|
In this issue: Presidents’ Column IFALPA HUPER MEETING Firearms onboard the aircraft IATA Air Traffic Services Incident Analysis 
Presidents’ Column
2009 is progressing at breakneck speed. Much has happened since the election of a new EXCo last year.
Although our Strategic Planning Session was postponed and took place in January of this year, we have- and continue to make significant progress.
Vice President Piet van Schalkwyk was tasked with running this process. We looked at the positive and negative issues that face the Association and communication has been identified as a top priority .
We need to keep you, the member, informed as to what is happening in the aviation industry and also at ALPA-SA.
To this end we have upgraded our website (www.alpa.co.za) and also our newsletter, SELCAL. You may have already seen the first of the new-look SELCAL in April and I am confident you are suitably impressed. Much work has gone into this publication from many sectors and I would like to appeal to you to please get involved by offering feedback and suggestions/ ideas on what you would like to read about.
We want to make ALPA-SA members proud to be part of an Association that adds value to the daily lives of pilots. We would also like to be part of an Association that is viewed as being a professional and responsible player within the South African and global aviation industry, through IFALPA.
IFALPA Conference
Recently, I had the honour of attending the 64th IFALPA Conference hosted by New Zealand ALPA in Auckland.
Once again this conference was a source of inspiration and motivation for those who attended. The networking opportunity is an invaluable tool when you are involved in this type of work. Exposure to the myriad of issues that Associations in other countries are faced with benefits us in South Africa because we do not have to re-invent the wheel if and when faced with similar challenges.
The Regional Executive Vice President Africa/Middle East, Capt Mohammed Hassoun, complimented ALPA-SA on reporting and feedback by ALPA-SA members via the DF9 forms reporting deficiencies in South and Sub-Saharan African airspace.
More reports are needed and reporting must not stop. “All good and well, but we never see any immediate results” you ask. That is partially true as we never see immediate results when working in such a large complicated environment. What has happened though, through your reporting and concerns expressed, is that ICAO, IATA and IFALPA have set up a Tactical Action Group (or TAG) for the African region.
All your reports are filtered, via IFALPA, into this forum which communicates via a bi-weekly conference call. IATA, which is very concerned about aviation safety in Africa, together with IFALPA, can guide ICAO to put pressure on offending countries/regions.
For example: some “long range” pilots might have added that RVSM in Africa should never have taken place.
What happened? Insufficient reports had been generated to prove the fact and when ICAO and IATA asked IFALPA to substantiate its opposition to RVSM in Africa, it had insufficient evidence to do so.
Please, the reports MUST BE FILED if we want to see positive change and they do make a difference. You do not need a DF9 form just write a short note with the flight number, date, your details and the issue/deficiency.
Fax, email or box drop for attention Sonia Ferreira, alpapr@iafrica.com, fax: (011) 970 1357 and ALPA-SA will do the rest. This also applies to the non-airline pilots.
Technical Committees
Prev Naidoo has been appointed as Technical Director. He will oversee the different technical committees at ALPA and report back to the EXCo regarding their activities.
We are always looking for volunteers in this area so if you have any interest in ATC matters, airfield problems, matters that affect us as the human interface in the industry, accident issues, the way aircraft design is progressing, dangerous goods, stop ‘complaining in the pub’ and get involved. Every bit helps and your 2c worth could prevent a great deal of unnecessary stress or even possibly save a life.
ALPA-SA Trade Union / Professional Association
ALPA-SA is predominantly a union and remains focussed on the development of your interests within the aviation industry. The former President of IFALPA once told me that winning in our game is not about who crosses the line first, but rather about crossing the line together and sharing in a common victory. I attend a number of different industry related meetings and forums each year and am proud of the positive image ALPA-SA has managed to build.
The Branches, CPA, MAPA, SAAPA and SAXPA are primarily occupied with collective industrial issues such as negotiations on salaries and conditions of employment. All the work at branch level is done by pilot volunteers who have stood up to make a difference on issues that confront our respective airlines. Apart from salaries, there are a substantial number of subjects that have a major impact on the quality of our daily lives and careers. These branches also could never succeed without unity. We may differ on certain issues, but we have to unite and remain focused on what needs to be done.
Unfortunately, at some airlines, there exists a misconception on the part of the pilots which is based on the belief that it is justified to sit back and expect rewards to simply fall into people’s laps.
Recently a non-branch member alleged that his aviation career is a ‘disaster’ and he feels that he is ‘abused’ from a flying perspective and in terms of promotion. He continued by saying that ALPA had done nothing to help him and that the Association only helps SAA pilots, and he expressed his wish to resign.
I want to highlight the fact that ALPA-SA was once recognised by the airline that he now flies for. All very sad to hear, but ALPA can only achieve its true potential when pilots unite and stand together under one banner. Although individual members are not left out in the cold, such level of representation certainly places considerable limits on ALPA’s powers within the scope of the industrial environment.
