July 20, 2015

President’s Committee for Cargo Discusses Lithium Battery Carriage, other Cargo Priorities

ALPA’s President’s Committee for Cargo met at ALPA’s Air Safety Forum to discuss important topics for cargo pilots including lithium batteries. Committee chair, Capt. Rich Hughey (FedEx Express), oversaw a wide-ranging discussion and updated attendees on recent successes and plans for the future.

F/O Mark Rogers (United), former director of ALPA’s Dangerous Goods Program and current chairman of IFALPA’s Dangerous Goods Committee, said, “This is the best place we’ve been,” in reference to the creation of rules regarding the carriage of lithium-ion batteries. He’ll be taking part in a meeting next week to finalize a recommendation to ICAO for packaging standards, with the hope that the standards will be voted on in October.

Other discussions included airport issues, security, and flight-time/duty-time. “Cargo has a greater risk profile,” explained Capt. Hughey. “Some of it we can mitigate, and some we need industry to change. As an industry, we’re much smarter working together to solve our problems.”

Regarding flight- and duty-time, the committee discussed efforts to establish science-based flight and duty rules for cargo pilots, with Capt. Hughey reiterating, “A human is a human, and fatigue is fatigue.” Cargo may be a different industry, he said, but pilots still need the same protections. "Congress mandated FAA provide Part 121 carriers with science-based flight-time/duty-time rules. That's what we want," explained Capt. Hughey. He also mentioned the Canadian Notice for Proposed Amendment as a chance to update regulations as well..

The cargo committee members also focused on the “insider threat” and ways to mitigate that threat. Of particular focus was a desire for hardened cockpit doors and security training for crewmembers, neither of which are mandated by law. Committee members discussed airport improvements, including aircraft rescue and firefighting, stressed the need for voluntary wildlife strike reporting, brought up new reports available on airport construction work, and cautioned that cargo pilots might be negatively affected by the FAA’s mandated switch to LED lighting at all airports, urging pilots to report any issues.

ALPA President's Committee for Cargo

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents over 52,000 pilots at 31 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org or follow us on Twitter @WeAreALPA.

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