APA News Digest

Oct. 12, 2024

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In This Edition ...

APA Board of Directors Elects FO Nick Silva as President

On Thursday, the APA Board of Directors elected DFW FO Nick Silva to serve as APA President through June 30, 2025. The Board conducted the election in accordance with the procedures contained in Section 9.05 of the APA Policy Manual. Members of the Board also nominated DCA CA Joe Collins, LGA CA Tim Knutson, ORD CA Dennis Tajer, DFW CA Chris Torres, and CLT CA Kevin Wilkes for consideration. FO Silva received a majority of votes cast in the third round of balloting.

FO Silva has been serving as the Chair of the APA Economic & Financial Analysis Committee and as a member of the Negotiating Committee. Hired by American Airlines in 2014, he is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, earning his Master of Business Administration from Southern Methodist University and Bachelor of Arts from California State University, Sacramento. He lives in Dallas with his wife and two children.

Background Info on Recall Procedures

This is a new message from APA’s National Communications Network.

Given the events of the past week, pilots understandably have questions about recall procedures, Article VII charges, and voter lists. We conveyed facts about all three topics in the latest edition of the CROSSCHECK, our periodic newsletter for NCN volunteers.

NCN is a subcommittee of the Communications Committee. Our volunteers are tasked with facilitating two-way communication between line pilots and their elected leaders.

If you would like to volunteer, please complete the training module on this page.

Join Us for YOUnion 301 on Nov. 13

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

The Compass Project and APA Vice President CA Chris Torres will host a “YOUnion 301” meeting via Zoom at 1100 Central on Nov. 13. This “Captains’ Development Seminar” is intended to help new captains and soon-to-be captains understand their authorities, APA support, and safety trends within our airline.

Click here to register for the Nov. 13 meeting.

Bidding Alert for ATL and AUS Commuters

This is a new message from the APA Family Awareness Committee.

As part of our continuing effort to bring APA to the pilots, we have scheduled gatherings at Atlanta Golf & Social on Nov. 3 and at Easy Tiger in Austin on Nov. 12. Please keep these events in mind when submitting your PBS bid for November.

Sunsetting of MyOT Legacy

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

Over the last several months, the IT Steering Committee and APA IT Department have provided guidance (emails, mobile notifications, and APA News Digest articles) regarding sunsetting the MyOT Legacy product and the switch to MyOT Beta, which is found in the APA Pilot application. MyOT Legacy was decommissioned at 1600 Central on Oct. 11, and notifications will no longer be available through that service. Guidance on setting up your MyOT Beta profile can be found under the MyOT Beta tab on the IT Steering Committee’s Latest Releases webpage.

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 Sept. 29, A321 aircraft 195 has been written up and out of service six times for the right engine FADEC. It was most recently signed off on Oct. 7.
  • A321 aircraft 870 was at a contract MRO (maintenance, repair, and overhaul) station for a C11 check and returned to service on Sept. 28. Since then, it has been written up and out of service four times for cabin pressurization. It was most recently signed off on Oct. 11.
  • A321 aircraft 951, which was previously flown by Alaska Airlines, entered AA revenue service on May 16. Since then, it has been written up for a Class 2 air bleed message 15 times, been on MEL 11 times for a total of 89 days, and been out of service six times. It was most recently signed off on Oct. 6.

APA Welcomes Leadership Class

This is a new message from the APA Membership Committee.

a group of pilots in a lobby

Click the image for a closer look.

On Oct. 9, 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: Dean Baker, Marc Britton, Christopher Brown, William Browne, Joseph Fung, Aaron Kelley, Jeffrey Owen, Thomas Palmer, Giovanni Pavese, Reynaldo Posadas, Humberto Ramirez, Edward Russell, Roque Soto, Scotty Taylor Jr., and Kevin Wheat.

Congratulations to Newly Upgraded Captains

This is a new message from the APA Membership Committee.

We would like to recognize and congratulate these pilots who upgraded to captain last month. They are sorted by their post-upgrade base and equipment.

