APA News Digest

Sept. 27, 2024

Editor’s note: Some links in this message will work best if you log in to AlliedPilots.org before clicking them.

In This Edition ...

• Agenda Set for Fall Board Meeting
• Election Round Voting Ends Monday Night
• Compass Project Committee: Papyrus Will Point You in Right Direction
• Government Affairs Committee: Congress Conducts Hearings on FAA and Boeing
• Government Affairs Committee: Bills Would Refine Aeromedical Policies
• Hotel Committee: Tips for Navigating IROPs
• IT Steering Committee: Decommissioning of Legacy MyOT Has Been Delayed
• Maintenance and Technical Analysis Committee: Pigs of the Week
• Membership Committee: APA Welcomes Leadership Class
• Membership Committee: Congratulations to Recent Retirees
• CA Peter Gamble Calls it a “Carreah”
• Southeastern Oklahoma State University to Honor CA Terry Barker
• APA Medical Minute – Cholesterol Medications
• Civil Aviation Medical Association Recognizes APA’s Kathy Parr
• Domicile Events
• Week in Review
• Are You Willing to Serve?
• Closing of the Seniority Defense Fund Trust
• Professional Standards FAQ
• If You’re 50, Join The Grey Eagles
• Pilot Job Fairs and Future Pilot Seminars

Agenda Set for Fall Board Meeting

The APA Board of Directors will convene at union headquarters in Fort Worth on Monday, Oct. 7, for its regularly scheduled fall meeting. As you can see on the posted agenda, the meeting will include a Membership and Guest Hour on the first day.

Policy stipulates that “Any APA member(s) in good standing or, with the consent of the Board, a guest of a member shall be allowed to address the board. Allocation of time will be 60 minutes divided by the number of members/guests desiring to speak; however, no individual will be afforded more than 10 minutes, including any questions/ answers by the Board. Members and guests must advise the meeting Chair of their desire to address the Board.”

Please email asmith@alliedpilots.org if you wish to address the Board.

Election Round Voting Ends Monday Night

The Election Round voting period opened on Sept. 9 for elections at CLT, LGA, and MIA. Each domicile will elect a Chair and a Vice Chair for three-year terms that begin on Nov. 1.

The following candidates are listed on the ballots:

CLT Chair
CA Heather Ducimo Boulanger
CA Erik DeWinne
CA Casey Granger

CLT Vice Chair
FO Hickory Ham
CA Michael Pfeifer
FO Tammy Smart

LGA Chair
CA Jeff Kerr
CA Mark Lokey

LGA Vice Chair
CA David Hines
CA Sam Pool
CA James Scanlan

MIA Chair
CA Thomas Copeland
CA Andrew Weingram
CA Jay Wilhelm

MIA Vice Chair
FO James “Jamie” Funderburk
CA Anne Witcher

The Election Round voting period will close at 0100 Eastern on Oct. 1. If necessary, Runoff Round voting would begin at 0100 Eastern on Oct. 8.

Click here to learn more about the candidates, and click here to cast your vote.

Papyrus Will Point You in Right Direction

This is a new message from the APA Compass Project Committee.

American Airlines’ vast operation is sure to bring inclement weather, delays, cancellations and a plethora of other challenges. We need to be ready to face these challenges. There is a very useful tool that will point you to all the information you need to navigate irregular operations, schedule changes, hotel issues, reassignments, RO, and all Compass Project documents, among many other things. This tool is Papyrus.

From your mobile device, access Papyrus through the APA Pilot app. Type a few keywords of the subject you are searching for in the search box and documents containing those keywords will be at your fingertips. With the integrated auto-synchronization, Papyrus ensures that you always have the most up-to-date documents. What is best, all Papyrus content is available offline! We encourage you to take advantage of this great asset.

Please contact our volunteers via email compassproject@alliedpilots.org or call 817-302-2401 with any questions you may have.

