More than 80 pilot volunteers from approximately 20 master executive councils attend a joint session for the Safety and Training Councils and Human Factors & Training Group.

Each year, ALPA’s Air Safety Organization (ASO) technical groups and committees within the ASO’s four main pillars—Aviation Safety, Aviation Security, Pilot Assistance, and Aviation Jumpseat—come together during the Association’s Air Safety Forum to discuss critical airline industry issues as well as engage with members of the government, industry, and other unions.

“Gathering this week and sharing knowledge and experiences with our colleagues in the ASO and throughout aviation is such a valuable element of keeping our industry safe and secure,” said Capt. Wendy Morse, ALPA’s first vice president and national safety coordinator. “The conversations we have and the work we do this week set the stage for the successes of tomorrow.”

Continue reading for summaries of each of the meetings that took place September 9–11 during ALPA’s 68th Air Safety Forum held in Washington, D.C.

Security Forum and Council

Capt. Wolfgang Koch (Delta) and Capt. Darrin Dorn (Alaska)—the Aviation Security Group chair and vice chair, respectively—welcomed the Security Council, ASO security subject-matter experts, and Security Committee members to two days of meetings, discussions, and presentations.

Topics covered during the Security Forum included ALPA’s international representation and work through the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA); security awareness while in Mexico; strengthening ALPA relationships with government representatives; an introduction to the new Critical Incident Response Program (CIRP) security liaison; an update on the rollout of Factal (a smartphone app for real-time safety and security updates) to ALPA members by Capt. Bryan Patchen (Delta), the newly appointed hotel security subject-matter expert; and a briefing of ongoing Canadian aviation security work and concerns by Capt. Grant Meadows (Air Transat), ALPA Canada’s director of Security. In addition, ALPA aviation security subject-matter experts provided updates on the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) program, cargo operations, aviation law enforcement, threatened airspace, counter-unmanned aircraft systems (C-UAS), and cybersecurity.

Security chairs from 15 master executive councils (MECs) met during the forum to hold a closed Security Council meeting, led by Capt. Eric Herman (Sun Country), the Security Council chair. Together, the council addressed ongoing business and proposed new resolutions and discussed a variety of topics, including global threat awareness specific to geopolitical risk and enhancing communication within the council.

The Security Forum highlighted ALPA’s work to maintain strong relationships with all aviation security stakeholders and featured briefings from Customs and Border Protection on international unruly passenger response, Homeland Security Investigations on insider threat and narcotics, and the Department of Homeland Security on C-UAS, plus an update on the FFDO program. The briefings allowed ALPA members to gain awareness of current and ongoing work being carried out throughout the entire aviation ecosystem to keep crewmembers, aviation workers, and the flying public safe.

Jumpseat Forum and Council

Capt. A.J. Berlotti (Alaska), the Aviation Jumpseat Group chair, and Capt. James Berzon (United), the vice chair, led the two-day Jumpseat Forum, which featured speaker presentations, panel discussions, and Q&A sessions addressing various aspects of jumpseat policy and related issues.

The Jumpseat Forum covered topics such as managing flight deck access, maintaining flight deck etiquette and professionalism, and navigating international jumpseat agreements. In addition, the group discussed the MyID Travel booking system, which helps pilots reserve jumpseats on participating airlines. These discussions were designed to enhance the understanding of the policies that govern jumpseat privileges and ensure safe, professional conduct.

Guest speakers also participated, discussing topics such as the intricacies of airport law enforcement operations, insights into the process of granting jumpseat access to NTSB personnel during investigations, an overview of the legal considerations surrounding jumpseat use, and the ongoing challenges of detecting insider threats to aviation security.

At the conclusion of the forum, the Aviation Jumpseat Council met to conduct council business, including an update on recent changes to the Aviation Jumpseat Administration and Procedures Manual. Council elections followed, with Capt. Scott Bienz (JetBlue), the current vice chair, elected as the council’s new chair. He will succeed Capt. Robert Fernandez (Delta), the interim chair. Capt. Robert Ventura (United) was appointed the new vice chair. The leadership transition will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.

