected public officials. The Association has also issued a position paper (click here to view the position paper), provided testimony before regulators, issued public statements on the subject, and taken numerous other actions to make its case.

“While paint and dry ice shipments aboard aircraft are currently regulated as dangerous goods, shipments of lithium batteries are not, despite the aircraft incidents and fires linked to unsafe shipments of these batteries,” said ALPA’s president, Capt. Lee Moak, who sent a letter to the House expressing ALPA’s concerns.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to safeguard air transportation from the known danger posed by lithium battery shipments and to set the standard for the world,” he added. The real question is, When will the government act?

House play

The current House FAA reauthorization bill contains new language that was added last April—Section 814, titled “Air Transportation of Lithium Cells and Batteries.” This text, if enacted, would bar the FAA from treating the transport of lithium batteries more restrictively than does policy that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) sets. ICAO, the aviation arm of the United Nations, which establishes standards for international air transportation, exempts or “excepts” lithium batteries from its technical instructions, which regulate the transport of dangerous goods.

In a statement issued to the House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, ALPA vehemently opposed this position “for the simple reason that these batteries are known to be capable of self-initiating hot fires, which airline pilots and/or onboard fire-suppression systems may be incapable of extinguishing, and which could lead to the loss of an aircraft and everyone on board.”

ALPA pointed out that if federal aviation regulations never exceeded ICAO standards, the nation’s aviation rules would be tangibly weakened.

ALPA commented that current ICAO rules addressing the shipment of lithium batteries are insufficient because

• they do not require pilots to be notified when shipments of lithium batteries are loaded on their aircraft,

• there’s no restriction on the number of lithium batteries that can be shipped, or their positioning on the aircraft,

• lithium-metal batteries are permitted on passenger and cargo aircraft by ICAO (the FAA banned their shipment on passenger flights in 2004),

• no dangerous goods labels are required, and

• no special training is required for shippers and handlers.

“Given that the FAA continues to receive reports of fires directly related to lithium battery shipments and lithium batteries contained within equipment, we cannot afford to wait to fully regulate lithium batteries as dangerous goods. Every day we delay, people and property are being exposed to the potential danger of an inflight fire that neither the aircraft, the aircraft’s fire suppression system, nor the flight crew may be able to extinguish,” said ALPA.

Heat wave

During the last 20 years, dozens of serious aviation accidents and incidents involving lithium batteries have been documented around the globe. One of these events occurred on Dec. 3, 2010, when two pilots flying UPS Flight 6, a Boeing 747-400 carrying a large payload of lithium batteries, reported thick smoke in the cockpit shortly after taking off from Dubai International Airport. The aircraft crashed, killing both pilots.

A month later, the FAA issued Safety Alert for Operators 10017, outlining the potential dangers of shipments of lithium batteries and noting, “investigation of the crash is still under way, and the cause of the crash has not been determined. We are aware, however, that the plane’s cargo did include large quantities of lithium batteries and believe it prudent to advise operators of that fact.”

In addition to discussing the combustible nature of the lithium-metal batteries boarded, the report highlighted the challenges in containing onboard fires. Halon, used in many air cargo fire suppression systems, is ineffective in extinguishing lithium-metal battery fires.

The report also noted, “A container specially designed to ship lithium-metal batteries would need to demonstrate that it can withstand this explosive condition. There are currently no approved and tested containers that can sufficiently contain the known effects of accidental lithium-metal battery ignition. Common metal shipping containers, pails and drums, are not designed to withstand a lithium-metal cell fire.”

The preliminary accident report from the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates added, “The package details for the cargo onboard the accident flight identified many of the shipments as lithium batteries and electronic equipment containing or packed with lithium batteries. The manifest indicated these shipments were distributed throughout the cargo decks and not concentrated in any specific area. Further investigation into these items revealed that at least three of the shipments contained lithium-ion battery packs that met the Class 9 hazardous material criteria. Accordingly, these shipments should have been shipped as regulated materials per ICAO technical instructions, and thus should have appeared on the cargo manifest.”

One of the most notable lithium battery accidents in the U.S. involved a UPS DC-8 at Philadelphia International Airport in February 2006. The pilots notified air traffic control that they had an onboard fire shortly before landing. Local firefighters, unaware that lithium batteries were involved in the fire, took more than four hours to bring the blaze under control.

At a snail’s pace

ALPA has been pressing the DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to fully regulate lithium batteries as hazardous materials for more than 10 years. What does ALPA want? “Improved packaging, better testing, a dangerous goods label that would be easily recognizable to ground handlers and emergency responders, an acceptance check to verify that the regulations have been complied with, and notification to the pilot-in-command that lithium batteries were being carried in accordance with the DOT’s hazardous materials regulations would greatly improve air safety.”

F/O Mark Rogers (United), director of ALPA’s Dangerous Goods program and chair of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Association’s Dangerous Goods Committee, has long been advocating for the full regulation of both lithium-ion and lithium-metal batteries as dangerous goods. He has addressed this issue with Congress, ICAO, and a host of aviation and lithium battery industry stakeholders.

“The process is taking too long,” Rogers told a 2009 House subcommittee, during a question-and-answer session immediately following testimony he presented. His message has remained relatively constant over the years, but the number of aviation-related lithium battery accidents and incidents he can point to as examples just keeps growing.

Sidebar

Q&A
Another Perspective

An April 8 Tom Bradley article in PCWorld asks and answers the question, “Is there an actual concern that lithium batteries can overheat and ignite?” In his article “House Passes Bill Declaring Lithium Batteries Safe,” Bradley notes, “Well, there was the 2006 recall of 1.3 million mobile phone batteries, the 2007 recall of 46 million mobile phone batteries, the recall of 208,000 notebook batteries by Lenovo, and the HP recall of more than 100,000 notebook batteries—all in response to reports that the batteries were dangerously hot and prone to spontaneous combustion. And that is just scratching the surface. There is ample evidence that lithium batteries can be hazardous.”—JWP
 

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From ‘Shrimp Boats’ to Satellites

By Capt. R.E. Torn (Delta), ALPA NextGen Project Team Lead

Their handlers called them “shrimp boats,” which they resembled in shape but did not represent. Pushed by men with long wooden sticks like miniature polo mallets, the little “boats” moved slowly across a table map, standing in for airliners that the men tracked based on position reports radioed by pilots.

That’s how air traffic control began in the United States during the 1930s—airline employees in three airway traffic control centers (Chicago, Cleveland, and Newark) tracking, but not separating, aircraft like DC-2s, DC-3s, and Ford Trimotors.

Last month, the FAA marked the 75th anniversary of federal air traffic control, which began on July 6, 1936, when the Bureau of Commerce took over the operation of the three centers and their 15 employees.

How much has changed in these 75 years!

Navigation has jumped by leaps and bounds (in reliability, accuracy, and ease of use) from pilotage and dead reckoning to bonfires and beacons to the A-N (aural-null) ranges to NDBs, VORs, and VORTACs, to RNAV, INS/IRUs, and GPS. Celestial navigation for flights over oceans, deserts, jungles, and the poles gave way to Omega, Loran-C, and other long-range or global nav systems—all now made obsolete by the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers, using the GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, or Beidou system.

Surveillance and separation, over much of the earth’s land surface and coasts, have evolved from the “they should have landed by now” of St. Exupery’s pioneering airmail days and nights to pilot inflight position reports and, in a major leap in the 1950s, to primary (skin reflection) and secondary (transponder-based) ATC surveillance radar. And now, Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B), again based on GNSS.

Communications have evolved from flag and light signals to telegraph vacuum tube sets requiring an onboard operator to today’s satellite-based systems allowing a mere phone call to anywhere in the world. Future communications systems will use a combination of datalink communications for messages such as controller-pilot data-link communications (CPDLC) and voice capabilities allowing for direct pilot-to-controller contact in non-VHF areas.

