DVR Alert: FRONTLINE Presents Flying Cheap

FRONTLINE INVESTIGATES SAFETY PROBLEMS OF MAJOR AIRLINES OUTSOURCING FLIGHTS TO SMALLER REGIONAL CARRIERS

FRONTLINE Presents
Flying Cheap
Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS

http://www.pbs.org/frontline/flyingcheap/

Last February, Continental Flight 3407 crashed outside of Buffalo, N.Y., killing 49 people onboard and one on the ground. Although 3407 was painted in the colors of Continental Connection, it was actually operated by Colgan Air, a regional airline that flies routes under contract for US Airways, United and Continental. The crash and subsequent investigation revealed a little-known trend in the airline industry: Major airlines have outsourced more and more of their flights to obscure regional carriers.

Today, with regional airlines accounting for more than half of all scheduled domestic flights in the United States and responsible for the last six fatal commercial airline accidents, FRONTLINE producer Rick Young and correspondent Miles O’Brien investigate the safety issues associated with outsourcing in Flying Cheap, airing Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010, at 9 P.M. ET on PBS (check local listings). 

Read more . . .

The Pilot Story You Won't See on TV Tonight

On your next airline flight, as you walk by the cockpit, you now know on average, the coffee you purchased in the terminal cost more than what both pilots will earn from your passenger fare for each hour of flight they accept responsibility for your safety.

Read more ...

Terrorism, Security and ALPA

It has been 2 weeks since a terrorist nearly brought down a planeload of Christmas travelers. Pilots have valuable, insightful ideas to improve aviation security. It is time for ALPA to go beyond the meeting rooms in Washington, and really lead the fight to protect the traveling public. I would like to see the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) President, John Prater, publicly addressing this crisis.

Airline pilots know all too well the critical importance of teamwork, yet teamwork is sadly weak and ineffective when it comes to aviation security.

How is it that:
• Many of the reforms called for following 9/11 are either incomplete or ineffective?
• A terrorists’ father talks to the CIA Station Chief in Lagos about the radicalism of his US Visa carrying son, yet that information doesn’t prevent the son from boarding a USA bound passenger jet to attempt the Christmas Day atrocity?
• A one-letter misspelling of a terrorists name prevents an arrest and enables an attack?
• Our political leaders are so partisan that they cannot even vote on a leader or approve a budget for the TSA?
• Pilots are the trusted in-flight security coordinators, yet high tech biometric screening of pilots has not been implemented?

As pilots we are married to this system of aviation security. We understand it. We know the problems. Yet with gaping holes in the “Teamwork” aspects of aviation security our Union Leaders need to lead a massive reform effort. Our passengers trust us. Let’s live up to the trust our passengers place on us by calling out the so-called experts then leading the movement for true Aviation Security reform?

DALPA backs $1B to JAL – How did that happen? In secret.

The JAL investment backing; another surprise, a no-notice offer of the Delta Pilots’s full support of a management initiative. This was yet another secret MEC action with NO advance notice and NO Line Pilot input demonstrating once again a lack of respect for the pilots they serve.

This is unacceptable; we have higher expectations from our Leaders.

To the MEC:
- Show some courtesy and tell us prior to making decisions that involve and affect the Delta Pilots.
- Why do you, a small fraction of our workforce, think that you can make the best decisions on our behalf while leaving out the incredible knowledge and experience of the broader pilot group? Certainly there is a pilot or two who could offer valuable insights and ideas. This broader input could add to your understanding and expand your range of options.
- Most all of the information in the bulletin you sent to the Delta Pilots is public knowledge. All background information used in making any MEC decisions should be pulled together and readily available to all of the Delta Pilots on our website.

There is a culture of Secrecy within our union that is unnecessary. We have outgrown the paternalistic approach our MEC uses to control and govern. It limits our possibilities. Our efforts as a Union could be multiplied with leadership that recognizes the value of expanded information sharing and collaborative problem solving prior to making decisions.

What do we have to do to impress on the MEC that we live in a time where information is readily available to all (end secrecy), bandwidth is essentially free (share information) and there are models of success that have grown well beyond the current ones employed by our Union (better use the vast resources available to you)?

Thanksgiving, Sidewiki and Progress ...

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, either at home or on a layover. Thanksgiving is such a simple holiday. No presents, no huge buildup; just a day for gratitude, friends, family and football. I am thankful for your support and participation in improving our union.

Sidewiki

Google has a free product, Sidewiki, that lets anyone post comments in the “margin” of any website. It is pretty cool. You can read about Sidewiki and download it here (http://www.google.com/support/toolbar/bin/topic.py?topic=24314&hl=en). It is on the Google Toolbar and can be used without the toolbar as a bookmark on Mac’s and PC’s.

