At more than 150 airports across the United States and Canada, ALPA pilot representatives work with airport authorities to make certain that the airline pilot perspective is considered in decisions that could affect how planes operate on the ground and in the sky overhead. Across the North American continent, passengers and air cargo shippers benefit from the high standards of safety that result.
For more than 30 years, the union’s engagement at the individual airport level with the regional offices of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Transport Canada, as well as with local government, industry stakeholders, and user groups, has helped forge and sustain key relationships. These relationships, combined with ALPA pilots’ professional expertise and practical experience, help advance policies that make a tangible difference in the North American air transportation system.
Just last month, Capt. Julio Zamarripa (United) received ALPA’s Outstanding Airport Safety Liaison award at the ALPA Air Safety Forum for his work at Long Beach Airport in southern California. Capt. Zamarripa stands among thousands of ALPA pilots who have advanced the union’s safety goals at hundreds of individual North American airports.
Here are just a few examples of the positive trends emerging from ALPA’s work to make aviation safety local:
- Runway and taxiway design and redesign. At many North American airports in cities such as Columbia, S.C.; Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Fla.; and Milwaukee, Wisc.; ALPA representatives have attended airport stakeholder and user meetings, provided expert input, and advised pilots on issues including taxiway and runway design and redesign, closures, obstacle marking, standardized naming, and associated visual aids.
- Safety in weather. When Hurricane Irene struck the Washington, D.C., area in 2011, the union’s airport safety liaison representatives at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport alerted pilots to possible runway braking response issues in the context of the heavy rain and existing runway construction work that included grooved, micro-milled, and freshly paved surfaces.
- Reducing runway incursions. ALPA pilots work at airports across the continent to reduce and even eliminate runway incursions, which are incidents during which an unauthorized aircraft, vehicle, or person is present on a runway. Pilot volunteers team with the regulators and airport authorities to identify areas that are prone to runway incursions and remove or replace problematic intersections to enhance safety.
- Winter operations. In North American cities such as Vancouver, British Columbia, where snow and ice are common during the winter months, ALPA representatives work with airport managers to help ensure the highest standards of safety in winter flight operations.
- Emergency response. Philadelphia is just one of the airports at which ALPA representatives have participated in Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting unit training events to make sure local responders gain hands-on experience with the aircraft types that most commonly operate there.
ALPA representatives can be found every day working to improve safety and security at airports coast-to-coast. Chances are that one or more is at work at an airport near you!