Safety Council

Capt. Brian Moynihan (Alaska), the Safety Council chair, led the meeting that began with a presentation of Line Operations Safety Audits best practices, followed by Capt. Steve Kurzbock (WestJet), one of the vice chairs, who discussed how he separates industrial issues from safety issues at his air carrier.

Other meeting highlights included a presentation by Capt. Doug Marchese (JetBlue), the Flight Time/Duty Time Committee chair, that focused on building more fatigue resources into the committee. There were also presentations from Capt. Samantha Brown (United), the assistant director of Human Factors, on emerging data analysis techniques for human factors and pilot training data. In addition, Capt. Craig Jakubowski from the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association discussed a new data-collection program that aims to collect positive safety behaviors and human resiliency data at his property.

The Safety Council also spent a portion of the meeting giving property reports. The group members discussed common issues they’re dealing with, solutions, and support needs and shared lessons learned and best practices.

Training Council and Human Factors & Training Group Joint Meeting

Capt. Randy Symanski (Spirit), the Training Council chair, and Capt. Todd Lisak (JetBlue), the Human Factors & Training (HFT) Group chair, opened the joint meeting, which was followed by a presentation discussing the Pilot Records Database (PRD) and the differences between the PRD and former Pilot Records Improvement Act processes. F/O Abigail Pasmore (United), the director of Human Factors, and Brown noted that while the discipline of human factors is nestled with pilot training in the HFT Group at ALPA, human factors is applicable to much more than pilot training. Anywhere there’s a human interacting with a system, human factors plays a role. Council members also shared hot topics and how they’ve resolved various issues at their air carriers.

Joint Safety Council, Training Council, and HFT Group Meeting

Moynihan, Symanski, and Lisak welcomed more than 80 attendees from approximately 20 MECs to the joint session on Tuesday. The daylong meeting brought together multiple safety-related groups. Morse; Capt. Steve Jangelis (Delta), the Aviation Safety Group chair; and Capt. Jean-Claude Patchell (Jazz Aviation), the Aviation Safety coordinator–Canada, addressed the meeting, stressing how safety and training go hand in hand and acknowledging the work of the three groups on behalf of all pilots.

In addition, attendees received briefings from the six ASO technical groups—Airport & Ground Environment (AGE), Accident Analysis & Prevention (AAP), Air Traffic Services (ATS), Aircraft Design & Operations (ADO), Safety Management Systems (SMS), and HFT. There was also a briefing from the Pilot Assistance Health & Environmental Working Group and the Professional Standards Committee.

Photos from day one of the Air Safety Forum meetings

Canada Breakout

Patchell welcomed speakers and attendees to the two-day breakout session. The group heard from NAV CANADA representatives on Canadian airspace, trajectory-based operations, and levels of service/staffing issues including new training initiatives, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, and GPS jamming/spoofing; from Transport Canada regarding the agency’s work to align with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), SMS, fatigue risk management, and upcoming proposed changes to regulations; and from Vancouver International Airport on initiatives highlighting safety data integration, streamlining standardization, and simplification of its SMS.

Patchell also chaired a panel on SMS evolution and working with airline representatives, with presentations on airline SMS processes at Air Canada and Jazz Aviation, the role of the newly formed ASO SMS Group, and developing SMS best practices.

On Wednesday, the breakout session focused on current safety risks and threats as identified by Canadian Central Air Safety Committee chairs and solutions. The discussions were productive, fostering a better understanding of issues facing Canadian properties.

Cargo Committee and Dangerous Goods Joint Meeting

Capt. Rich Hughey (FedEx Express), the Cargo Committee chair, started the meeting by stating, “We continue to advocate for one level of safety and security across our airline flight operations,” reinforcing the fact that all-cargo pilots operate the same equipment, along the same routes, and use the same airports as passenger flight operations.

