Air Safety Organization Update
Mark Your Calendar for ALPA’s Pilot Assistance Forum
ALPA’s 2017 Pilot Assistance Forum will take place at the Association’s Herndon, Va., Conference Center on May 23–24. Join your fellow ALPA pilots and industry professionals as they share their pilot-assistance experiences addressing pilot fitness, flying and family issues, and a host of other pertinent topics.
Go to paforum.alpa.org to view the agenda for this year’s event and to register.
As part of ALPA’s Air Safety Organization, Pilot Assistance encompasses aeromedical issues, the Critical Incident Response Program, the HIMS substance abuse treatment program, professional standards, and the Pilot Assistance network in Canada.
HIMS Experts Examine Standards and Challenges of Substance Abuse Treatment
ALPA’s Human Intervention Motivation Study (HIMS) pilot volunteers; the FAA; airline management representatives; and HIMS aviation medical examiners, psychologists, and psychiatrists met in late March for the annual HIMS Advanced Topics Seminar in Dallas, Tex. Operating under ALPA’s Air Safety Organization Pilot Assistance network, F/O Corey Slone (United), ALPA’s HIMS chairman; Capt. Marc Grassie (FedEx Express), HIMS vice chairman; and Dr. Quay Snyder, program manager and ALPA’s aeromedical advisor, hosted 158 attendees from 15 airlines and trained medical professionals from around the world.
Topics discussed at this year’s seminar included challenges in running a HIMS program at different airlines, substance abuse/dependence criteria according to 14 CFR 67, substance abuse/dependence evaluations, relapse detection and pilot monitoring, and family awareness and support programs. FAA reps covered standards, criteria, and CFR education.
Also attending the seminar were Dr. Michael Berry, the FAA’s federal flight surgeon, and Heather Healy from the Association of Flight Attendants FADAP, the group’s drug and alcohol program.
Since its inception in 1974, the HIMS program—part of ALPA’s Air Safety Organization Pilot Assistance structure that also includes Aeromedical, Critical Incident Response, Professional Standards, and Canadian Pilot Assistance—has continued to grow. For more than 42 years, pilot volunteers, regulators, and medical professionals have supported and aided pilots who suffer from substance dependence, helping to save lives and careers through HIMS program standards of intense monitoring and compliance with special-issuance medical requirements.
ASO Trains the Next Generation of Accident Investigators
More than 40 pilot safety representatives from 13 pilot groups assembled at ALPA’s Conference Center in Herndon, Va., in early April to take part in the Air Safety Organization’s (ASO) Accident Investigation Course.
Welcoming the students, Capt. Michael Wickboldt (Spirit) said, “ALPA is uniquely qualified to serve on an accident investigation as an interested party, since we bring the line-pilot perspective. The goal of everyone on the investigation is the same—to identify any safety issues and make recommendations to prevent these events from happening again.”
The four-day course covered topics such as accident notification and dispatch to the site, the resources available from various ALPA departments, investigative agency policies, membership in various investigative groups, blood-borne pathogen precautions, and responding to international investigations.
The ASO’s capstone accident investigation course, Advanced Accident Investigation, will be held May 15–18 in Grand Forks, N.D.
Pilots Take Part in Risk Management, Safety Leadership Training
Pilots from around the United States and Canada assembled at ALPA’s Conference Center in Herndon, Va., in late March to participate in the Association’s Risk Management Course and Safety Leadership School, taught by ALPA Air Safety Organization (ASO) representatives and supported by Engineering & Air Safety Department staff.
Ten pilots from seven ALPA pilot groups attended the Risk Management Course. “This course is designed to give pilots an introduction to the tools they need to help them work with their management, within their company’s risk-management programs, as well as with government representatives,” said course leader Capt. Nick Seemel (Jazz Aviation), ALPA’s national Safety Management Systems (SMS) director. The course familiarized pilot safety reps with safety reporting programs such as SMS, the Aviation Safety Action Program, and the Flight Operations Quality Assurance Program.
The ASO also held its Safety Leadership School to prepare experienced safety reps to take on leadership positions within the ASO safety structure and successfully address various situations or scenarios they may encounter with management and government representatives.
ALPA Promotes Safe Enroute ATC Data Comms
Members of ALPA’s Air Safety Organization and Engineering & Air Safety Department are working with the Data Communications Implementation Team (DCIT)—the FAA/industry group tasked with designing the detailed pilot and controller procedures for using ATC data comm capabilities—to help define initial procedures for inflight use of the data by controllers and pilots in U.S. airspace.
These procedures are scheduled to go into effect in the summer of 2018 in the midwest United States. Initial ATC services include handoffs to the next ATC sector or center, altimeter settings, altitude clearances, and reroutes, and pilots will be able to request a new altitude or direct-to-fix.
Pilots and controllers are working together on very detailed scripts to help ensure that issues are identified and resolved prior to the initial implementation.
If you have questions about data comm, contact ALPA’s Engineering & Air Safety Department at EAS@alpa.org or 1-800-424-2470.
