Leadership From the Flight Deck
Eighty-eight years ago on July 27, 24 “Key Men” led by Capt. Dave Behncke, founded the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). During the early days of air travel, pilots lacked many basic safety provisions. Capt. Behncke, ALPA’s first president, had the foresight to bring pilots together with one goal: to advance aviation safety—and that goal remains the core of our mission today.
Last week, ALPA hosted its 65th Air Safety Forum in Washington, D.C., with three days of private Air Safety Organization (ASO) committee, council, and group meetings followed by a full-day public session with speeches, in-depth discussions, and the annual awards banquet.
ALPA's president, Capt. Joe DePete, welcomed attendees to the Forum and highlighted the Association's history: "Learning from the danger that early aviators faced, airline pilots have helped lead North America to safer skies today." There has been loss along the way, unfortunately, but "we've turned pain into progress." And that progress continues. DePete reviewed an impressive list of successes ALPA has achieved and to ALPA's volunteers he said, "Thanks to you, humankind is and will forever be changed."
Bringing together pilot subject-matter experts, industry personnel, and government officials, the Air Safety Forum provides an essential step toward the successes of tomorrow—with casual conversations often sparking the first light of a solution. All told, the week epitomizes what Capt. Bob Fox, ALPA first vice president and national safety coordinator, referred to as "winning through collaboration."
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing of Apollo 11, the first spaceflight to land humans on the moon. Eight years after President John F. Kennedy’s call for Americans to go to the moon and come back, Apollo 11—the fifth manned mission of NASA’s Apollo program—was launched from Kennedy Space Center. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed the lunar module “Eagle” at 20:18 UTC. The video broadcast of the two astronauts became the first TV transmission to Earth from the moon. An estimated 530 million people watched the video images of Neil Armstrong walking on the lunar surface. It was during this broadcast that Armstrong said his famous words, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” thus ushering in a new era for space exploration.
Yesterday, bipartisan legislation was introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives that, if passed, would defend U.S. trade deals, promote fair competition for U.S. airlines, and protect the jobs of airline pilots and other airline workers in the United States.
Independence Day is a time for the nation to celebrate freedom and reflect on American values. And this Fourth of July, as a record number of individuals will be flying our red, white, and blue skies, we continue our work to protect American aviation jobs—and you can help.