Talk About Fabulous Flying!
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CLOSING THE ARGO AP C Page 22 G Talk about Take Care of App-solutely FABulous Flying! Your Eyes Addicted Page 27 Page 35 Page 37 PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. June/July 2012 Air Line Pilot 1 Watch updates from Capitol Hill on the Export- Import Bank reform, funding for the Federal Flight Deck Officer program, and one level of safety and security for both passenger and cargo airline pilots. Plus, take a personal tour of the B-787 cockpit and crew rest facilities. Enter to win a New to QR technology? Sennheiser headset Download a QR reader to your phone, scan the valued at $850 at code, sit back, and enjoy. flightdeck.alpa.org A member service of Air Line Pilot. Stay Connected ALPA has many ways to keep you up-to-date on everything ALPA. Wordpress Twitter Flickr RSS Feeds Facebook LinkedIn YouTube 43 TO LEARN MORE, VISIT www.alpa.org/stayconnected A member service of Air Line Pilot. JUNE/JULY 2012 • VolumE 81, NUmbEr 5 25 About the Cover 27 14 The joys of flight: In cruise, staring into a merciless sun, many time zones yet COMMENTARY to cross. Photo by F/O David 4 Take Note Putze (FedEx Hate to Be the Last to Express). To view Know? a page-turning version of this 5 Aviation matters issue, scan the QR code with Everything Matters. your smartphone. New to this Everything. 16 technology? Download a QR reader to your smartphone, scan 6 Guest Commentary the code, and read the magazine. Ensuring Safe Skies Air Line Pilot (ISSN 0002-242X) is pub lished 7 Pilot Commentary monthly, except for the combined January/ February and June/July issues, by the Air Our Futures Are Linked Line Pilots Association, Inter national, affili- DEPARTMENTS ated with AFL-CIO, CLC. Editorial Offices: 535 Herndon Parkway, PO Box 1169, FEATURES Herndon, VA 20172-1169. Telephone: 703- 8 Preflight 481-4460. Fax: 703-464-2114. Copyright 8 © 2012—Air Line Pilots Association, 18 The 67th Annual Facts, Figures, and Info Inter national, all rights reserved. Publica- IFALPA Conference: tion in any form without permission is 31 From the Hill prohibited. Air Line Pilot and the ALPA logo Collaborating to Reg. U.S. Pat. and T.M. Office. Federal I.D. Cassidy Denounces EU ETS 36-0710830. Periodicals postage paid at Advance Global Pilot as “Job Killer” During Sen- 34 Our Stories Herndon, VA 20172, and additional offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Issues ate Hearings; ALPA Praises Slipping the Surly Bonds: Air Line Pilot, PO Box 1169, Herndon, VA Export-Import Bank Reforms; Sun Country Pilot Recalls 20172-1169. 22 Closing the Gaps Canadian Publications mail Agreement ALPA Calls on Congress to Space Shuttle Days #40620579: Return undeliverable maga- 25 Negotiations Raise Airline Industry to One zines sent to Canadian addresses to 2835 Level of Safety Kew Drive, Windsor, ON, Canada N8T 3B7. 35 Health Watch Under the rLA How to Shop for Sunglasses 27 FAbulous Flying 37 The Landing Pilot-Preferred Apps 38 We Are ALPA ALPA Resources and Contact Numbers 18 HOW TO READ Take THIS ISSUE Note Hate to be the last to know? Then you If you’re... should check out Flying into New York, Philly, or D.C. ALPA Daily. Flip to page 16 and find out when and where the We all know that what happens glob- ally affects us locally. And in the aviation Known Crewmember program will show up next. industry, it couldn’t be more true. At a recent Ready for an update International Air Transport Association on eliminating conference in Beijing, the cargo carveout Qantas Airlines Check out “Closing the Gaps” on page 22. CEO Alan Joyce was elected IATA chairman. Meanwhile, his airline Wanting to get has been thwarting possible takeover bids into the cockpit of a 787 resulting from plummeting stock prices. Take the personalized tour with Despite rumors of a takeover offer, the chief executive of Emirates has said the BOEING The FlightDeck on page 11. airline has no interest in Qantas. Back at the IATA conference, global aviation Trying to see better leaders called out the EU for its emissions Read “Health Watch” (page 35) to find trading scheme while China threatens to out what sunglasses are best for you. App-solutely addicted Check out pilot-preferred apps in “The Landing” (page 37) to see which ones you must download on your smartphone. impound European airplanes if the EU Making a connection fines China for not complying with the Get Capt. Richard Swindell’s (Air Wisconsin) EU’s scheme. There’s also news that a take on why pilots should lose their (self) full-out trade war is on the horizon. It’s identifiers page( 7). amazing how decisions halfway around the world can determine what’s going in your airplane tomorrow. Wondering where the We covered it all in one