Traffic management has evolved from visual to an instrument-based regulatory system resulting in control zones and several classes of airspace. Traffic management historically has been based on providing “first-come, first-served” traffic services. Once an operator has invested in the new technologies, the service change is proposed as “best-equipped, best-served.”

NextGen: A work in progress

Today, 75 years after the Bureau of Commerce federalized the “shrimp boats,” the FAA and aviation stakeholders are deeply involved together in implementing this enormous and vitally important overhaul of the U.S. national airspace system (NAS). NextGen has been billed as the biggest U.S. transportation infrastructure project since the Eisenhower administration created the interstate highway system.

The forecast demands for aviation services globally require a better and smarter method of managing the use of the airspace system—from the gate to enroute flight and back to the gate. The challenge is building a new system within an existing system that operates 24/7, 365 days a year. You just can’t shut down the airspace for a week of two, make the changes, and turn it back on.

The NextGen program is not only the combination of the aforementioned technologies, but also the optimization of each of their abilities combined in a process known as air traffic management (ATM). A well-designed ATM capability allows the air and ground components to function smoothly by synchronizing with each other, when expected, as required, and as efficiently as demanded. Airline pilots will not see but will be directly affected by these management processes. The result will be a requirement for more precise flying by all users, enabled by the proper technology, training, and regulation changes. NextGen Implementation Plan (NGIP) 2011, published annually by the FAA, highlights programs and projects time lines and can be found at www.faa.gov/nextgen.

The total NextGen vision for now through the year 2030 includes a vast number of changes, including to airport surface operations, aviation security, environmental aspects, energy, metroplex operations, unmanned aircraft systems operations, improved weather information services, on-demand NAS information, and their underlying technology changes. For most of the technology components, one of the fundamental elements of NextGen is the movement from ground-based to satellite-based navigation via GNSS, communications via datacomm, and surveillance via ADS-B. A key focus of these applications is the ability to share information, such as improved situation displays. With cockpit displays of traffic information (CDTIs), pilots will have the same picture of air traffic as controllers have and better situational awareness.

NextGen: vs. NowGen

Many new airliners are being delivered with operating ADS-B systems installed. Air traffic controllers can then use ADS-B to separate suitably equipped aircraft in areas within ADS-B coverage, resulting in pilots’ receiving better surveillance services such as proceeding direct to a down-track fix and better ability to deviate from course for weather. These sites include Houston Center (providing coverage to the Gulf of Mexico), the Louisville TRACON, Philadelphia, Alaska, and South Florida. The FAA expects to complete the U.S. ground infrastructure by 2013 and to have the system fully operational by 2020.

Industry and government teams including the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, are working in metroplex areas to implement airspace, technologies, and procedural changes in the short term. ALPA is working in NORCAL, SOCAL, and other locations, providing pilot expertise and helping to get it right the first time.

The FAA is implementing hundreds of RNP approaches annually over the next several years. Some of these are overlays of existing approaches, and others optimize the flight path for terrain obstacles, noise areas, and other factors. RNP departures are being designed and implemented with an eventual goal to stitch the route segments together from takeoff to touchdown.

ALPA is actively participating in NextGen as an industry partner for planning and implementation. Capt. Lee Moak, ALPA’s president, currently sits on the RTCA NextGen Advisory Committee (NAC), the high-level industry-government body that helps form the strategic “big picture” of NextGen. As ALPA’s NextGen Project Team lead, I sit on the NAC Subcommittee, which is focused on the tactical implementation of many of the segments of the NGIP, based on NAC guidance. Many ALPA pilots participate in FAA Advisory Rulemaking Committees (ARCs), RTCA Technical Special Committees, and airport-level working groups, making sure that the pilot perspective is taken into account.

Yet much remains to be done.

NextGen: Sounds great—What’s the holdup?

First, though implementing NextGen (and doing it right the first time) is hugely important for maintaining and improving safety, efficiency, and capacity while reducing aviation’s environmental effects, it’s not a free lunch and has costs—directly and indirectly. While it has benefits for all the participants, it also has risks of not delivering the promised benefits and possibly making things worse. It’s a new system, after all.

Second, as mentioned above, NextGen is very much a work in progress. The first tier of applications will focus on replacing current operations with new technology, procedures, and airspace changes. For example, ADS-B per se is pretty straightforward—i.e., the aircraft or ground vehicle reports its GPS position with precision not available from earlier technology. Various users see the data for different purposes. The much bigger question is, What do we do with the data? New technologies and applications will require a review and amendment to procedures; and regarding certain applications, the “concept of operations” hasn’t even been decided yet.

ADS-B’s improved accuracy of location should permit (at least in theory) reduced separation between aircraft, but what about wake turbulence? When will rigorous testing be conducted to answer a long list of questions about wakes? Will new tools need to be developed in the cockpit and on the ground to safely permit reduced separation? New procedures may require changes in training, and these should be based on accurate and meaningful human factors studies.

Another example is trajectory-based operations (TBO), a more complicated application that ultimately may require the use of ADS-B, datacomm, and GNSS technologies. The ATC system must synchronize trajectories, adding in a time component resulting in an application called 4DTrad.

Sounds simple, as long as you’re flying the only airplane in the sky. But add in other airplanes, longer distances, weather, and other factors, and you get the future of the NAS for better or worse. Add in aviation security, ground infrastructure, performance requirements, and global operations and harmonization while building all this change together, and “complex” is an understatement.

Third, the big sticking points regarding NextGen implementation are the cost and who will pay for it. This multi-billion-dollar, multi-year program requires a reliable funding stream over a period of several years. The government and industry haven’t provided this yet. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt has been urging airlines to pony up and make the investment to equip their fleets with NextGen technologies, insisting that the early bird will get the worm.

Airline managements, however, are skeptical; for one thing, they’ve been burned before. The Miami trials in 2000 (controller-pilot data-link communications, or CPDLC) are an excellent example: Several years ago, a few U.S. airlines made significant investments at the FAA’s request to participate in CPDLC operational trials, which ended when budget cuts led the agency to pull the plug on a working program).

Several trial programs with adequate funding, such as the DataComm Implementation Team (DCIT), are looking for first adopters to develop these technologies with final announcements expected soon. JetBlue Airlines recently received funding to equip some of its fleet with ADS-B.

Lest you think this is all a waste of time and resources, consider these success stories: ALPA pilots flying north of the border are today participating in ADS-B-mandated operations in the Hudson Bay area. Alaska and the Anchorage FIR are using ADS-B for surveillance in non-radar areas. Airlines operating at New York’s JFK use a private ADS-B-derived system called AEROBAHN to help manage their ground and ramp operations. New York Oceanic provides CPDLC services for clearances and ATC directives.

Some point out that the first to equip will, by the time the entire industry is equipped, have the oldest installed equipment; the last to equip likely will enjoy the benefits of design upgrades and perhaps even lower costs resulting from economies of scale. Thus no one wants to go first in a big way. Closer to home—Do you want part of your earnings to go toward this investment through your employer or through your taxes?

Finally, there’s the economic argument regarding what the true benefits are and who will benefit. The big return for airplane operators, for example, will come with ADS-B In (aircraft receiving ADS-B information and applications), not ADS-B Out (aircraft broadcasting position). The FAA has mandated that airlines must be ADS-B Out equipped by 2020, which will result in reduced need and cost to operate the radar network. But airlines will have little direct benefit. Conversely, every participating aircraft will have to be equipped for In to work (at least as far as surveillance, CDTI, and related applications are concerned).