Sidewiki is a great way to post comments on any website. For example, you can comment on a DALPA home page entry (http://dal.alpa.org/Default.aspx?tabid=76). Or you can post a comment next to a Webboard post by highlighting the text (http://dalforums.alpa.org/Forum/tabid/708/aff/10/aft/5178/afv/topic/Default.aspx). This is especially helpful if you read a great/informative post and want to comment alongside it rather than at the bottom of the thread creep (and below the inevitable thread creep that shows up below good posts). (Hopefully these links work properly, the ALPA website has not been very user-friendly lately.) There may be downsides to Sidewiki as well. Since Sidewiki is a separate website the determination of what is inappropriate falls on Google's shoulders. Technology marches forward and innovators make the best of what is available.

Transform ALPA Progress

There as been some good feedback and discussions this past week. I have had positive, candid conversations with candidates and elected members of the MEC. Transparency, more union involvement and better collaboration through readily available communication technology is drawing broad support.

I think it is time to start crafting resolutions calling for these broad concepts and specifics to help implement them. Please send or post your comments on possible Council Resolutions calling for these concepts, including ideas on how to broaden support for passing these resolutions.

Error: ALPA Search Unavailable

ALPA’s use of modern technology is antiquated. We need leadership that takes a visionary approach to communication technology.

We are lacking in some basic tools. Take “search”. Most websites in the modern world have a sophisticated search bar. Our DALPA website has no “search” at all!

I recently spent 30 minutes looking unsuccessfully for a document that was on our website. I posted my frustration on the Forum. I got 3 responses from pilots and an email and a phone call from 2 different Council 44 Reps all telling me where the information was. I really appreciated the quick responses but this wastes everyone’s time.

We need modern, readily available and cheap web tools to facilitate openness, more and better information flow and eased methods for making inputs to our union. The response from our leadership has been hugely disappointing.

There are many of us who want a more responsive union. We want leadership that considers and tries to integrate good ideas. We want union officials to be open and recognize that they are in a service position. Service means being attentive, responsive, positive and understanding. We expect it.

Technology is not a yes or no proposition. We fly to 112 countries. The world is changing around us. We are limited to emails and phone calls, with a world of unused web tools available to us. Let’s get going ALPA. We want more.

http://transformalpa.blogspot.com/

TransformALPA@gmail.com

An Interesting Week. . . Blogging for transparency and transformation

It started off with a Forum post where the Strategic Planning Committee Chair suggesting that open discussion of topics may be too expensive (I assume he is talking about those line pilots are not able to have with their union now, such as building Strategic Planning ideas). He also thought that I should be more transparent. Huh? He suggests a line pilot should exercise transparency as a response to a pilot asking for union transparency?? This conversation and a private email from another MEC Administrative Officer (denouncing my ideas as too expensive and unwise) were very revealing. Our union’s decisions are supposed to be made by the MEC (our elected LEC’s when meeting together constitute the MEC). They directly represent Line Pilots. In actuality, the Master Chairman and his Administration exert more union control than they are designed to have. Since when does a Committee Chair decide whether new communication technology should be used, or is too expensive? Neither the Master Chairman nor his officers or committee chairs have any vote on the MEC. Their role is to follow the directives of the MEC whom we elect and whose job it is to set policy.

I have been emailing most of the ideas you have been reading to my LEC. I traveled to the MEC offices on Friday to meet with the ATL Council 44 Chairman who expressed wanted to have a further exploration of our emails. We had a good discussion of many low cost technological improvements available for our communications. We also discussed my contention that the MEC should be more transparent and more collaborative with pilot members. I realize he acts in concert with the rest of the MEC. Transparency, collaboration and up-to-date communication tools would have to be called for by a majority of the MEC if they were to be implemented. Clearly political pressure from Line Pilots would be helpful to move in this direction.

In a time of crisis (i.e. bankruptcy and hostile takeovers) a strong leader may be best or even essential. In less critical times it is important for our union to be lead the way we are chartered to be administered; by an MEC acting on the input of the line pilot. In my opinion the MEC needs line pilot support to make this happen. In addition the extremely low participation rate of the line pilots can be attributable to mistrust that developes when a union is not straight with the membership. Many of our pilots have disconnected from our union processes. We may never have a robust volunteer force, but we can open the MEC up to more scrutiny, greater line pilot participation and new technology tools that can smoothly facilitate involving more pilot volunteers in union business.

I just started writing a blog (called “Transform ALPA”) as a way of collecting my thoughts and ideas about ALPA. I wish more pilots would do the same and move some of the discussion of how to improve our union off the Forum. If this were to occur, some of the best thoughts would be linked to the Forum and other discussion boards. Those ideas would get more attention and support. Blogging can be a way of improving ALPA.

Here are links to my two blogs, here and here. I would really appreciate your input on them, either by email or as a comment on the blog. Which do you like better (they have the same material)? I also hope you will consider starting your own blog of thoughts and ideas on how to improve and transform our union. This effort is not about me. I hope it takes off and I can sit back and just be a small part of an effort for improvement. Lots of dialogue and effort to involve others in the discussion can be really helpful.