The APA Compass Project is an industry-leading pilot mentoring and support program. Compass offers one-on-one support from experienced line-pilot sponsors, as well as tutorial videos and an extensive database of stage-based documents covering a number of helpful topics that are beneficial to all pilots. Click here for more information.

Congress Conducts Hearings on FAA and Boeing

This is a new message from the APA Government Affairs Committee.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker testified about his agency’s oversight of Boeing during a pair of Congressional hearings this week. The only uniformed pilot present for both hearings was CA Ken Johnson of your Government Affairs Committee.

Click the image to watch Tuesday’s House hearing.

Click the image to watch Wednesday’s Senate hearing.

You can read about the hearings in these articles posted to the Industry News page on AlliedPilots.org.

• ABC News: “Senate probe reveals Boeing’s ‘troubling and recurring’ safety failings”
• Politico: “Senators want to see major changes at Boeing. The FAA says that could take years”
• Reuters: “FAA vows to hold Boeing accountable, revamp agency safety program”
• The Seattle Times: “Facing skeptical Senate committee, FAA chief defends Boeing oversight”
• UPI: “Boeing has improved on safety but needs more time, head of FAA tells Congress”

Bills Would Refine Aeromedical Policies

This is a new message from the APA Government Affairs Committee.

APA President CA Ed Sicher with U.S. Rep. Sean Casten

APA President CA Ed Sicher recently met with U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, who has introduced two bills regarding aeromedical issues:

• The Aviation Medication Transparency Act calls on the FAA to maintain a public list of the medications active pilots can take while undergoing medical treatment.
• The Mental Health in Aviation Act encourages pilots to report mental health issues without fear of losing their jobs. It also calls on the FAA to annually review its policies on mental health-related special issuances for pilots and air traffic controllers.

APA is championing these pieces of legislation, which would allow pilots to make informed medical decisions.

Tips for Navigating IROPs

This is a new message from the APA Hotel Committee.

We are sure to feel the effects of Hurricane Helene through the operation this weekend, and we consequently expect longer-than-normal wait times for the Hotel/Limo Desk. We recommend using the hotel options in the Electronic Communication System (ECS) if the call waits are excessive or if you prefer not to call. Please coordinate with your entire crew – including the flight attendants – so that only one person contacts the Hotel/Limo Desk on the crew’s behalf. Multiple members of the crew reaching out at the same time overburdens the desk and leads to increased wait times for other crews. Furthermore, it does not reduce your overall wait. Let your FAs know you can request rooms for them in addition to the pilots’ rooms via the ECS app, as they are unfamiliar and do not have access to it.

For more information, reference our “Hotel/Limo Options in ECS” article in the Sept. 6 edition of the News Digest.

Decommissioning of Legacy MyOT Has Been Delayed

This is a new message from the APA Information Technology Steering Committee.

Due to continued feedback from our MyOT Beta testing phase, the APA IT Department has delayed the decommissioning of the legacy MyOT application located within Mobile Sabre. This is now planned to occur on Oct. 4.

We are taking this extra time to refine and enhance overall performance in order to provide the best possible product. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

An update to MyOT Beta and Trips Marketplace Beta will be released the morning of Sept. 30. You will NOT need to update the APA Pilot mobile app; however, you will need to force close and reopen it to access the new features.

Please note that the updates to Trips Marketplace Beta will have no immediate effect. These enhancements have been added to assist with testing capabilities and are a prerequisite to the broader open release (Beta 3) expected to be available to our members the week of Oct. 7.

MyOT Beta Release Notes:

• Corrected default values for sign-in and termination times
• Fixed ratios for Pay/TAFB and Credit/Pay
• Enhanced data cleansing, error handling, and logging operations associated with AA OpsHub data feed consumption
• Adjusted backend OpsHub and Sabre processing scaling factors

Note:  An additional minor release will occur on Oct. 3 to address a UTC vs. HBT discrepancy.

