May 21, 2021

ALPA Reminds the Industry: Airline Pilots Are the Most Important Safety Feature on an Aircraft

On May 19, Capt. Bob Fox, ALPA first vice president and national safety coordinator, served as the Tech Talk guest speaker for RTCA’s monthly aviation industry webinar. His presentation, “Airline Pilots—The Most Important Safety Feature on an Aircraft,” followed a panel of FAA and industry representatives titled “Human Factors in Flight Deck Design & Certification.”

Capt. Fox’s session emphasized the importance of having two well trained, fully qualified, and healthy pilots on the flight deck—especially in modern flight decks with increasing automation. Using the 737 MAX accidents and the United Boeing 777 engine failure in Denver as contrasting examples, Fox underscored how safety management systems and pilot training and qualifications in North America have led to the safest period in North American aviation history. He noted that an important aspect of this training is ALPA’s strong advocacy of pilots maintaining their manual flying skills to prevent overreliance on automation.

“In an emergency situation, we want pilots to be able to fall back onto their manual flying skills,” Fox said.

Fox also highlighted ALPA’s coordinated efforts with the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations and the International Civil Aviation Organization in the aftermath of the 737 MAX accidents to stand up a new pilot training and licensing panel to improve safety and training standards across the world.

Additionally, Capt. Fox thanked RTCA for its work standing up the Special Committee last year to develop guidance for flight deck and cabin cleaning and sanitizing.

A replay of the webinar will be available on the RTCA YouTube channel. 

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