Page 4 - InterPilot Issue 1 2016

4 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

New Year,

New Challenges

ddressing the big issues of the day is always a challenge. They are more often driven
Aby political or media agendas, rather than the facts and research on which our
industry should (and usually does) base its decisions. However, it is the role of the
leadership of any organisation to ensure that not only are the day to day problems addressed
– but those big issues, too.
IFALPA is no different, and the Executive Board has recently decided to ensure we
devote sufficient resources to the 2 or 3 big issues of the moment. These challenges must be
fully raised at our Annual Conference and by our 11 specialist Committees and their
experts; they must also be coherently addressed at external seminars by our expert speakers,
in the conventional and social media, and if necessary, we should drive the right approach
Capt. Martin Chalk on to the agendas of those who fall weakly to the pressure from outside our industry to act
President, IFALPA without proper thought and consideration of all the factors involved.
We aim to develop a sharper and more effective response to our priority areas;
• FTL/FRMS and the abdication of regulation to the airlines (poachers turned
gamekeepers?)
• RPAS, its threats and opportunities
• Pilot Mental Health – supporting the best approach to ensure support for those who
need it
The Executive Board has formed small dynamic working groups to ensure each of these
areas has ambition and coordination for IFALPA’s work – not replicating the work of our
committees, but supporting it, coordinating it and ensuring it is more effective.
Coordination was at the heart of another IFALPA challenge this year. The attempts by
some to pursue the aim of requiring video cameras to be fitted to the flight deck - despite
there being, at best, contradictory evidence around this expensive, intrusive technology –
were apparently quietly dropped. In coordination with our MAs at national level, our
experts in the ICAO Panel meetings and other like-minded organisations such as IATA; the
arguments were laid out and the lack of any evidence to support Airborne Image Recorders
in the flight deck made clear. My thanks go to the whole team for providing this protection
from a very poor decision for all professional pilots.

FEEDBACK
If you have any comments or suggestions regarding InterPilot and its content, please
contact our Communications & Marketing Coordinator at [email protected].

Issue 1 | 2016 InterPilot | The safety and Technical Journal of IFALPA