APA IT continuously monitors and updates the MyOT Beta data feed for reliability.

As always, we encourage all feedback, as it is invaluable in helping us improve the services we provide to our membership.

Pigs of the Week

APA commends American Airlines’ hardworking aircraft maintenance technicians for their outstanding work. We believe they are the best in the business. When repetitive problems do arise, they’re often due to managerial decisions that fail to properly prioritize tasks and to management’s decision to outsource a significant portion of the airline’s maintenance to offshore, third-party repair stations.

• Since Aug. 6, A321 aircraft 914 has been written up nine times for a Class II air bleed fault, has been out of service six times, and has been on MEL four times. It was most recently signed off on Sept. 21.
• Since June 13, A321 aircraft 954 has been written up 12 times for a Class II air bleed fault, has been out of service five times, and has been on MEL eight times. It was most recently signed off on Sept. 26.

APA Welcomes Leadership Class

This is a new message from the APA Membership Committee.

Click the image for a closer look.

On Sept. 25, the APA Membership Committee hosted a casual dinner for the following pilots who were in Fort Worth for American Airlines’ Professionalism, Leadership, and Mentoring class: Evan Bottorff, Nicholas Chaplin, Joshua Correa, Joshua Crowley, Daniel Edelsberg, Mahmood Enawe, Amani Evensen, Jorge Giovannini, Todd Holbrook, Jared Jones, Christopher Oerter, Jason Robinson, Keith Scharer, James Shawn, Konstantin Shevnin, Ryan Skubik, Alexander Spencer Averhart, Brandon Turner, Jeffrey Wegner, and Armia Yacoub.

Congratulations to Recent Retirees

This is a new message from the APA Membership Committee.

We would like to recognize and congratulate the following pilots who retired in July and August.

BOS: FO Peter Gonya and CA David Miller

CLT: FO John Allison, CA Robert Ballard, FO Ken Linkous, CA Michael Livers, CA David Mudge, CA Robert Owen, CA Randall Page, CA Gregory Pietrocola, CA John Robinson, CA Robert Steljes, CA Joseph Thomas Jr., and CA Charles Wood Jr.

DCA: CA George Irish Jr., CA Stephen Kaiser, CA Terrence O’Toole, and CA James Wilmer

DFW: CA Clint Beedle, FO Kurt Bjorn, CA Charles Bowen, CA Doug Brown, CA Earl Brunner, FO Thomas Carr, CA Mike Ciaccio, CA Thomas Colburn, CA Dominic Currieri, CA Patrick Danis, FO Charles Dickenson, CA Kathi Durst, CA James Dwyer, CA Jesse Falcon, CA William Findley, CA Robert Glathe, CA Russell Grieco, CA Steven Haase, CA Jeffry Hamlin, CA Scott Harrington, FO Robert Helmus, CA William Herron, CA Michael Himes, CA Steven Holmstrom, CA David Homburger, CA James Karukas, CA Lawrence Kelly, CA Michael Kirsch, CA Steven Kline, FO Joseph Marincel, CA Frank Maury, CA Michael McCartan, FO James Meek, CA Dennis Merrill, CA James Morrison, CA Robert Ramsey, FO Gregory Rhodes, FO Nancy Richardson, CA Richard Rider, FO Mark Roberts, CA Eric Roth, CA Mitchell Sander, CA Gary Sherman, CA David Small, CA Thomas Snelling, CA Dean Swanson, CA Stephen Thomas, FO Stephen Toldy, CA Michael Turner, CA Mark Victor, CA Clark Walker, FO Michael Wallstater, CA John Wooden, CA Thomas Woods, FO John York, and FO D. Zand

LAX: CA Daniel Ables, CA Michael Donohue, CA Thomas Harwood, FO James Herrin, FO Richard Jones, CA Kevin McGlynn, FO Andrew Merrick, and CA John Roberts