To get real benefits for investing in new technologies and application, they must actually be able to be used. And that leads to the discussions under way regarding the possibility of changing another fundamental paradigm of the ATC system: “first come, first served” giving way to “best equipped, best served.” That already has been the case to a certain extent for a long time—i.e., certain aircraft equipment and, sometimes, specific pilot training is required to gain access to particular airspace and procedures—for example, precision runway monitor approaches.

In June, Administrator Babbitt, in a speech to the RTCA Annual Symposium, noted, “We [the FAA] have asked the NextGen Advisory Committee [on which ALPA’s president, Capt. Lee Moak, sits] to look at the issue of equipage and come back to us in the fall with a consensus proposal….We’re open to all ideas. These are tough economic times, [but] we need to balance our fiscal restraints with the need for equipage.”

For the future of the airline profession, ALPA maintains that pilots must be a central focus of all these changes. Ultimately, it’s the flight crews who must make the flying piece of the system work. For decades, ALPA has helped keep the NAS working through the professionalism of its pilots and with the help of experienced controllers. And that’s what’s going to make NextGen work.

Sidebar

ALPA Board of Directors Priority: ATC System Modernization

During ALPA’s 2008 Board of Directors (BOD) meeting, Delegate Committee 3 (Safety/Security/Flight Time-Duty Time) set ATC system modernization as one of the union’s top three long-term safety priorities having the potential to dramatically change the airline industry and improve ALPA members’ livelihoods.


The BOD members discussed the fact that airline pilots currently fly in an antiquated system that is based on technology developed during the 1950s and 1960s, yet they fly fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft. Determining the problem isn’t the issue—fixing it is.

The cost associated with upgrading and improving the U.S. ATC system is about $40 billion. Committee delegates agreed that improving the U.S. airspace system requires all industry partners, including government and airline management, to look at system and airplane upgrades in a new way. Congress needs to understand that a solid commitment to ongoing federal funding is going to be required. This is not a project that can be terminated before completion. Airline managements will also need to understand that they must cover some of the cost as they will eventually benefit from improved efficiency and capacity.

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ALPA Reps at the Table

Fulfilling policy made by ALPA’s line pilot governing bodies (see “ALPA ATS Policies: By the Book”), the union’s representatives continue to be deeply involved in directing the course of NextGen implementation:

• ALPA’s president, Capt. Lee Moak, is a member of the NGATS Institute Management Council (IMC) and also serves on the IMC Executive Committee. The NGATS Institute is the industry counterpart to the Joint Development Program Office (JPDO), which is made up of eight federal government groups that are involved in helping to shape NextGen.

• Moak also sits on the FAA NextGen Advisory Committee (NAC). RTCA, Inc., a private, not-for-profit corporation that develops consensus-based recommendations regarding communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management (CS/ATM) system issues, administers the NAC. RTCA functions as a Federal Advisory Committee. The FAA uses RTCA recommendations as the basis for policy, program, and regulatory decisions; the private sector uses them for development, investment, and other business decisions.

• Keith Hagy, director of ALPA’s Engineering and Air Safety Department, represents ALPA’s interests on the RTCA Policy Board. Chris Baum, a manager in the Department, serves on the RTCA Program Management Committee.

• ALPA line pilot safety representatives and Engineering & Air Safety Department staff participate in a number of government/industry committees and forums that are working to develop standards, procedures, policies, and guidelines for NextGen implementation.

Sidebar

ALPA ATS Policies: By the Book

Listed below are some, but not all, of the ALPA policies on air traffic control that are contained in the Engineering & Air Safety section of ALPA’s Administrative Manual:

• ALPA supports the development and implementation of an ATC system using space-based systems for navigation, communications, and surveillance.

• ALPA supports a concept of national airspace system (NAS) architecture based on a jointly developed industry/government operational requirements document. ALPA also supports the allocation of resources by the administration and Congress in a manner that supports rapid modernization of the NAS.

• ALPA strongly endorses its continuous participation in the planning of future ATC systems.

• ALPA recommends frequent meetings with high-level FAA ATC representatives.

• ALPA supports the ATC system concept that includes a high degree of redundancy.

• ALPA supports the implementation of a flexible ATC system.

• ALPA endorses the development of cockpit displays of traffic information (CDTI).

• ALPA shall not endorse any cockpit traffic display that has not been properly tested, evaluated, and certified by the FAA, with the concurrence of ALPA for not only the collision avoidance function, but also for any extension of TCAS technology.

• ALPA supports equipping all airliners operated in accordance with the ALPA One Level of Safety policy with a system equivalent to at least TCAS II standards. The system should not be connected to the flight controls, but only provide maneuver commands for the pilot, unless a certified system can be shown to significantly increase the operational safety of TCAS resolution advisory maneuvers. Air traffic separation standards should not be based on this type of “last resort” collision avoidance system.

To view ALPA’s Administrative Manual, click here.

Sidebar

“Roger, radar contact…”

During the 1930s, scientists in several countries developed primary surveillance radar (i.e., radar that detects the direction and distance to distant metal objects) that was used secretly in WW II. Primary surveillance radar brought about huge changes in civilian aviation when U.S. controllers began using it to separate aircraft during the 1950s. Enroute centers started using the first air route surveillance radar in 1956 when the first ATC computer was installed at Indianapolis Center. A year later, the ATC radar beacon system (i.e., secondary surveillance radar, which interrogates aircraft transponders) came along.

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ALPA Contributions to ATC and National Airspace System Safety

The Association’s active engagement with the FAA, Transport Canada, international organizations, local ATC facilities, manufacturers, airline managements, and other aviation stakeholders during the past 75 years has led to many improvements, large and small, in ATC and the airspace system. Here are just a few highlights:

• The traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS), which ALPA activists sought since the 1950s, has greatly increased pilots’ awareness of other air traffic and virtually eliminated midair collisions involving airliners.

• Safe introduction of airspace system changes such as reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM) in international and domestic airspace came about because ALPA representatives inserted line pilots’ perspective and concerns into the process.

• RNAV and RNP procedures to improve airspace system capacity, efficiency, and safety reflect many years of careful attention and input from a number of ALPA pilot safety activists.

• Being able to talk directly to an air route traffic control center (ARTCC) is possible because ALPA pushed for it; in the early days, pilots had to obtain enroute clearance changes via their airline dispatcher.

• Visual descent points (VDPs) for nonprecision approaches were the brainchild of ALPA, which got them onto nav charts.

Sidebar

Two Unforgettable Augusts

30 YEARS AGO: On Aug. 1, 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike. President Ronald Reagan fired the striking controllers, setting the tone for a nationwide tougher stance against labor unions by their enemies.

In the weak U.S. economy of the time, U.S. airlines used the PATCO strike to cut flight frequencies in half virtually overnight, furloughing many ALPA members. The return to the pre-strike number of operations in the U.S. ATC system took a few years.

PATCO is long gone, but some of the controllers’ issues, including fatiguing schedules and controller errors, are still very much in the news today.

25 YEARS AGO: On Aug. 31, 1986, an AeroMexico DC-9, Flight 498, collided with a single-engine Piper Archer over Cerritos, Calif., a suburb in the Los Angeles basin. A total of 82 people (including 15 on the ground) died.

The Cerritos midair collision was the final straw that led the Congress to order the FAA to mandate Traffic alert and collision avoidance (TCAS) II equipment on U.S. airliners. ALPA had been pushing for a collision avoidance system on airliners since the 1956 collision of a United DC-7 and a TWA Lockheed Super Constellation over the Grand Canyon.

Sidebar

FAA, NATCA Agree on Steps to Ease Controller Fatigue

On July 1, the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) announced agreement on recommendations developed by a joint FAA-NATCA working group to mitigate controller fatigue. The working group was established under the 2009 collective bargaining agreement between the FAA and NATCA.

The recent agreement on fatigue countermeasures reinforces existing FAA policy that prohibits controllers from sleeping on duty. The agency will continue to provide controllers with breaks on the midnight shift, based on staffing and workload. While on breaks, controllers are expected to be available for recall at all times.