Throughout the first day, the group discussed fatigue risk management and the differences between U.S. and Canadian regulatory requirements; reviewed threats to the cargo industry, including concerns regarding some carriers operating across borders under an interchange agreement; and received an update from the NTSB, whose representative noted “fatigue factors continue to be a key focus of NTSB human performance investigations.”

The ASO Dangerous Goods program experts, along with representatives from the FAA, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and Boeing discussed three main items:

• significant regulatory developments,
• portable electronic device fire safety on the flight deck and in the cabin, and
• the importance of airlines’ risk assessments of their cargo operations.

Capt. Scott Schwartz (FedEx Express), the Dangerous Goods program director, began day two by highlighting important regulatory changes to lithium batteries in cargo. Capt. Dave Schlichting (FedEx Express) discussed his participation in the complete rewrite of ICAO Annex 18–Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air and how critical it is to safety that ALPA’s input is heard.

In addition, ICAO, the FAA, and Boeing reviewed the importance of rigorous safety risk assessments on cargo operations. “Airlines that don’t fully understand the risks from certain cargo they carry and limitations with aircraft fire-suppression systems are taking excessive safety risks,” said Hughey.

Reduced-Crew Operations Committee

ALPA’s Reduced-Crew Operations (RCO) Committee, chaired by Capt. Bill Secord (FedEx Express), began its meeting with a briefing by Secord on ALPA’s actions to oppose RCO, single-pilot operations (SiPO), and extended minimum crew operations (eMCO) from being implemented in the United States and Canada. He then discussed the international engagement against RCO/SiPO/eMCO and the important collaboration with IFALPA and the European Cockpit Association to maintain two trained, well qualified, and rested pilots on a flight deck at all times. Capt. Jeffrey Harbison (JetBlue), ALPA’s Collective Bargaining chair, then briefed the committee on the efforts ALPA is currently undertaking in contract negotiations to ensure that at least two pilots are always on the flight deck both domestically and internationally.

F/O Chris Sidor (United), the ADO chair, discussed artificial intelligence (AI) with the committee. The group was then briefed by ALPA staff on the repository of NASA’s study and analysis of the role of pilots in advancing safety and on ALPA’s engagement in the “Safety Starts with Two” campaign, which educates policymakers, regulators, and the public about the dangers of RCO.

Remote Operations Committee

The meeting of the Remote Operations Committee (ROC), chaired by Capt. Peter Black (Canadian North), included pilots from Air Canada, Canadian North, Kalitta Air, United, and WestJet Encore.

Attendees received an overview of new AI-driven operational control capabilities in development that will be able to automatically identify operational threats (e.g., weather, enroute and airport delays, abnormal airport status, etc.) so that dispatchers can concentrate on mitigations during preflight and in flight.

Capt. Jeremy Keyes (Kalitta Air), his pilot group’s MEC chair, shared the challenges Kalitta pilots face while operating to very diverse destinations, sometimes with limited information on the security and operational challenges they’ll encounter.

In addition, attendees discussed the need for increased focus on revised strategies for identifying the “nearest suitable airport” in an emergency—and how that can be fluid depending on the nature of an emergency and various changes over time as the flight progresses. The committee will continue to investigate how the nearest suitable airport can be kept updated in real time to better support flight crews operating in remote areas of the world.

Aeromedical

The Aeromedical Group held three meetings for its members. Aeromedical training took place on the first day for all new aeromedical volunteers, with new volunteers from most ALPA pilot groups participating.

Aeromedical Committee chairs met on Tuesday morning to review issues from the past year and discuss group goals for what they’d like to accomplish in the upcoming year. The second half of the day included guest speakers who presented information about nutrition for pilots, SMS and how it could be incorporated into the aeromedical certification process, pilot mental health, and optimum performance training for aviators.

