While many of us will travel by air during the holidays, this time of year also marks the busiest season for sending packages. Many gift givers not only ship packages, but also bring gifts on board flights. If not disclosed and handled properly, lithium batteries and other hazardous materials such as food packed in dry ice or flammable liquids can present a serious risk.

Special Guest Commentary by Mark Haley, ALPA Education Committee chairman 

With the 2016-17 academic year fully under way, ALPA pilots are reaching out to students of all ages to relate how their love of flying has translated into a fulfilling career. For decades, ALPA has worked to pique the interest of new generations of aviators with the goal of ensuring a strong pilot workforce for the future.

Every day, people and businesses depend on U.S. airline pilots to keep them moving. However, pilots do more than simply carry passengers from one destination to the next. They open up the possibility of new adventure. They connect people, allowing them to share the most important moments in life with one another. With each flight, U.S. airline pilots go above and beyond to keep their passengers safe and on time. Pilots are immeasurably important, to the airline industry and the world. This Thanksgiving, ALPA would like to express sincere appreciation for U.S. airline pilots. Here are the top ten reasons why we’re grateful for our pilots.

As we await the DOT’s critical final ruling on NAI’s application for a foreign air carrier permit, ALPA pilots are teaming up and taking action with a new campaign to urge U.S. government officials to DenyNAI. 

On Sunday, ALPA, along with millions of people in this country, took time to honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost on September 11, 2001. An important facet of ALPA’s “never forget, never again” focus is to advance the security of aviation operations as part of the 9/11 legacy. In the aftermath of the attacks, Congress mandated that reinforced flight deck doors be installed on passenger airliners. 

Unfortunately, practical experience using these doors soon revealed a critical vulnerability—the reinforced door must be periodically opened during flight for pilots’ operational and physiological needs, which means that they may be compromised by one or more intruders who could rush the flight deck.To address this unintended security loophole, another layer of safety, the “secondary barrier,” was developed by airlines for use whenever the cockpit door is open during flight.

In order to enhance security for passengers, pilots and the national defense, ALPA continues to be a leader in efforts to enact legislation that would require secondary barriers on all passenger aircraft.