The FAA and NATCA also agreed that all controllers must report for work well rested and mentally alert and that the controller has the responsibility to notify his or her supervisor if he or she is too tired to work. Controllers can now request to take vacation or sick leave if they are too fatigued to work air traffic.

Earlier this year, after a series of highly publicized events involving controllers working alone on the midnight shift, the FAA eliminated single-staffing on that shift and adjusted work schedules to give controllers at least nine hours off (versus eight hours previously) between shifts. Controllers also now will be allowed to listen to the radio and read “appropriate printed material” while on duty between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. “as traffic permits,” the FAA said.

The agency has agreed to develop policies that will encourage controllers to seek medical help for sleep apnea, which currently is medically disqualifying for controllers. The FAA said it will work “to develop a process for most air traffic controllers with sleep apnea to regain their medical qualification once they receive proper medical treatment.”

Additionally, the FAA will develop a fatigue risk management system for air traffic operations by January 2012. The agency also is designing a comprehensive fatigue awareness and education training program for employees.

Sidebar

FAA ATC Today

• The current workforce of more than 15,000 FAA air traffic controllers handles about 50,000 flights per day—51 million airline, general aviation, and military operations in 2010.

•  In 2010, 149.6 million passengers flew on U.S. domestic and international flights.

• More than 6,000 technical operations specialists maintain the equipment in the U.S. national airspace system, which includes 131 federal stand-alone airport traffic control towers, 246 contract towers, 132 towers/terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities, 29 stand-alone TRACONs, 21 air route traffic control centers, two center radar approach control facilities, the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center, and 41,000 installations that house radars and other air traffic equipment.

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Chronicling ALPA’s Strategic Plan—6 Ways ALPA Made
Member Communications Easy: BOD Delegate Committee 5

By Molly Martin, Contributing Writer

The following article is the fifth of an eight-part series that chronicles the strategic plan of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, set in motion at the union’s 42nd Board of Directors meeting in October 2008. It details how ALPA is using this plan to set priorities, achieve goals, and advance the airline piloting profession. Air Line Pilot will examine how specific recommendations of the Board’s eight delegate committees are making a difference in the lives of ALPA pilots.

At the October 2010 Board of Directors (BOD) meeting, BOD Delegate Committee 5 members discussed the constant challenge facing today’s information-overloaded society: how to get your message across. Technology makes it easier, but it also raises the ante. We’re now accustomed to receiving relevant information, in real time, in the palm of our hands. So it’s no surprise that ALPA’s pilot leaders want the union to keep pace. Here are 6 ways ALPA’s trying to reach members with the information they need:

1. ePubs

In September 2010, ALPA started offering pilots the choice to read their favorite union journal on their laptops and smartphones. Collaborating with the Information Technology and Services Department, ALPA’s Communications Department developed an in-house publishing process that transforms Air Line Pilot and other union publications into both a digital page-turning format and a mobile-phone-friendly option.

Just one click on the page-turning icon allows an auto-detection program to recognize the type of device you use to request the file. It then chooses the appropriate format, either the Flash page-turning file for PC users or an HTML text-only file for other users. Prefer a regular old PDF? No problem. It’s still an option.

The Communications Department tweaked the offerings a bit, based on user feedback, and will expand this electronic publications technique to ALPA pilot groups’ publications soon. Visit www.alpa.org/epubs to read back issues of Air Line Pilot and other good reads, including Flying the Line, Volumes I and II, by ALPA’s unofficial historian, George E. Hopkins.

2. Social Media Suite

If you spend your limited amount of “free” time on the web, chances are you’re one of the 750 million active users of Facebook. Or maybe you’re not that dedicated, but chances are you’ve seen a video on YouTube. In an effort to reach audiences where they already go, ALPA entered the social media realm several years ago. It’s a good way to receive timely union updates—for those addicted to social media, which has probably moved beyond the “fad” status.

You can stay connected with ALPA on

facebook.com/wearealpa

twitter.com/wearealpa

youtube.com/wearealpa

You can also see ALPA’s photos on Flickr, connect with other pilots and ALPA’s professional staff on LinkedIn, and feed your RSS readers with the union’s newsfeeds (separated into several topics, including Pilot Group News, Safety & Security, etc.).

Is it all Greek to you? You can read up on what each service is and how you can join at www.alpa.org/stayconnected.

3. Podcasts

Several ALPA pilot groups—including Atlantic Southeast, Comair, and Delta—are using podcasts to keep their pilots updated. Podcasting provides ALPA with the benefit of reaching thousands of listeners on their schedule, perfect for members who are always on the go. Listeners can pause or play a program, fast forward or rewind, and even tune into programs that have already aired.

Podcasting also creates the perfect venue for ALPA’s newest communications vehicle—The FlightDeck. This monthly video program features aviation industry news for ALPA members, industry stakeholders, and the traveling public. Segments such as “Ask a Pilot” and “Fit for Flight” answer commonly asked questions and offer helpful tips for those interested in aviation.

One of the key advantages of podcasts is that most media player software (think iTunes) will sync a user’s selected podcast with his or her portable music player, ensuring that subscribers will always have the latest available content.
So subscribe to The FlightDeck and never miss an episode! Click here to subscribe to The FlightDeck in iTunes.

What is a podcast?

A podcast is an episodic program delivered via the Internet through an RSS feed or downloaded and/or streamed from the web as a media file. Originally conceived as simply audio broadcasts, podcast episodes now include audio and video files, documents, or combinations of the three. ALPA can transmit any television or radio program as a podcast, as well as any lecture, training program, picket, or other recorded event.

4. Website Redesigns

ALPA’s website is always evolving. The Association revamped the website not too long ago, making it easier to navigate. It also contains more information about the services and resources the union provides, with additions such as the committee and department pages—available to members who log in—under the ALPA Toolbox tab.

If you’re a frequent visitor, you might have noticed a “New” button that tops the home page. That’s where ALPA promotes the latest new products and services available to members. Keep an eye out for these quick links for easy access to communications products as well as standing services found in the right-hand column on the page, including sites dedicated to the jumpseat, furloughed members, and ALPA-PAC.

5. Apps

In April, the Association debuted “ALPA Mobile,” a free app available for download on iPhone and Android devices. The application provides members—after login—with access to their master executive council’s (MEC’s) committee list, which contains information for committee members you might need to contact while flying the line.

Pilots may also have access to their own MEC’s newsfeed, if available, and a forms library that contains generic forms that members can fill out and submit online.

Click here to download the ALPA iPhone app.

The app also pulls news from ALPA’s RSS feeds (see “Social Media Suite”), where all users can select from multiple news topics matching those available on the Association’s website.

The Association’s Information Technology and Services Department is planning for a second phase of the app later in 2011 that will incorporate additional functions, including jumpseat and MEC hotel and contact information.
So if you have a smartphone, go to the AppStore, look up the ALPA app, and try it out!

6. QR Codes

In January, Air Line Pilot implemented QR codes along with the Preflight section, which features airline industry news and updates from ALPA’s various departments.

Not just meant for retail anymore, QR codes (and smartphones) allow ALPA to send readers straight to websites and videos from printed material, making information easier to access.

It’s just that easy!

Sidebar

Apple, Nike, McDonalds…

These are some of the most recognized brands in the world. But this sort of household recognition doesn’t happen overnight. It takes a strategic plan—one that includes goals, dedication, and resources.

