Page 36 - InterPilot 2018, Issue 4
P. 36

PAGE 36                                                                                                               PAGE 37

        Founding MAs:                                                                                                                          “...the most important safety assets on






                                                                                                                                               any airliner, cargo or passenger, are
        ALPA-I                                                                                                                                 adequately rested, fully qualified, and


                                                                                                                                               well-trained pilots.“








        AIR LINE PILOTS ASSOCIATION, INTERNATIONAL (UNITED STATES)







        BY CAPTAIN TIM CANOLL                      fter the International     In the early days of flight, working as
        PRESDIENT                                  Civil  aviation  organiza-  an  airline pilot in any  region of the
                                                   tion  (ICao)  was found-   world  was dangerous.  For example,
                                           aed in 1947 as the global          more than  half of ALPA’s founders
                                           forum  for civil  aviation,  the  air   died in airline accidents despite being
                                           line  pilots  association,  Interna-  outstanding aviators. This tragic back-
                                           tional  (alpa) and  12 other pilot   ground not only meant that “Schedule
                                           organizations  immediately  rec-   with Safety” became ALPA’s founding
                                           ognized the need to establish      motto, it led to our position that the
                                           formal representation  for pilots   most  important safety assets  on any
                                           before the united nations body.    airliner,  cargo  or passenger,  are  ad-
                                           a short time later, the world’s pi-  equately  rested,  fully  qualified,  and
                                           lots formed Ifalpa and the fed-    well-trained pilots.
                                           eration’s value as the global voice
                                           of pilots has only increased in the   This recognition of the dangers pres-
                                           seven decades since.               ent in the first years of our industry is
                                                                              one reason that airline pilots  across
                                                                              the  world  fight  so  hard  for  safety.
                                                                              From the  beginning  of commercial
                                                                              flight,  we’ve  shared  a  commitment
                                                                              across continents and beyond bor-
                                                                              ders to ensuring the safest possible air
                                                                              transportation system for our passen-
                                                                              gers, cargo, and crews.                                                                                                First IFALPA Conference London, 1948

                                                                              Through its participation at ICAO and               For example, the collaboration that IFALPA has made  process designed to identify every factor involved in
                                                                              in many other international, national,              possible in accident  response,  analysis, and  preven-  the accident with the goal of preventing a similar ac-
                                                                              regional,  and  local venues, IFALPA                tion showcases our mutual support and joint work to  cident from ever happening again.
                                                                              Member Associations  have worked                    advance  safety. Through  the commitment  of IFALPA
                                                                              tirelessly to  advance  every  aspect  of           Member Associations, we come together to assist our  IFALPA has fostered a collaboration among pilots, to-
                                                                              aviation safety. ALPA has contributed               colleagues during increasingly rare incidents and ac-  gether with the airlines, the regulators, and the aircraft
                                                                              to  the  effort  by  supporting  the  Fed-          cidents  through  Critical  Incident  Response Programs  manufacturers, that has taken air travel and transporta-
                                                                              eration’s  Standing  Committees and                 and other resources.                               tion to a new level of safety and an unparalleled safety
                                                                              advisory  groups  with  subject  matter                                                                record.  While  work  to  advance  safety  is  never  com-
                                                                              expertise  and  professional  staff  re-            As the world’s largest nongovernmental aviation safety  plete, without the Federation’s seventy years of safety
                                                                              sources on  issues ranging  from pilot              organization,  ALPA has also worked  with our IFALPA  work, such a record would not be possible.
                                                                              training and human performance  to                  colleagues to contribute to the development of a prov-
                                                                              runway and taxiway safety and air traf-             en and internationally recognized accident investiga-  While originally created to promote the safe and ef-
                                                                              fic services.                                       tion process centered on preventing future accidents.  ficient development of civil aviation, ICAO’s strategic
                                                                                                                                  Together, we have pressed the industry to reform the  objectives have expanded in recent years—a develop-
                                                                                                                                  focus of accident investigation away  from naming a  ment that makes it more important than ever that air-
                                                                                                                                  single cause and toward conducting a safety-centered  line pilots across the globe work together.
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