ALPA ADVANCING AVIATION SAFETY AND SECURITY SINCE 1931

Release #: 23.03
February 07, 2023

ALPA Urges Congress to Prioritize Safety with FAA Reauthorization Maintaining U.S. ‘Gold Standard’ Must Top the List


WASHINGTON—Testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure today, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) reinforced Congress’s role in protecting the world-leading aviation safety record of the United States—the ‘gold standard’—and urged committee members to prioritize safety during the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization process.

“It’s no accident that the airline passenger fatality rate has dropped by 99.8 percent since the law was passed in 2010. We’ve set the gold standard—and I know we share a common goal of ensuring we never accept silver or bronze,” said ALPA president, Capt. Jason Ambrosi, referring to the 2010 FAA reauthorization measure that raised the bar on pilot qualification, experience, and training standards. “As an airline pilot who has flown for more than 25 years and worked for both regional and mainline carriers, I can tell you that all U.S. airline passengers deserve one level of safety. In the upcoming FAA reauthorization, Congress has a historic opportunity to maintain and expand this country’s global leadership in safety for all Americans, whether they fly out of major hubs or small, rural airports.”

The Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010 raised the bar for U.S. aviation, improving pilot qualification, experience, and training requirements, implementation of safety management systems with enhanced voluntary safety reporting programs, and pilot training for high altitude operations, flight in adverse weather, and stall prevention and recovery as well as science-based flight, duty, and rest requirements.

Ambrosi also emphasized ALPA’s commitment to preserving the lifesaving regulations that created the United States’ gold standard in aviation safety, and priorities for strengthening the airline industry and piloting profession, including:

  • Preserving the “One Level of Safety” that airline passengers experience whether flying out of major hubs or small, rural airports,
  • Continuing to improve the aircraft certification system to make sure the system is both safe and efficient,
  • Investing in aviation infrastructure and modernization to ensure the FAA has adequate resources to protect safety in American airspace, and
  • Creating opportunities for aspiring pilots of all backgrounds through federal funding to support the education required for the education required to be an airline pilot and make aviation education more accessible for minorities and underrepresented groups.

Read Capt. Ambrosi’s opening statement and full testimony.

Founded in 1931, ALPA is the largest airline pilot union in the world and represents more than 67,000 pilots at 39 U.S. and Canadian airlines. Visit ALPA.org or follow us on Twitter @ALPAPilots.

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CONTACT: ALPA Media, 703-481-4440 or Media@alpa.org