The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, Board of Directors Committee 5 delegates stressed the importance of ALPA’s ability to be an identifiable brand not just within the airline industry but to the public as well. A strong and identifiable brand builds loyalty, preserves the Association’s reputation, and influences the way people view ALPA. To get there, the 2008 and 2010 BOD Committee 5 members recommended—and ALPA’s BOD resolved—that the union promote a clear and consistent brand that would support and reinforce ALPA’s mission. This year, the Executive Council approved moving ahead with a brand strategy that will include an ALPA brand guidelines. These guiding principles will help strengthen ALPA’s brand through consistent use of the Association’s logos, messages, photos, etc.

With correct and consistent use of these guidelines, the Association can build its brand by clearly communicating what ALPA is and what it does for its members, the airline industry, and the traveling public. The Communications Department will introduce new phases of the branding campaign that will work together to make ALPA the organization that represents, reflects, and embodies the importance of the airline pilot.

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ALPA@Work

Negotiations Training Seminar Recap

ALPA’s president, Capt. Lee Moak, welcomed negotiators to the union’s annual Negotiations Training Seminar, held in the Association’s Conference Center in Herndon, Va., on June 7–10. He encouraged them to look for and seize opportunities to capture gains whenever possible. “We should always be prepared to take advantage of an upward economic cycle, solve problems, and sign agreements—whether or not we’re in Section 6,” Moak said.

He went on to describe the full range of opportunities that ALPA should consider, from the “big inning” approach that Section 6 provides to the more modest “base hit” letter-of-agreement approach that may be available mid-contract. Moak also stressed the importance of establishing constructive relationships with company and industry participants. “The skills you’re learning here are personal skills,” he said. “Oftentimes, it’s the difference between making one more phone call. Negotiations are personal.”

Participants learned just how personal negotiations are by participating in mock sessions of their own. Half of the group spoke for pilots, the other half for management. Professional negotiators on ALPA’s staff refereed the training exercise after teaching the group some interesting strategies and tactics—right down to the details of where you sit and how you talk.

“Don’t sit in a line,” said Jeff MacDonald, a manager in ALPA’s Representation Department. “You want to see all the facts at the negotiating table, and that includes people’s mannerisms and facial expressions.”—Molly Martin, Contributing Editor

Guest speaker Linda Puchala, chair of the National Mediation Board, echoed Moak’s sentiments, saying negotiators need a supreme sense of timing and to understand when favorable circumstances exist for concluding agreements. “Great negotiators are opportunistic,” she said. “They’re always listening and looking for settlement opportunities and are willing to adjust their strategy to achieve member goals.” Puchala broke down the time lines for contract negotiations and urged pilot negotiators to calculate the time value of one settlement versus another.

Looking for a summer read? Linda Puchala suggests Sonya Hamlin’s How To Talk So People Listen. In her book, Hamlin advises readers to dramatically rethink how they communicate. She presents strategies for success in an age in which the workplace is less formal, hierarchies have flattened, different generations have completely different goals and reference points, and many peoples’ attention span is down to one-and-a-half minutes.

Myth or Reality with Linda Puchala

“If I fly for 32 years and my contracts average four years in duration, I will work under eight contracts during my career.”

Myth

The breakdown:

Time in direct negotiations 18 months +

Time in Railway Labor Act mediation 29 months +

Time in ratification process 1 month +

Time until next amendable date 4 years =

Reality: 4 contracts (not 8) over your career

National Mediation Board Director of Mediation Larry Gibbons

Claim to Fame:
“I defined fast food.”

Gibbons opened his remarks by telling attendees how he helped the ABX Air pilots define fast food in their latest contract. He then gave everyone a sneak peak at the Board’s newest offering: the Expedited Mediation Project (which the NMB officially announced on June 10). He says that it’s a way to get a deal done very quickly, and the Board is looking for customers. For details, visit www.nmb.gov and click on “What’s New.”

Hints from the Mediators:

• Train your negotiating team members.

• Reduce your open issues before applying for mediation.

• Prioritize your open issues.

• Manage/adapt expectations.

• Give your negotiators the power to make tentative agreements.

• Listen to suggestions from the mediator.

• Come prepared and be on time.

• Don’t burn the mediator’s credibility.

Bruce York, director of ALPA’s Representation Department, joined several of ALPA’s seasoned professional negotiators to lead attendees through the interactive four-day training. He emphasized strategic planning and thinking outside of the traditional Section 6 box to make gains in today’s ever-changing environment. He also highlighted the multidimensional nature of negotiations and contrasted different types of bargaining.

The intensive four-day Negotiations Training Seminar helped inform and better prepare pilot negotiators from 13 ALPA pilot groups and representatives from the Allied Pilots Association. The training gave them opportunities to simulate difficult and complex bargaining situations—situations they will surely face in the years to come.

York’s Top 3 Ways to Increase Pilot Leverage

3 Build a relationship with management (it just makes bargaining easier).

2 Have a plan and share it with others (armed with the same facts and figures, pilots come to the same conclusion 99 percent of the time).

1 Work at FedEx Express (or another profitable company).

ALPA’s Jumpseat Council Promotes Captain’s Assistance to Jumpseaters

Pilot-in-command (PIC) authority over the flight deck jumpseat is a right worth fighting for, and the ALPA Jumpseat Council’s No Pilot Left Behind initiative is intended to do just that by educating members about the importance of protecting and maintaining control over that resource. The Council is concerned that the use of the Cockpit Access Security System (CASS) and boarding procedures established during the post-9/11 era could lead to unintended consequences, i.e., captain’s authority may be diminished unless the captain stays informed about jumpseat requests and is proactive in fulfilling PIC responsibilities.

“We are in danger of losing the significant gains we’ve made during the last 50 years if we do not assert our PIC authority,” says F/O Richard Odbert (FedEx Express), ALPA’s Jumpseat Council chairman. “We have seen some instances in which the captain has been effectively removed from the decision-making process concerning who is approved to ride on the flight deck and in the cabin.”

The issue

Immediately after 9/11, the FAA restricted flight deck jumpseat access to online pilots (i.e., company pilots and pilots of wholly owned subsidiaries) and required all offline jumpseaters to ride in the aircraft cabin. With the advent of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its aviation security oversight responsibility, a new regulatory dynamic altered flight deck jumpseat access protocols. As a result, in addition to controlling federal aviation regulations, the TSA promulgated flight deck access restrictions in the form of security directives (SDs) and amendments to airline operator security programs.

To reduce the effect of regulations that severely restricted flight deck jumpseat access for offline pilots, airlines—with input from the FAA, the TSA, ALPA, and other industry partners—collaborated on designing and implementing CASS. Odbert notes that while CASS was designed to help offline jumpseaters who occupy flight deck jumpseats, an unanticipated consequence has developed in which customer service/gate agents have sometimes assumed greater authority than is rightfully theirs to control flight deck access.

Although application of the CASS process may vary from airline to airline, confusion has stemmed in part from a TSA-mandated protocol that barred flight deck access contingent on certain passenger-load conditions (see “The Air Line Pilots Association Succeeds in Getting Regulations Amended”). Because customer service agents initially handle jumpseat requests, a PIC may be unaware that an agent has denied a potential jumpseater access, even though the jumpseat is available. In other cases, an agent might authorize an offline pilot access to a cabin seat without notifying the PIC.

FARs and FAA legal opinions stipulate that the PIC maintains the ultimate authority to grant access, regardless of seat assignment, to any individual relying on FAR 121.547 to gain access to the aircraft. However, in some cases, agents have unilaterally “moved” a pilot to the flight deck to get a paying passenger aboard the aircraft. Captains have a responsibility under the regulations to ensure that any pilot in the flight deck jumpseat is authorized to be there and not to rely solely on the judgment of another crewmember.

The controlling FARs are clear—complying with FAR 121.547 dictates that jumpseats are controlled by the “pilot-in-command, an appropriate management official of the Part 119 certificate holder, and the administrator.”

