Celebrating 85 Years: ALPA’s ASL Network
Pilots Working with Airports to Optimize Safety
By John Perkinson, Senior Staff Writer
Editor’s note: To commemorate ALPA’s 85th anniversary, “Celebrating 85 Years,” a series of articles, takes a look at the issues, events, and people who helped shape today’s airline industry and the piloting profession.
By 1970, jets represented the bulk of major airline fleets and the future of air transport. As a result, U.S. airlines and policymakers focused much of their attention on pilot training and qualification and aircraft design improvements, giving less attention to issues like airport operations.
“Airports were not a top consideration. Some viewed them as parking lots,” said Capt. John “Bud” Ruddy (United, Ret.), an ALPA aviation safety rep, who noted that standards varied greatly among facilities at that time. “ALPA was instrumental in compelling the FAA to reexamine the importance of airports within its own jurisdictional structure.”
Following decades of ALPA lobbying, in 1972 the FAA adopted a groundbreaking set of regulations (FAR Part 139) that established certification criteria that standardized facilities, training, and procedures for airports that served aircraft transporting more than 30 passengers. The new regulations were the result of the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970, which also helped fill funding gaps in the airport and airway system caused by the need for additional and improved facilities due to the rapid growth of commercial aviation.
Ruddy and Capt. Larry Horton (United, Ret.), working together as members of ALPA’s Airport Standards Committee, proposed the idea for an Airport Liaison Representative (ALR) program. The concept was simple: assign an ALPA pilot to serve as the “eyes and ears” at an airport, where the Association’s members fly, to weigh in on potential operational concerns. Early ALRs would visit airports with checklists to confirm that the facility had proper runway lighting, appropriate signage, etc.
However, the ALPA member most closely associated with the early ALR program is Capt. Mack Moore (United, deceased), who recruited hundreds of pilots to support this new program and worked with Ruddy and Horton to develop training.
Capt. Jack Wilkes (Alaska) recalled, “One of the most vivid visual images I have of Mack is of this guy with gray hair, a pullover, and a huge camera around his neck. Fully 90 percent of the pictures we used in ALR training came from that camera,” he noted.
Since the program’s creation, countless pilots have offered their technical and regulatory knowledge to provide crucial user input about operating conditions to airport managers and municipal governments.
Capt. Mike Maas (Envoy Air) worked with Chicago O’Hare International Airport to install new runway status lights to prevent runway incursions and to construct crushable concrete arresting systems to minimize the effects of runway overruns.
At that same airport—and thanks again to ALR input—the FAA interceded to ensure that the positioning of a proposed LED billboard would not distract pilots on approach to Runways 27R/22R.
In 2001, F/O Ali Frohlich (Delta, and now a captain) covered new ground for the program, working with the Airport Board and Technical Advisory Committee in Panama City, Fla., to provide feedback for the construction of Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport.
In October 2009, the Association’s Executive Board made changes to ALPA policy regarding the ALR program and renamed it the Airport Safety Liaison (ASL) program. Changes included enhanced outreach, monitoring, and engagement with the airport community and airport regulators.
“The ALR/ASL program has evolved into a partnership to enhance cooperation and communication between airport management and its first customers, pilots, to address a broad range of operational concerns ranging from the effects of construction to concerns about noise abatement,” said Capt. Steve Jangelis (Delta), ALPA’s Airport and Ground Environment Group chairman and Aviation Safety vice chairman. “The FAA and local authorities are extremely supportive and want to work with us to make sure their airports are safe, secure, and a vibrant part of the community,” he added.
For more than 40 years, ALPA’s trained airport reps have provided a tangible benefit to North America’s airport network. This unique program is one of the many ways the Association’s Air Safety Organization continues to distinguish itself as the world’s largest nongovernmental aviation safety organization.
Become an ASL
ALPA’s Airport and Ground Environment Group needs additional airport safety liaisons (ASL) to improve safety at numerous airports in the U.S. and Canada. If you are interested in learning how to become an ASL and contribute to this invaluable program, contact the Engineering & Air Safety Department at EAS@alpa.org or at 1-800-424-2470.