CIRP Chairs Meeting

CIRP chairs convened over two days, including the annual chairs meeting, to discuss improving practices. Topics included the future path of critical incident stress management (CISM), CISM and self-care in paramedicine, and the NTSB’s Transportation Disaster Assistance Division and its role for families after a transportation incident. The presentations concluded with F/O Carrie Braun (JetBlue), the Pilot Peer Support (PPS) Group chair, discussing how to effectively manage burnout and compassion fatigue when assisting pilots during stressful events. A member of the NTSB attended two of the presentations and gained an understanding of how the committee assists in crew care and the management of stress after a critical incident.

PPS Chairs Meeting

PPS held a chairs meeting that covered multiple topics, including an SMS data briefing by F/O James Norman (Delta) and a discussion on data and how individuals can learn from each other with the goal of having a unified voice while moving the conversation on pilot mental health forward. The meeting also included a review of ALPA’s “Are You in the Green?” campaign and the resources available to pilot groups.

Professional Standards Chairs Meeting

The Professional Standards Committee chairs’ meeting was attended by Professional Standards Committee chairs from Air Canada, Alaska, Canadian North, Delta, Endeavor Air, Envoy Air, FedEx Express, JetBlue, Spirit, United, and WestJet. MEC committee chairs presented reports to Capt. Tom Letson (Delta), the Professional Standards chair; Capt. Jason Graves (JetBlue), the vice chair; and Capt. Nico Deganello (Delta) and Capt. Michael Jones (JetBlue), both subject-matter experts, on current and new issues affecting professionalism on the flight deck. An informative round- table discussion addressed new tools, initiatives for additional volunteer training, and plans for the upcoming year.

Pilot Assistance Canada Chairs Meeting

Pilot Assistance Canada held a chairs meeting to update ALPA Canada members on the progress made this past year. Coordinators from PPS, CIRP, and Aeromedical presented their achievements and highlighted their efforts supporting pilots. Dr. James Daniel, ALPA Canada aeromedical advisor, briefed the group on the upcoming Canadian Aeromedical Support Program for Canadian members.

Chief Accident Investigator Refresher

Capt. Jeff Perin (Spirit) welcomed attendees and introduced the speakers throughout the event. Volunteers heard from the Transportation Safety Board (TSB) of Canada regarding the processes that go into completing investigations, including the analysis phase, tools used, developing lab reports, and report writing.

The NTSB discussed operational factors investigations and what the organization expects from participants and updated procedures regarding personal electronic devices. Capt. Ian Carrero (FedEx Express) also spoke to the group about the challenges of handling several NTSB investigations at once. He encouraged load sharing and time management to avoid task saturation and stressed the importance of building a deep response team for chief accident investigators (CAIs).

Photos from day two of the Air Safety Forum meetings.

AAP Meeting

F/O Jeff Mee (United), the AAP Group chair, thanked everyone for their hard work and stressed the importance of the group. He outlined the subgroups under AAP and briefed members on ALPA’s efforts in the FAA Investigative Technologies Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) that he’s cochairing.

Perin reviewed ALPA’s Accident Investigation Board (AIB) efforts, including the importance of coordination between CAIs and MECs during investigations. He discussed the Confidential Draft Report process that the TSB uses to allow designated reviewers to provide comments. Schwartz also briefed the group on current dangerous goods issues, including risk assessments airlines are required to conduct for the cargo they carry and the shortcomings of current lithium battery regulations.

Capt. Kevin Slovinski (Spirit), the Safety Information Analysis Program (SIAP) director, briefed the group on current Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) and Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA)-related programs and accomplished outreach over the past year. He highlighted recent best-practice seminars, assisting members in establishing CrossTalk programs, and issues with ASAP reports that mentioned passenger alcohol consumption that were excluded from the ASAP program and how his group is trying to resolve this issue.