If any doubt exists about a jumpseater on a particular flight, FAR 91.3 clarifies that “the pilot-in-command of an aircraft is directly responsible for, and is the final authority as to, the operation of the aircraft.” And further, in reference to past arbitrations including final rulings in jumpseat-related court decisions, the FAA has asserted that PIC authority shall remain “unfettered.” These rulings are now referenced in the appendices of the FARs and specify that to even challenge PIC authority in cases of this nature itself constitutes a violation of federal regulations.

The answer

The Jumpseat Council’s No Pilot Left Behind initiative is intended to help ensure that every eligible pilot who needs a seat on the aircraft gets a seat, whenever possible, in accordance with the captain’s regulatory discretion and authority.

The Council aims to broaden pilots’ awareness of potential jumpseat problems and provide them with a simple solution that already exists: PIC authority. It means proactively taking command of the flight deck access process during preflight, at the gate—not waiting for the process to come to the pilot in the cockpit before pushback.

Odbert adds that an additional crewmember (ACM) in the cockpit always provides “an extra set of eyes and ears from a safety standpoint and an extra set of arms and hands from a security perspective.” In a number of recent inflight emergency situations involving ALPA pilot groups, jumpseating pilots on the flight deck and in the cabin played a significant role in safely resolving these situations.

The Council’s initiatives to inform members about this subject have included a Jeppesen-sized jumpseat guide (which master executive councils may obtain for their pilots), an enhanced Jumpseat Council website (jumpseat.alpa.org), a series of special programs being presented at ALPA’s 2011 Air Safety Forum, and amendments to ALPA’s jumpseat policy.

No Pilot Left Behind expands on efforts of the Continental Master Executive Council Jumpseat Committee. “We instituted a program asking captains to walk back to the gate area, about 15 to 20 minutes before departure, to check for potential jumpseaters,” says Capt. Shannon Smith, former chairman of the Continental MEC Jumpseat Committee. “It’s not foolproof, but this program has tremendously reduced the number of jumpseating pilots we would otherwise leave behind.” The procedure also ensures that the PIC is included in the decision-making process required by the FARs for flight deck access.

Walking back to the gate to check for possible jumpseaters is normally an easy and nonconfrontational way to exert PIC authority while concurrently enhancing flight safety and security. The Jumpseat Council, through the No Pilot Left Behind initiative, encourages all ALPA members to adopt this practice as schedules and duties permit, and to comply with federal regulations that require the captain’s review and approval—not just the computer’s—of any request for access to the jumpseat.—John Perkinson, Staff Writer

Sidebar

The Air Line Pilots Association Succeeds In Getting Regulations Amended

In November 2009, ALPA proposed to TSA policymakers that certain TSA flight deck access regulations were negatively affecting flight safety and security and that they needed to be amended. As a direct result, in April 2011 the TSA amended those policies and advised U.S. airline operators that they were authorized to allow offline pilots access to the flight deck jumpseat, following CASS protocols and contingent on PIC approval, regardless of the aircraft’s passenger load.

Sidebar

Flight Deck Jumpseat in Canada

In Canada shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Transport Canada (TC) severely limited access to Canadian airliners’ flight deck jumpseats to operating crewmembers only. This restriction was gradually eased, first with permission for a carrier’s own pilots and those employed by wholly owned subsidiaries to occupy the flight deck jumpseat. Subsequent efforts to restore the flight deck jumpseat privilege for all offline Canadian pilots were hampered for years by a variety of complications, including the ability to positively establish a pilot’s identity and employment status and resolving issues related to flight attendant/passenger ratios as required by Canadian aviation regulations (CARs).

While CASS was developed and implemented in the U.S. to facilitate flight deck jumpseat access for offline pilots, no equivalent system was available in Canada. However, the introduction of the Restricted Area Identification Card (RAIC) provided Canadian authorities with a method to positively establish a pilot’s identity, background qualifications, and current employment status. The RAIC eventually helped restore full flight deck jumpseat privileges for offline Canadian pilots when Canada’s director general of civil aviation signed an exemption to Section 705.27(3) of the CARs in October 2010.

In spite of the approval of this exemption, an obstacle to full flight deck jumpseat access remained because of an interpretation of the CARs relating to flight attendant/passenger ratios. As a result of a concerted, long-term effort by ALPA’s Ottawa office and other industry partners, in April 2011 the director general of civil aviation approved an exemption to Subsection 705.104(1) of the CARs, clearing the way for airlines in Canada to provide flight deck jumpseat access to offline pilots. The newly approved system requires that the jumpseating pilot present a current airline crew identification card (or other specified form of identification) and the RAIC and that the pilot-in-command (PIC) confirm that the government requirements have been met. The PIC’s oversight responsibility is the most critical component of the approval process. This newly approved system is being implemented throughout the airline community in Canada, including by all-cargo carriers.

Reciprocal, transborder jumpseat access (i.e., pilots from Canada occupying jumpseats of U.S. airliners and U.S. pilots occupying jumpseats of Canadian airliners) remains a top goal of ALPA. These recent accomplishments represent a positive step forward in that effort.

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Our Stories

Formula for Success: ALPA Helps Pilot Win Insurance Claim
By Jan W. Steenblik, Technical Editor

On Oct. 21, 2010, a baby boy was born into an ALPA family in Toronto, Ontario. The infant’s dad, F/O Tom Day (Jazz), flies Boeing 757s and Bombardier CRJ-100s, -200s, and -705s. Day and his wife, Jacquie, named the baby—their third child—James.

Because James was born five weeks premature, he spent three weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit, being fed infant formula. After he gained strength, he began breastfeeding—and bright red blood began appearing in his diapers. Diagnosis: intolerance to milk proteins.

The Days are no strangers to allergies. Tom experiences seasonal hay fever; Jacquie suffers from asthma. The Days’ second daughter, now 3½, has severe allergies to sesame, flax, eggs, and dairy products.

On the advice of their doctor, the Days switched James to Similac Alimentum, a hypoallergenic formula, but his condition remained serious. “It seems the trace amount of proteins in the Alimentum is still too much for him,” Day noted in January 2011, when James was three months old. “Constant vomiting, skin reactions, and phlegm congestion, among other symptoms, are the result.”

A pediatric allergist prescribed Neocate, a formula that contains no proteins—just amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.

The good news: On Neocate, James has thrived. He still suffers from gastroesophageal reflux, for which he takes an adult dose of Prevacid, an antacid, but the Neocate gives him the nourishment he needs while circumventing his severe intolerance to ingested proteins.

The bad news: Neocate costs about $70 per can.

“We really didn’t have any other choice,” Day explains. “No other manufacturer makes this type of protein-free infant formula. Neocate is not available over the counter; it must be prescribed by, and followed by, a physician.”

At first, James went through a can every three days. Then, ironically, as he grew, he began consuming a can every two days. Now he’s eating a can a day. That’s $2,100 per month, and more than $25,000 per year—“totally out of my ability to pay,” says his father.

Day filed an insurance claim to cover the cost of the Neocate, without which his son could not live. The insurance company denied the claim.

“They basically said, ‘Our policy doesn’t cover infant formula,’” Day recalls.

The Days repeatedly appealed the insurance company’s denial of their claim—and were repeatedly denied.
Were they at the end of the road? Not with the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, behind them!

ALPA to the rescue

Enter Richard Pavel, a senior field representative in ALPA’s Retirement and Insurance Department, who has both a law degree and an impressive track record of helping pilots overturn unfair and unjust denials of insurance claims. Pavel is one of 15 professionals in ALPA’s R&I Department, which not only supports pilot group master executive councils during (often prolonged and complicated) contract negotiations on R&I matters, but also includes an enrolled actuary, three benefits attorneys, three senior field representatives, two pension investment advisors, and six benefits specialists. The breadth and depth of ALPA’s R&I Department is unmatched.

