My name is Ladislao A. Diaz, but I go by Laddie. I am a Hispanic American born in Pinar del Río, Cuba, in 1962, three years after the Cuban Revolution forever changed my fatherland.

My parents came to the United States as immigrants. Growing up Latino provided the foundation for where I am today, including my involvement with the Latino Pilots Association (LPA). 

 

Thinking back, there has never been a time in my life when I remember wanting to be anything other than an airline pilot. 

In the September issue of Air Line Pilot, we look at a few of the ways ALPA and the aviation world have followed through on the promise that “We will never forget.” Examples include our annual 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony, grants provided by foundations honoring the ALPA members lost that day, and the Association’s ongoing work in safety and security.

As students head back to school this fall, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) presents this challenge: Do you have what it takes to be an airline pilot? Visit ALPA’s Cleared to Dream website to get more information about how to become an airline pilot – everything from mentorship programs and “day-in-the-life” examples to requirements and scholarship opportunities.

On July 27, 1931, 24 pilots met in secret in Chicago, Ill., to form the Air Line Pilots Association. In the 90 years that followed, our union’s effect on the airline industry and the piloting profession has been witnessed by the world. 

Since that time, ALPA has grown into the world’s largest nongovernmental aviation safety organization. The labor protections afforded to airline pilots and other aviation workers under collectively bargained agreements have led to innovative and productive partnerships among regulators, management, and employees to advance safety in ways that ALPA’s founders would not have thought possible.