Release #: 23.04
February 10, 2023

ALPA Joins Families and Clarence Center Volunteer Fire Company to Honor Memory of Flight 3407 Victims

ALPA Vows to Defend Aviation Safety Standards Made since the Crash that Reduced Fatalities by 99.8%

CLARENCE, NY—Today, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), Families of Flight 3407, and Clarence Center Volunteer Fire Company gathered to remember those lost in the crash of Flight 3407 and honor the progress aviation safety made as a result of the tireless advocacy of the families. The remembrance event took place at the Clarence Center Volunteer Fire Hall, where the response and investigation of the crash were staged, a few houses away from the Flight 3407 memorial and crash site.

“We feel grateful to be together with the Families of Flight 3407. We cannot know your grief, but we can stand in solidarity with you, lift you up, and rededicate ourselves to the cause of safety you have championed in the memory of those you love,” said ALPA president, Capt. Jason Ambrosi. “With the tireless determination of the Flight 3407 families, along with the advocacy of many others including the Air Line Pilots Association, this tragedy led the United States to commit to changes that have transformed aviation safety. Together, each person here today—and countless others—has contributed to ensuring those we lost in the Flight 3407 accident leave a legacy of saving lives in the air and on the ground. I commit to you that ALPA pilots will never allow that to happen again. Rather, we will fight to raise the bar, keep flying safe, and ensure that those who lost their lives in the Flight 3407 tragedy continue their legacy of safer skies.”

Flight 3407, which crashed on February 12, 2009, marked a turning point in aviation safety as the families and stakeholders worked tirelessly to prevent a similar accident from happening and helped pass the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010. The new standards 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.

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