ALPA’s R&I professionals know the voluminous details of pilots’ contracts, their insurance policies, and local, state, provincial, and federal laws that pertain to their area of expertise. Armed with an arsenal of knowledge and experience, plus a dedication to their mission, they help pilots get the benefits they are entitled to receive.

And that’s just what Pavel did. He took the matter on special appeal to a Canadian consumer protection entity called the Ombudsman for Life and Health Insurance (OLHI). On April 8, the OLHI worked out an agreement with the insurance company to make a special exception to provide coverage for the Days’ claim—both retroactively and prospectively. Tom and Jacquie soon received approximately $3,000 for their previously denied claims.

ALPA certainly works hard for pilot groups, and for the airline piloting profession as a whole, but the union also works day in and day out to help individual members in sometimes unique circumstances.

And that often leads to happy endings, and messages such as the one Tom Day sent to Richard Pavel on April 8 via his iPhone: “Hi, Richard. I just wanted to again sincerely thank you for your hard work and dedication. Jacquie and I cannot thank you enough. Many, many thanks, Tom and Jacquie Day and, of course, James.”

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Cleared to Dream

When Do I Jump? A Second-Grade Story
By Capt. Richard Swindell (Air Wisconsin), MEC Vice Chairman

In February, I scheduled a day with my youngest daughter’s second-grade teacher to visit the class and talk about being a pilot—something we’re all able to do at length and without much preparation. Not only was this a good opportunity to share the enjoyable aspects of our career with an enthusiastic audience, but it was also a nice break for the teachers, who, like us, often go unrecognized for the time, effort, and commitment applied to their job.

For my visit, I took some flight deck posters, a few aeronautical charts, and a container full of airplane-shaped cookies that Sidney and I had baked and decorated (with the assistance of my wife) the night before. I also ordered some plastic gold wings emblazoned with the school’s name and mascot on them as a special treat at the end of my visit. The wings didn’t cost much, and like the kids’ airline wings of the past (probably one of the greatest sources of airline PR ever devised and discarded), they were an absolute hit—the kids and teachers immediately pinned them on and are still wearing them proudly.

My daughter’s class, along with most of the administration and staff as well as every kid in the hallway, was thrilled to have a real airline pilot visiting the school—although I don’t seem to get the same reaction when I show up in jeans and a t-shirt to drop her off or pick her up. Must be the uniform. Speaking of which, I presume that many of us feel a little downtrodden about our profession and don’t give our uniforms or position much thought while trudging through the concourse dragging 80 pounds of gear only to arrive at the departure gate an hour late following an aircraft swap with rows of impatient passengers staring at us. It’s amazing how the day-and-night difference of walking down an elementary school hallway can instill that sense of professional pride in an instant…but I digress.

I had intended to be in the class for an hour or so and was a little concerned that I might not be able to hold their attention that long. I planned to talk about the pilot uniform, its history and importance, and then discuss little planes and big planes, using the posters of a couple of C-172s and then one of a B-737-800. I planned to follow that up with the charts and a “how to become a pilot” session, closing with cookies and reading of Angela’s Airplane (by Munsch & Martchenko)—a cute short story about a little girl who accidentally takes off in something that looks like a King Air 100 and a Fokker 50 reproduced. However, my concerns over their interest and attention span were soon put solidly to rest, as I spent the next hour and a half answering a barrage of questions from the combined second grade. I didn’t make it to reading the book, and the rapid-fire questions were a veritable assault on my aviation knowledge.

In fact, here are the top 10 questions actually asked:

10. Where does the plane’s electricity come from?

9. Why do my ears pop before we hit the ground?

8. Why does my mom get sick on a plane?

7. What is the wingspan of an F-14?

6. How does a satellite signal get into a GPS?

5. What would happen if you put really big wings on a small plane?

4. Can you be a pilot if you’re afraid of heights?

3. What happens if you run out of gas over the ocean?

2. Have you ever flown through the Bermuda Triangle?

And the No. 1 question asked by Indianapolis-area second-graders:

1. Is it better to jump out right before the plane crashes or when it’s still up in the air?

What professional pilot wouldn’t want to the opportunity to answer these astute and endearing questions? Now, to augment this delightful list, my daughter, who sat (bounced is a better description) the whole time beaming and trying desperately not to blurt out answers over the din of her classmates’ comments and queries in order to share her own extensive aviation knowledge and experiences, kept shouting out suggestions for me to consider discussing with everyone. Here are her top three suggestions for me to share with the entire second grade:

1. Dad, tell them I can fly an airplane.

2. Dad, show them your tattoo.

3. Dad, tell them about ALPA.

All three suggestions (and many others) were genuinely made by her, and that last one was not a joke—she wears an ALPA pin on her green school blazer and thinks we have the greatest job and coolest club on earth. I love her for that enthusiasm. I want a safe, viable career that attracts quality individuals from across the country to carry her anywhere she wants to go when she grows up.

The standard for the future of this industry rests with our expectations and the ability to look beyond the here and now, to consider how contract and legislation choices at present will affect our collective future. She deserves the opportunity to fly in a safe, stable, well-regulated industry, and so do the motivated, highly trained pilots who will fly her. ALPA is capable of delivering that reality, but only if you’re a part of it and help to deliver it.

My second-grade stopover ended with the teacher saying that they had occupied enough of my time and there was math to attend to. Sidney passed out the cookies and the wings, and a few photos later, I was headed out of the school to grab a cup of coffee and answer ALPA e-mail, feeling pretty good about myself. Not a bad morning.

So, if you’re down on the industry or the current state of your career and need a boost, go to your kid’s school, or your younger brother’s or sister’s, or your niece’s or nephew’s, or borrow a friend’s child and share with the class the joy and dignity of this occupation, read them Angela’s Airplane, and let them ask you everything under the sun about flying and crashing (they seemed to have this macabre fascination with crashing). Leave with a renewed pride in our profession, and if you’re not already involved, consider jumping into volunteerism—ALPA could use you.

This article was reprinted with permission from The Wiss-key, Volume 4, Issue 2.

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Health Watch

Hotel Room Workouts
By Dr. Quay Snyder, ALPA Aeromedical Advisor

You already know about the importance and confirmed benefits of maintaining a regular program of healthy exercise:

• Improved overall health (good bone density, a stronger immune system, a healthier cardiovascular system, less risk of developing a metabolic disease such as diabetes, improved sleep, reduced depression and anxiety, and more).

• Reduced risk of injury during normal activities and sports.

• Better quality of life (improved strength, stamina, sleep, flexibility, and athletic performance).

• Weight loss/maintenance.

• Reduced risk of failing your next aeromedical exam.

But you fly for a living, and spend more nights per month in hotels than at home. How do you incorporate regular exercise into life on the road?

ALPA local council and master executive council hotel committees have done a great job of making sure that having workout facilities in or near layover hotels is a high priority when their airlines select layover hotels for their flight crews. But what can you do if you’re not staying at one of those?

Actually, the options are many. If you do a modest amount of research and carefully experiment to find what works best for you, you can develop an excellent hotel room workout that you actually enjoy and that produces measurable benefits within a few weeks.

A good exercise program should include aerobic (“cardio”) exercise, anaerobic (strength) training using weights or some other type of resistance, and stretching for flexibility.

Bodies in motion

Aerobic exercise usually is the easiest to get. Depending on the weather and the safety and security of your surroundings, you often can walk, jog, or run—outdoors, in a sheltered parking garage, in a shopping mall, or on a gym treadmill. Some hotel workout rooms have stationary bikes and Stairmaster equipment, both of which are excellent aerobic options. If the hotel or a nearby facility offers a swimming pool long enough for laps, go for it.

Walking or jogging up and down the fire-exit stairwell of a tall hotel will give you an aerobic workout, plus you’ll feel the burn in your hams while climbing and in your quads while descending. If you’re truly stuck in your room, doing jumping jacks or using a jump rope can give you a good aerobic workout.