LGA: CA Scott Berger, FO Charles Clark, FO William Jones, CA Paul MacIsaac, CA Michael Sturges, CA David Terwilliger, and CA Teresa VandenDolder

MIA: CA Edward Allport, CA Carlos Ayuso, CA Catherine Beirne, CA Dale Caldwell, FO Walter Chernoch, CA Susan Cunningham, CA Joseph Delisle, CA William Devine, CA Peter Hagemann, FO Michael Haskins, CA Byron Jaffe, CA Michael Kennedy, FO Michael Krkuc, FO Brian Leazenby, CA Frederick Logan, FO Berry Long, CA Charles Martin, CA Keith Quisenberry, CA Bryan Reich, CA Stephen Tate, CA Kent Thorpe, CA Steve Walker, and CA Jack White

ORD: CA Timothy Cox, CA Alonzo Haney, CA Michael Piotrowski, FO Kevin Sheets, and FO Nancy Wudtke

PHL: FO Alfred Byrne, FO John Carlisle, CA Douglas Chappius, CA Ken Clark, CA Ronald Davis, FO Emily Dent d’Almuano, CA Thomas Evans, FO Mark Gesing, CA William Holden, CA Dennis James, CA Richard Kirkendall, CA Robert Knapp, FO Betty Ludtke, CA James Niles, CA Larry Quick, FO Keith Rodriguez, CA Arthur Slowey, FO John Thompson, CA Michael Walsh, and CA Scott Weaver

PHX: CA Alfred Casby, CA Maren Cochran, CA Timothy Hardy, CA Brian Izard, CA Charles Morgante, and CA Craig Stefanisko

CA Peter Gamble Calls it a “Carreah”

CA Peter Gamble, who served four terms as BOS Domicile Chair, retired this week after more than 34 years of service. His final sequence was JFK-LHR-BOS-LHR-JFK, and his BOS layover began with a Fini Flight celebration on Sept. 19.

During his eight years on the APA Board of Directors (2015-2023), CA Gamble was also a member of the Compensation Committee and the Financial Audit Committee. He additionally served on three ad hoc committees: 737 MAX Return to Service, 9/11 20th Anniversary Memorial, and Non-Routine Flight Operations Quality Assurance.

Congratulations, “Petah,” and thank you for your service to your fellow pilots! We will never forget your memorable instructions for handling RAM Mounts.

Southeastern Oklahoma State University to Honor CA Terry Barker

In November of 2022, longtime APA volunteer CA Terry Barker lost his life in a midair collision during the Wings Over Dallas airshow. CA Barker will be honored by Southeastern Oklahoma State University during its Distinguished Alumni Awards Banquet, which is scheduled for Oct. 4. Another former APA volunteer, CA Johnathan Benton, posthumously received the same honor from the university last year.

APA Medical Minute – Cholesterol Medications

In the latest edition of the APA Medical Minute, APA Medical Advisor Kathy Parr discusses what pilots need to know if they take medications to control cholesterol.

You can watch previous Medical Minute videos on APA’s YouTube channel.

Civil Aviation Medical Association Recognizes APA’s Kathy Parr

Kathy Parr with Dr. Andrew H. Miller, a member of the CAMA Board of Trustees

APA Medical Advisor Kathy Parr has been honored with a prestigious fellowship by the Civil Aviation Medical Association. According to CAMA, “fellowship in the organization signifies a major accomplishment in an individual’s career in aerospace medicine” and “priority will be given to those CAMA members who have made significant contributions to civil aviation medicine.”

Throughout CAMA’s history, the organization has typically conferred fellowships on medical doctors. Its selection of Ms. Parr this year, in addition to Medical Advisors Manager Marsha Reekie last year, speaks volumes about the quality of personalized aeromedical care that APA’s team of nurses provide to our membership and the recognition and reputation they have industrywide.

Domicile Events

Click the image for a closer look.

Dozens of pilots and guests gathered at the Ballantyne Charlotte Hotel last Saturday for a retirement party.

