Advancing Aviation through Advocacy

Rigorous Training Standards Ensure Air Travel Remains Safest Mode of Transportation

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Two Pilots on the Flight Deck

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ATC Modernization

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Extended Minimum Crew Operations

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Pilot Supply

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Secondary Flight Deck Barriers

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News from the Flight Deck

Capt. Ambrosi: There Is No Shortcut to The Flight Deck. Rigorous Pilot Training Standards Keep Our Skies Safe

At airports on flights across the country, many passengers may be wondering: Is flying still safe? The answer is yes - thanks to rigorous pilot training standards that serve as the foundation of aviation safety.
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Capt. Ambrosi: Planes Don’t Fly Themselves — And They Never Should

Some of the world’s largest aircraft manufacturers seem convinced that adding new technologies and increasing automation will allow airlines to reduce the number of pilots on the flight deck. For them, it is a question of when, not if.
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Capt. Jason Ambrosi: Removing Two Pilots from the Flight Deck is Dangerous

You’re flying 34,000 feet over the Atlantic, finally taking that dream trip to Europe. Then you hear a commotion and realize there is an issue with the flight. Your mind zeroes in to who is at the plane’s controls. Your assumption would be that two pilots are at the helm. But what if only one pilot was on the flight deck?
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5 Unintended Consequences of Raising the Pilot Retirement Age

As policymakers work toward a May 10 deadline to pass a new FAA reauthorization bill, special interest groups are lobbying to raise the pilot retirement age to 67, a change that the FAA doesn’t support and that will needlessly complicate air travel just as record numbers of passengers take to the skies. 
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Americans Deserve Reliable Air Transportation

The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), along with more than 30 other labor unions, opposes any increase to the mandatory pilot retirement age in the United States, including a House-passed provision that would allow airline pilots between the ages of 65 and 67 to return to flying.
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Congress: Don’t Let Airlines Cut Corners

Some airlines claim the only way to ensure a robust pilot pipeline — one that can adequately serve small and rural communities — is to reduce the country’s commitment to maintaining the highest aviation safety standards in the world. Instead of coming to the table with real solutions for expanding the aviation talent pool, these airlines want to cut corners and take the easy way out by lowering pilot training qualifications and safety standards.
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Capt. Jason Ambrosi: Raising the retirement age for pilots puts America’s aviation system at risk

Our country’s current approach to aviation safety is clearly working — the U.S. is the gold standard for aviation safety around the world. Despite this achievement, lawmakers working on the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill are considering introducing new risk and rolling back safety regulations just as passengers are returning to the skies.
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Congress: Prioritize Safety in FAA Reauthorization

Congress must pass a new FAA reauthorization bill before the current law expires on Dec. 31. The stakes for air safety couldn’t be higher, as special interests lobby lawmakers for changes to the law that would weaken training requirements, increase the retirement age and attempt to reduce pilots on the flight deck.
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Colgan Families Join Efforts Pushing Congress to Maintain Current Pilot Training Requirements

Families who lost loved ones in the 2009 crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 joined ALPA President Capt. Jason Ambrosi and U.S. Reps. Nick Langworthy (NY-23) and Brian Higgins (NY-26) last week to press lawmakers to maintain the regulations responsible for making the U.S. aviation system the safest in the world.
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Capt. Ambrosi to Congress: Keep Air Safety Standards in Place

At a recent congressional hearing, ALPA President Jason Ambrosi told lawmakers that higher safety standards implemented under the Airline Safety Act of 2010 are working and Congress should exercise caution in making changes. “We’re at the safest period in aviation history right now and a lot of that is because of these very rules,” he said. Watch the full clip here.
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Why are some airlines trying to lower safety standards? We asked a real pilot.

Using false claims of a “pilot shortage,” some airlines are trying to drastically cut the training and qualification requirements that keep our skies safe. But the fact is, higher safety standards are working. Since new regulations were implemented in 2010, airline fatalities have dropped 99.8 percent in the U.S. We sat down with Paul Ryder, a United Airlines pilot, to talk more about this important issue.
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Why did airlines invent a pilot shortage? We asked a real pilot.

There’s much more to the fake narrative than you might think. Amid all the travel chaos this summer with delayed and canceled flights, passengers repeatedly heard one excuse from the airlines: There’s a pilot shortage. But the truth is, there is no pilot shortage. In fact, there are not only more than 1.5 pilots for every job but there are actually more pilots flying today than before the pandemic. We sat down with Paul Ryder, a United airline pilot, to set the record straight.
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Air Safety Forum Focuses on 1,500 Training Hour Rule

Transportation safety authorities and industry leaders speaking at ALPA's 2022 Air Safety Forum last week made one thing clear: Efforts to reduce pilot training due to a fake pilot shortage narrative are misguided. These officials rejected calls to reduce the 1,500-hour pilot training rule.
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A history of being more than ready

As the world’s largest airline pilot union, ALPA has fought for rigorous training and qualification standards, advocated for proven safety measures and regulations, and defended the rights of the professionals responsible for keeping your flights safe.
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1930s
1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
19 33
Limited pilot flight time to 85 hours per month, addressing pilot fatigue.
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Convinced airlines to form some of the first air traffic control centers in the US.
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Advocated for an independent aviation safety board, leading to the creation of the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board).
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Fought for federal requirement of commercial pilot certificates for all cockpit crew members.
19 56
ALPA’s “T” instrumentation layout becomes the worldwide standard.
19 60
FAA requires weather radar on most large transport aircraft.
19 63
ALPA findings lead to flame-resistant cabin materials and improved fire-extinguishing capabilities.
19 71
Held first airport disaster drill in Oakland, CA; FAA makes these drills a thrice-annual requirement in 1987.
19 72
FAA requires airport operators to obtain a certificate proving they comply with safety standards.
19 75
FAA approves rules requiring ground proximity warning systems in airliners.
19 87
FAA requires Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance in passenger aircraft. Since the introduction of TCAS, no airliner in US airspace has been involved in a midair collision.
19 91
Raised pilot qualification standards by restricting the number of different models that can be included under a pilot’s rating.
19 95
FAA requires smaller airliners to be operated under the stricter safety rules of large 30-seat airliners, due to ALPA’s “One Level of Safety” campaign.
20 02
The Aviation and Transportation Security Act is enacted, incorporating many of ALPA’s recommendations on safety and security.
20 10
The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 is passed, setting higher safety standards for training and certification of pilots.