Join the resistance!

Both stretching and strength training should target all the major muscle groups—chest, upper back, lower back, front and rear thighs, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and abdominals.

Stretching generally doesn’t require any special equipment. By doing slow, progressive stretching rather than rapid, bouncing-type stretches, you will prevent pulling a muscle. You also reduce your risk of back injuries from constantly lifting your flight bags.

Two excellent types of resistance training for travelers are (1) body-weight exercises that put gravity to good use (for example, pushups, chair dips, and several types of floor exercises for the abdominal muscles) and (2) using stretch bands or surgical tubing to provide resistance.

The FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute has produced an online brochure, “Fit for Flight: Developing a Personal Fitness Program.” Click here to view the brochure. Internet sites on this subject abound; take a look, for example, at www.dailyburn.com and www.exercise.about.com. The National Institutes of Health have a variety of links to exercise information at http://health.nih.gov/topic/ExercisePhysicalFitness.

That’s why you brought your laptop or your smartphone on your trip, right?

Sidebar

ALPA members in good standing can get free, confidential consultations and assistance with aeromedical certification by calling ALPA’s Aeromedical Office at 303-341-4435, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Information regarding FAA policies, medical conditions, and medications is available at www.AviationMedicine.com.

Sidebar

Get Started!

• Start off slowly—with reps, sets, amount of resistance, number of exercises, duration of aerobic exercise, and number of days of exercise per week (see “Reps, Sets, and Rest”).

• Warm up before stretching.

• Ease into stretches; no bouncing!

• Drink plenty of water before, during, and after exercise.

• If it hurts, stop. Then apply RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation).

• Cool down with 5–10 minutes of light exercise (for example, walking) after finishing the more strenuous parts of your workout.

Sidebar

If you’re a gym rat, and you’re convinced you need a big stack of iron plates for your workout, think again—and get a good pump with advanced body-weight exercises. Think you’re tough? Try side planks for your obliques. One-arm pushups for chest, arms, and shoulders. One-legged squats for your legs.

Sidebar

The Truth Shall Set You Free

MYTH: You have to exercise to muscle failure to gain strength and endurance.

FACT: As a beginner, you’ll gain strength and endurance while slowly increasing the degree of resistance each exercise day—well before you reach the maximum weight for that number of repetitions.

MYTH: Higher reps with lighter weights or resistance won’t increase strength, just endurance. The only way to get stronger is to work to failure in 12 or fewer reps.

FACT: Performing a single set of 16–20 reps per exercise, with the last rep difficult to complete, will definitely make you stronger—though not as quickly as doing fewer reps with more weight.

MYTH: Aerobic exercise has to be continuous for at least 30 minutes to have beneficial effects on your cardiovascular system and weight control.

FACT: Recent research has shown that you’ll benefit from even a few 10-minute periods of aerobic exercise spread throughout the day.

Sidebar

Reps, Sets, and Rest

How many reps (repetitions) and sets should you do—and how many days per week?

As a beginner, you should perform the exercises on which you can vary the weight or resistance (for example, biceps curls with stretch bands) for one set of 16–20 repetitions, twice a week, for the first two or three months. Use enough resistance to make the last rep difficult. Rest long enough between sets to catch your breath.

You won’t gain anything from using heavier weights or greater resistance, or working out more often than every 3–4 days. You will gain endurance, strength, and connective tissue (tendons and ligaments) that is ready for you to graduate to greater resistance (enough to limit you to 8–12 reps per set) and 2–3 sets per exercise if you want to after a few months.

Consider splitting your exercise routine into an upper-body workout two days per week (for example, Sundays and Wednesdays) and a lower-body workout two different days (for example, Mondays and Thursdays). On the five days per week you don’t work on lower-body strength, get some aerobic exercise.

Sidebar

Get a Grip!

FFDOs: Increase your forearm, hand, and finger strength—and watch your groups at the range shrink! The better types of hand exercisers permit working your fingers individually with a variety of clever and effective exercises.

Sidebar

For more information on aeromedical issues, click here.

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Shaping History

ALPA’s 80 Years as Pilot and Aviation Safety Advocate

“Dave Behncke—An American Success Story”
By John Perkinson, Staff Writer

In this installment of “Shaping History,” excerpts from George Hopkins’s Flying the Line examine Dave Behncke’s rise to become ALPA’s first president and an enduring figure in the Association’s history.

“Who was Dave Behncke? To the public at large he was practically unknown, bearing a name so peculiar that many people who saw it in the news thought it was a misprint. Everybody in air transportation knew who Behncke was, though, and what he had done. They knew Behncke as the obscure United Airlines (UAL) pilot who came out of nowhere to forge a labor organization rivaling in power the industry’s corporate giants.” (page 93)

“Born on May 1, 1897, in a farmhouse near Cambria, Wis., David Lewis Behncke’s early years were similar to those of any hardscrabble farmer of German immigrant ancestry.” (page 95)

“Young men yearning to fly but lacking the financial resources had only one path open to them—the U.S. Army…. Although he was just 16 years old and had only a smattering of formal education, Behncke ran away from home, displaying early the steely will that was to characterize him in adulthood.” (page 96)

“Dave Behncke was a child of the 1920s. He bought the whole Republican world view. He believed in the conventional wisdom of the day, which preached the values of individualism and hard work. Behncke scratched his way up from obscurity, became an ‘officer and a gentleman,’ founded his own business, went broke, and came up swinging again. John Wayne, in his finest Hollywood fantasy, couldn’t have played Dave Behncke’s life better than Behncke lived it. Behncke was the living embodiment of the Republican ethos in the 1920s. But Behncke was not stupid. After repeated bashings by the corporate power structure that Teddy Roosevelt had failed to tame, Behncke came to the conclusion that only labor unions provided the simple justice that working men needed. So he became a trade unionist….” (pages 143–4, Flying the Line, Volume II)

“…in late 1928, he got a job flying for Boeing Air Transport on the Chicago-Omaha run….” (page 99)

“…Behncke believed the propaganda of that time, which depicted pilots as extraordinary individuals. He also understood that his fellow pilots were, at that particular moment in history, ripe for the undertaking he had in mind. They seemed to understand that the privileged few…were going to milk this commercial aviation bonanza for all it was worth, and ordinary pilots were not included in their plans.” (page 100)

“In March 1934 the Central Executive Council authorized a mail ballot on the question of making Behncke the full-time president of ALPA. The response was overwhelmingly in the affirmative. Even the most uninvolved airline pilot of 1934 could hardly help but appreciate the things Behncke had achieved….” (pages 66–7)

“Despite opposition from the Air Transport Association (ATA hastily formed in 1935 to lobby Congress and oppose ALPA), Behncke won battle after battle in Washington. He secured passage of the ‘pilots’ amendment’ to the Railway Labor Act in 1936, thus removing the necessity for any more panicky strike confrontations. The inclusion of airline pilots under this law, with its machinery of conciliation and adjustment boards to hear grievances (originally written in 1926 to prevent strikes on the railroads), was probably Behncke’s most longstanding achievement. Airline pilots today still benefit directly from the provisions of this act.” (page 94)

“By 1938 Behncke could look back with satisfaction on nearly a decade of achievement. The capstone of his success was the passage of the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, with its full federal guarantee of wages and working conditions for airline pilots.” (page 94)

“I’d hate to think where we’d be if Dave Behncke hadn’t been there to put it all together.”—George Douglas, Mr. “V” of ALPA’s original Key Men

Sidebar

Go to the Source!

To learn more about the details of Dave Behncke’s early flying experience and the events that led him to become ALPA’s first president, read the e-version of Flying the Line, Chapter 10, available at www.alpa.org/epubs.—JWP

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