edition of ALPA best place is to see the Daily, which brings you the latest industry news from around the globe on issues northern lights that matter most to pilots. We’re including Turn to “FABulous Flying,” page 27, to everything from airline business news to learn the challenges First Air pilots face safety and security stories—and especially operating in the high Arctic. what’s happening at your airline. ALPA Daily is posted each day at www. alpa.org with articles from USA Today, Barron’s, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Reuters, and more. It’s just one of the latest publications we’ve developed to keep you informed of the latest airline news. So check it out— and, as always, if there’s something you want to see, let us know. Marie Schwartz Director, ALPA Communications [email protected] 4 Air Line Pilot June/July 2012 AviationMatters Everything matters. Everything. that will explore many facets of developing and maintaining a arlier this year I had the privilege of riding the jumpseat well-trained pilot. The conference will bring together regulators, on some First Air flights. Personally, it was an incredible management, academia, and subject-matter experts to discuss Eopportunity to experience first-hand operating in the high the latest advances in pilot recruitment and qualifications, Arctic. I’ll never forget meeting a small group of First Air pilots training technologies, and training programs. in Iqaluit one night—and looking south to watch the northern In June, your union released a white paper titled “Leveling lights. You can read more about the the Playing Field.” This paper sets the foundation for a solid astonishing kind of flying that the First aviation policy that, among other things, addresses safety Air pilots do every day in “FABulous issues. It also offers solutions on how to ensure that only those Flying” on page 27. who meet the highest of standards are hired to be airline But I’d like to point out just a few of my own highlights: We landed on gravel or more than 80 years, the Air Line Pilots runways topped with hard-packed FAssociation, International, has championed snow at Arctic Bay and Resolute. The pilots who flew me to Resolute couldn’t for well-trained, highly motivated, professional RON, as they usually do, because no pilots in every airplane. mechanic was on duty. The mechanic had broken his arm a few days earlier and had been flown south for medical treatment. pilots—because we all know that flying today’s complex The ATR 42 had to divert to Pond Inlet for the night. airline aircraft in very congested and complicated airspace is a My stay in Resolute was longer than anticipated because a challenging undertaking even for experienced pilots. You can chartered Dornier blew a tire after taxiing onto the runway for read the white paper at levelingtheplayingfield.alpa.org. takeoff—the wheel rim dug into the snow and gravel, closing Our challenge is to address the systemic global reality that the runway for several hours. The ATR 42 circled but bingoed entry-level pilots hired by airlines over the past few years to Arctic Bay. An ATR 72 that was flying into Pond Inlet had to generally have less experience than pilots hired in previous divert three hours back to Iqaluit because the temperature at years. In some cases, pilots barely meet the qualifications Pond Inlet dropped below –35 degrees, the operating limit for and competencies established as the accepted minimums for the airplane. In addition, they operate in an environment where airline pilots. navaids are being decommissioned and RNAV capability is slow Because fewer experienced pilots are available for hire, to come on line. many countries have implemented training programs designed Each of these challenges came within a small window to produce pilots in a short period of time with virtually no of time, and they truly illustrate the extreme conditions in experience. In addition, many airlines have lowered their the high Arctic and the tremendous professionalism that is minimum hiring requirements. In some cases, the hiring required of, and demonstrated by, the pilots who fly up there. requirements have been lowered to the minimum allowable to The First Air pilots’ skills were above and beyond the everyday acquire a commercial pilot certificate. norm. When they were flying, they were always preparing for Recent accidents in the U.S. have led Congress and the FAA the next emergency. to recognize the inherent shortcomings in today’s qualification Now I know that we don’t all fly in such extreme conditions, standards. Numerous Aviation Rulemaking Committees but these pilots’ abilities emphasize the type of experience have developed many recommendations that the FAA is needed to get into the cockpit of any airplane.