BOS 737: Jay Andrews, Thomas Knox, Benjamin Russo, and Stephen Spear

CLT 320: Hobson Black, James Bowman, Matthew Couch, Dominic DelRosso, Luc Derenne, Scott Mann, Marshal Orchard, and Dan Wold

DCA 737: Evan Bottorff, Daniel Edelsberg, Kenneth Gilkes, David Pettey, and Aran Stynes

DCA 320: Kevin Hazuka, Todd Mercer, Emilio Urena, and Jeffrey Watson

DFW 737: Jordan Bullock, Douglas Clark, Robert Frey, Kyle Hupfer, Ryan Lacher, Michael Rogers, Mitchell Rosnick, James Shawn, and Mark Wingert

DFW 320: Jeffrey Copeland, Heath Reed, Jason Robinson, and Doyle Tonneson

LAX 320: Stephen Abrams, Oliver Da Silva Martins, Joseph Fung, and Joe Penate

LGA 787: George Allie and James Edwards

LGA 737: Christian Barone, Russell Campbell, David Cruz, Jonathan Espin, Michael Hoxmeier, and Brent Kistner

MIA 737: Jose Altuve Lozada, Jason Burkett, Joshua Correa, Jorge Giovannini, Phillip Holty, Lucas St. Laurent, Ryan Strayve, and Andrew Stutzman

MIA 320: Teodoro Collazo Jr., Robert De Pol, Lucas Faddis, Bryan Henry, Tellys Hunter, Dalton Klugh, Jeremiah McBride, Khiem Nguyen, Giovanni Pavese, Rhaneawrys Pepen, Reynaldo Posadas, Charles Schaefer, Daniel Shaheen, Phillip Smith, Roque Soto, Scotty Taylor Jr., Skyler Villers, and Kevin Wheat

ORD 320: Daniel Allen, Jason Bullard, Jeromy Byrd, Tom Haigh, Nehad Hmoud, Ryan Kline, Kyle Lindsay, George Moore, Mona Naik, and Robert Porter Jr.

PHL 320: William Arner, Aaron Buhr, Joshua Crowley, James Dall, Patrick Dexter, Amani Evensen, German Giachino, Matthew Husbands, Steven Kneussle, Vihas Nair, Andrew Reese, David Reiff, Hiram Rivera Jr., Paul Saracen, Keith Scharer, and Joseph Toth

PHX 737: Dean Baker, Blake Burdick, Nicholas Chaplin, David Hong, and Jason Scales

Domicile Elections

Runoff Round voting opened on Oct. 8, with the following candidates listed on the ballots:

CLT Chair
CA Heather Ducimo Boulanger
CA Erik DeWinne

LGA Vice Chair
CA David Hines
CA James Scanlan

MIA Chair
CA Thomas Copeland
CA Jay Wilhelm

You can learn about the candidates on the Elections page on AlliedPilots.org. Pilots based at CLT, LGA, and MIA have until 0001 Central on Oct. 30 to cast a ballot.

Domicile Events

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

Week in Review

Here are some recent messages you may have missed.

Are You Willing to Serve?

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

  • Aeromedical Committee (0)
    • Critical Incident Response Program Subcommittee (1)
    • Disabled Pilot Awareness Subcommittee (3)
    • Human Intervention Motivation Study Subcommittee (1)
    • Pilot Occupational Health Subcommittee (2)
    • Project Wingman Subcommittee (2)
  • Captain’s Authority Committee (2)
  • Communications Committee (0)
    • National Communications Network (2)
  • Economic and Financial Analysis Committee (1)
  • Grey Eagles Liaison Committee (2)
  • Information Technology Steering Committee (1)
  • Professional Standards Committee (1)
  • 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.

Professional Standards FAQs

What time frame can be expected when Professional Standards is working an issue?
Professional Standards issues will normally be resolved within a few days. Due to scheduling complexities, some cases may take longer. The expectation is that committee volunteers will be as timely as possible and not delay the processing of any issue submitted to the PS committee. Most cases are resolved with two days.

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 followed by Nov. 22 at PHX. 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.

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