April 8, 1999 Hotline

  April 8, 1999

ALPA, Intl

ALPA News

Aviation Links

Committees

LEC

MEC

1999 MEC Hotlines

MEC Hotline
Archives

News Briefs

News Releases

Newspaper
Articles

Pilot-to-Pilot
Volunteers

Home

Don Steinman for
the MEC

Local Council Meeting
The next Local Council meeting will be held next Wednesday, April 14 from 6pm to 10pm at
the Holiday Inn Select, 44^th and Washington streets in Phoenix. In addition to
regular council business, the Negotiating Committee will present an update on preparations
for Contract 2000, and Communications Specialist Yvette Freeman will present the newly
redesigned MEC web site. Also, a brief tribute to Jannice Zambo will be held at the start
of the meeting.

This will be the first Local Council meeting conducted
under the auspices of the new Local Executive Council, with Council 62 Chairman Jack Ryan
at the gavel. All pilots are encouraged to attend.

PBS Update

FOQA Negotiations

A FOQA program will require new contractual language,
developed in the form of side letters, to guarantee that pilot privacy concerns are
satisfied. The first FOQA negotiating session took place on Wednesday of this week, with
ALPA represented by the Negotiating Committee, Contract Administrator Andrew Shostack, and
members of the Central Air Safety Committee. Discussions were frank, and progress was
made. The next session is scheduled for April 23^rd.

Age 60 Re-test Arbitration
An important and long-delayed arbitration hearing is scheduled next week. The Age 60
re-test grievance, aka the Ed Sherman case, will be heard at the Tempe Mission Palms hotel
in downtown Tempe, commencing at 10:30 Monday morning. Additional grievance information is
available on the grievance KIT update.

MEC Committee Changes

All committee chairmen have been reminded to update their
KIT system messages with breaking news as needed. KIT really is a valuable communication
tool, and we invite all pilots to take a listen. The following committees have important
recent KIT updates: Central Air Safety, Grievance, Hotel, Jumpseat, Retirement &
Insurance, Scheduling, and Security. Remember, whether you’re listening to the MEC hotline
or to a committee update, press the “#” key to return to the previous menu.

CASC & Security Committee News

Security Committee Chairman Barry Kendrick has obtained a
commitment from America West that signs will be posted at Terminal Four security
checkpoints authorizing uniformed flight and cabin crews to proceed to the front of the
line. Captain Kendrick also advises that uniformed crew members should not be selected for
random physical inspections of carry-on luggage, including personal computers. If you
encounter a problem at a checkpoint, respond professionally, then contact the Security
Committee with details.

Important additional CASC and security information is
available on the committee KIT updates.

Crew Resources Phone Number Changes

That concludes this week’s update. Fly safe, fly the
contract, and thanks for listening. The next scheduled hotline will be Thursday, April 15.

• Local Council meeting
• PBS update
• FOQA
• Age 60 retest arbitration
• MEC Committee Changes
• CASC & Security Committee news
• Crew Resources Numbers Changes

		MEC Hotline
		A number of pilots have voiced concern that the company is dragging its feet on PBS. In actuality, the delay in developing the Detailed Requirements Document or DRD, which is the software specification for PBS incorporating our contractual work rules, is due to ALPA’s insistence through each stage of development that the program absolutely adhere to the contract. The DRD was presented to the MEC by the PBS Committee last month and approved, subject to the company’s distributing PBS, Captain No-Fly, and Professional Standards side letters to T-4 pilot mailboxes. The side letters are currently at the printer. Once they are distributed the DRD will be signed and PBS software development will proceed. FOQA, or Flight Operations Quality Assurance, is a subject you’ll be hearing a lot about over the next few months. FOQA involves the automated monitoring of numerous in-flight parameters, providing data to be used jointly by America West and ALPA in trend analysis. The program, which is FAA mandated, is designed to improve safety margins, and improve operational procedures and reliability. The data are to be used to identify potential problems with the airline’s maintenance and safety systems, flight deck procedures, and operating systems. The data are not to be used to identify individual pilots who would be singled out for discipline or additional training. Along with our new MEC structure, a number of personnel changes have taken place at the MEC committee chairman level. I’d like to welcome several new committee chairmen to key positions. Congratulations and welcome aboard to Fred Eccles, our new Scheduling Committee chairman; also to Mike Plapp, who will chair the Hotel Committee; JoAnn Rightmyer, who will chair the Training Committee, and Scott Lillard, as new Strike Preparedness committee chairman. I’d also like to express our thanks for jobs well done to our former committee chairmen: thanks go to Jerry Hargis, former Scheduling chairman; Pete Cafarelli, former Crew Meal committee chairman; Bill Winsberg, former R&I chairman, David Hagan, former Hotel chairman, and Tom Nehez, former Government Affairs chairman. Through the work of Roger Cox and Terry Stadler of our Central Air Safety Committee, a number of serious chart, nav database, and procedural problems were identified in the Paradise Arrival at LAX. America West Flight Standards responded accordingly and notified the FAA that our crews would not fly the procedure until such problems were fixed. This episode demonstrates how a cooperative effort between ALPA and America West can really improve the safety culture at our airline. Crew Resources will be moving from Centerpoint to the Madison complex next week. Unfortunately, the move will involve a complete change in scheduling phone numbers. The company will distribute a list of new numbers to pilot boxes next week. The change is expected to take place on Friday, April 16th.