Page 4 - 2016-Issue4

4 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Captain Ron Abel
Acting President, IFALPA
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Issue 4 | 2016
SAFETY IN NUMBERS
t is with mixed emotions that I assume the honour of representing the membership of the
IInternational Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations in the role of Acting President.
Captain Martin Chalk, who has served IFALPA in many capacities, most recently as
president, has decided this month to resign his position for personal reasons.
As many IFALPA member organizations have witnessed, Captain Chalk is a deeply
respected and powerful advocate for aviation safety and the piloting profession. On behalf
of our Federation, I express our appreciation to him for his work as a fierce leader and
compelling IFALPA spokesperson. At its next meeting, the IFALPA Executive Committee
will designate one of our Executive Vice Presidents to assume the office and duties of the
deputy president until the election of a replacement at our next Conference in May 2017.
In the midst of this transition, IFALPA remains steadfast in its commitment to
promoting the highest level of aviation safety worldwide. Working together, our Federation
has achieved remarkable progress in aviation safety. We continue to capitalize on our
membership of more than 100,000 pilot leaders to push the international air transportation
community to do even more.
Most recently, IFALPA participated in the 39th Triennial Assembly of the International
Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which was held in Montreal this past September. The
Federation was represented in the plenary sessions, the Executive Committee, the
Economic Commission, and the Technical Commission. At all these levels, we were able to
effect positive change in IFALPA members’ interests.
More than ever, our Federation is reaching out to greater numbers of audiences in our
efforts to advance aviation safety. In September, we were proud to work as a partner in
Montreal’s Civil Aviation Week, which is designed to celebrate the vitality of Quebec’s
aerospace industry. While at the event, I took the opportunity to invite Canadian Transport
Minister Marc Garneau to join us next May for IFALPA’s 72nd conference in Montreal.
In addition, IFALPA continues its leadership role in aviation safety by producing
cutting-edge publications that highlight emerging as well as long-standing issues. Our
publications not only underscore the risk for passengers, crews, and cargo, but also offer
solutions that will help take the airline industry to the next level of safety.
Our Federation is also creating opportunities for our members to connect with each
other and with greater numbers of safety advocates. We held a Helicopter Committee
meeting in Australia and further developed our position on the relatively new issue of safely
integrating remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) into airspace shared with other aircraft.
IFALPA also continues to work with IATA to ensure pilots’ perspectives are reflected as our
worldwide industry pursues progress on proper implementation of safety management
systems and fatigue risk management.
IFALPA is making enormous progress in advancing aviation safety because we are
working together within our Federation and throughout the worldwide industry.
Truly, there is safety in numbers.
InterPilot | The safety and Technical Journal of IFALPA