Visit AlliedPilots.org/Calendar to RSVP for any of these upcoming domicile events:

• BOS: Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Oct. 7
• DFW: Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Oct. 8; Retirement Party on Nov. 9; Holiday Party on Dec. 6
• LAX: San Diego Lunch on Oct. 8; Thousand Oaks Lunch on Oct. 9; Dana Point Lunch on Oct. 10; Temecula Lunch on Oct. 16
• LGA: Domicile Meeting on Oct. 3; Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Oct. 7; Retirement Party on Oct. 26
• ORD: Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Oct. 8
• PHL: Telephone Town Hall Meeting on Oct. 8; Retirement Party on Oct. 19

Week in Review

Here are some recent messages you may have missed.

• Communications Committee: Did You Vote Yet?
• Family Awareness Committee: Critical Pilot Response: Tropical Storm Helene 
• Safety Committee: Aviation Safety Action Program Seeks Volunteers

Are You Willing to Serve?

Each of these national committees or subcommittees has the indicated number of vacancies:

• Aeromedical Committee (0)
  • Disabled Pilot Awareness Subcommittee (3)
  • Human Intervention Motivation Study Subcommittee (1)
  • Pilot Occupational Health Subcommittee (2)
  • Project Wingman Subcommittee (3)
• Captain’s Authority Committee (2)
• Communications Committee (0)
  • National Communications Network (2)
• Economic and Financial Analysis Committee (1)
• Grey Eagles Liaison Committee (2)
• Professional Standards Committee (1)
• Scheduling Committee (5)
• Training Committee (4)
  • Checkmate (1 on 777)

If you would like to serve on one or more of these committees, visit the Member Engagement Portal.

Closing of the Seniority Defense Fund Trust

The directors of the Allied Pilots Association Seniority Defense Fund Trust Agreement (SDF Trust) have decided to close it and distribute all remaining assets to the APA Emergency Relief & Scholarship Fund. The SDF Trust was created in 2014 prior to the National Mediation Board’s determination naming the APA as the single bargaining representative for the combined pilot group following the merger between American Airlines and US Airways. The SDF Trust was created to support the interests of pre-merger legacy American Airlines pilots in the event of a seniority list integration; the SDF Trust provided funding to the American Airlines Merger Committee during the seniority integration proceedings. The directors have determined that the purposes of the SDF Trust have been achieved, the seniority issues that arose from the merger of US Airways and American Airlines have all been adjudicated, and no more grievances or other issues are anticipated for which the SDF Trust would be needed.

The SDF Trust is an independent entity not controlled by APA. The SDF Trust’s directors decided to close it and asked APA to publish this announcement. According to the directors, all accounts have been paid, a final audit has been conducted, and there is no outstanding business that requires continuation of the SDF Trust.

Legacy American Airlines pilots who desire to view the final audit may do so at the legal offices of James & Hoffman. APA does not have a copy of the final audit and has no authority to demand a copy.

Professional Standards FAQs

Can management continue with a traditional process after releasing a case to Professional Standards?
No. Once an issue has been released to Professional Standards, management will not pursue action against an employee for actions contained in the referral.

To read all of the FAQs, click here.

Professional Standards’ 24/7 hotline: 817-402-2181

If You’re 50, Join The Grey Eagles

Are you a pilot for American Airlines, at least age 50, active or retired? Please join The Grey Eagles for food, fun, and fellowship. We offer cruises, conventions, monthly luncheons, retirement dinners, professional mentoring, and assistance to surviving spouses – all for a one-time lifetime fee.

Pilot Job Fairs and Future Pilot Seminars

Future & Active Pilot Advisors’ next Pilot Job Fair and Future Pilot Seminar are scheduled for Oct. 25 at DAL. Click here for more information.

Industry News

For more about what’s happening in the industry, be sure to visit the Industry News page on AlliedPilots.org.