ATS Meeting

Capt. Doug Willey (United), the ATS Group chair, and Capt. Craig Boxrucker (Alaska), the vice chair, welcomed ALPA pilot volunteers, industry representatives, and international organizations to the meeting. The session focused on the challenges of modernizing the national airspace system (NAS), airspace integration of new entrants, global harmonization of air traffic operations, and new technology to improve air traffic management (ATM).

The first day consisted of presentations on the recent FAA reauthorization act; IFALPA, ICAO, and FAA work group updates; and a joint session with the ATS Group and the ADO Group on UAS integration into the NAS.

The second day included project updates from ATS pilot volunteers and staff engineers, a joint session with the ADO on GPS jamming and spoofing, and open discussion on the future challenges of implementing a modernized ATM system with the rapidly increasing commercial space activity transiting the NAS. Willey closed the session by extending his gratitude to all attendees for their continued involvement and commitment to safety.

ADO Meeting

Sidor greeted the ADO Group members and thanked them for their work over the past year. He gave updates on ongoing projects such as cabin air quality, secondary barriers, operations specifications, and measuring potential airborne compounds. This was followed by a briefing on ALPA’s participation on the FAA Flight Test Harmonization Working Group. The group was also updated on ALPA’s involvement in AI and machine-learning groups.

Various ADO representatives provided additional briefings on airborne weather detection systems, frequency-related spectrum issues, UAS, and c-UAS systems.

The ADO Group also held a joint meeting with the ATS Group on GPS spoofing in coordination with the FAA. The ADO Group was also briefed by various industry representatives on their work over the past years. The group members emphasized the need for collaboration, including communication between the ADO and other ASO technical groups since many projects overlap.

AGE Meeting

Capt. Jeffrey Sedin (United), the AGE Group chair, welcomed and thanked ALPA pilot volunteers and colleagues from industry and IFALPA for joining the private session and for their continued work and commitment to keeping the airports where ALPA pilots operate safer for all. Attendees discussed the challenges and concerns pilots face every day when operating at airports in the U.S. and Canada, improving the operational safety of all users of the airfields, and new safety enhancements coming to airports.

The group heard updates from ALPA airport safety liaisons on what they’re seeing at U.S. and Canadian airports, including construction challenges in Canada, especially in the Atlantic region that has several airports that are designated alternates for many carriers. Sedin also put out a call for AGE subject-matter experts in a variety of areas with several pilots stepping forward, though the group is still seeking someone with an interest in the lighting and laser distraction work area.

Attendees received presentations from the FAA’s Office of Airports, IFALPA, and ALPA staff and pilot volunteers on the work being done with runway safety technologies, including an update on the FAA’s Investigative Technologies ARC.

SIAP Meeting

Slovinski welcomed participants to the Monday afternoon meeting and then reviewed the importance of voluntary safety programs such as ASAP and FOQA and how trust is the foundation to successful programs.

F/O Stacey Jackson (WestJet), the Training Programs coordinator, shared the importance of training ALPA’s volunteers so they’re prepared to participate in these voluntary safety programs. Slovinski also discussed ASAP and FOQA CrossTalk, focusing on assessing pilot group readiness and ALPA resources available for those interested in pursuing an agreement. Capt. Blake Kelly (JetBlue) followed up with a presentation discussing the process taken to introduce CrossTalk at his property.

SMS Breakout Session

Capt. Helena Cunningham (Delta), her pilot group’s Central Air Safety Committee chair, opened the meeting Tuesday afternoon with a focus on solidifying labor’s voice in the SMS process. Slovinski discussed the goals and structure of the new ASO SMS Group, along with progress to date.

Guest speakers included two representatives from the FAA’s SMS Program Office, who reviewed the updated Advisory Circular 120-92D, which was released earlier in 2024. The guest speakers also discussed some of the changes to Part 5 regulations, highlighting expected timelines for programs to adopt the changes. A Q&A session followed during which the FAA clarified misconceptions regarding SMS expectations. Norman and F/O Casey Songster (Delta) facilitated a workshop focusing on conducting quality risk assessments and preparing volunteers to participate.