ALPA also adds value in other places – our main objective is to improve the environment that all of our members operate in.
Aviation Industry
At a recent CAA Industry Liaison meeting it was confirmed that the 30-day licence/medical extensions will be reinstated. I have also requested the speeding up of the implementation of GNSS arrival and approach into Oribi, PMB. The Commissioner has agreed and a progress report will be given at the next meeting.
ALPA-SA is working with ATNS to improve ATC environment and we were involved in the drafting of the Aviation Bill that will be signed and published shortly. ALPA-SA has a representative at the CARCOM meetings which provide advisory information to the Commissioner before certain regulations are published.
ALPA-SA members are furthermore involved with ACSA on airfield projects, runway overrun improvement, RWY11 ELS, La Mercy, the new FACT runway realignment, as well as continuously researching and studying the labour environment to enable us to professionally assist and represent members. I can go on and on, but as you can see that this is far removed from supporting just one branch.
In conclusion I want to thank the members for the support given to the Executive and the Association – by being a member you are supporting ALPA-SA. If we want to achieve great things we have to unite and work hard in what we believe. To those of you at the non-branch airlines, flying the ALPA-SA banner – well done! I hope that sense will prevail and that the benefits of working together will be seen sooner rather than later. Remember that the full support and commitment of all the pilots is essential if we want to succeed and make a difference.
Fly well and let’s stand united.
Tony Laubser IFALPA HUPER MEETING
By Carl Bollweg
The second IFALPA HUPER for the 2008 was hosted by ALPA-SA and held at the Farm Inn in Pretoria from 22 to 24 October 2008.
• Panel on Chemical Dependency. The relapse rate of alcohol dependent pilots remains at about 15% which compares favourably with the 80% relapse rate in the general population. Disciplined and programmed review, with the threat of job loss, are considered major incentives to succeed.
• Sleep Apnoea. The US FAA figures reveal an incidence of 0.5% in ATPL pilots and 0.3% in private pilots. The issue has been implicated in several US accidents, the grounding of the ocean liner Star Princess in the Alaskan inside Passage, two train accidents, a tanker driver on an airport and an ATCO giving an inappropriate clearance to two aircraft on crossing runways.
• Findings from the U.S. Mandatory Alcohol Testing Program. Alcohol testing has been mandatory within the U.S. aviation industry since 1995. During the study period random alcohol testing yielded a total of 440 violations, with an overall prevalence rate of 0.09% and a prevalence rate of 0.03% for flight crews. Alcohol violations were associated with an increased, yet not statistically significant risk of accident involvement and were attributed to 0.13% of aviation accidents. The conclusion was that alcohol violations among U.S. major airline employees with safety- sensitive functions are rare and play a negligible role in aviation accidents.
• Antidepressant use in Australia. A Case-control study of ten years of Australian data matched all holders of Australian aviation medical certificates who were prescribed antidepressants during the period 1 January 1993 to 30 June 2004 (n = 481), and a matched comparison group. No significant differences between the two groups were found in any of the analyses. There were 18 accidents recorded for the antidepressant group and 15 for the comparison group across the whole period, compared with 5 for cases and 5 for controls during the period while antidepressants were being taken. There were 113 incidents recorded for the antidepressant group compared with 131 controls. A non-significantly higher number of accidents and incidents were recorded among cases in the period prior to commencing antidepressant medication. This study found no evidence of adverse safety outcomes arising from permitting individuals to operate as commercial or private aircrew or air traffic controllers while using antidepressants provided specific criteria are met and maintained. This finding has the potential to change current policies of aviation regulatory bodies internationally and may be of significance to a range of transport and other safety-critical occupations and activities.
• Effects of Pressure. Lately aircrews are under pressure to take less fuel. We have to protect the right of the commander regarding a final fuel decision. In addition, due to the lack of sufficiently qualified ground support staff, situations occur where the aircrew are obliged to get involved to resolve the situation. Also, more people enter the cockpit to get pilots to make calls on their behalf. This is undesirable as it leads to unwanted distractions.
• Embitterment Disorder. Embitterment Disorder (ED), or more correctly called Post Traumatic Embitterment Disorder (PTED), is a mental health issue that can arise following a single exceptional negative event which precipitates the onset of the illness. The emotional response which is currently experienced as a negative state with feelings of embitterment and injustice. There are repeated intrusive memories of the event along with other symptoms such as feeling helpless, self-blame, suicidal ideation, rejection of offers of help, dysphoria (grumpiness), aggression, down heartedness, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, pain and phobia with respect to the place or persons related to the event.
PTED affects performance at work and at home. People get trapped in a cycle of under performance and despair. They feel down hearted and helpless. They can also become aggressive. In the most serious cases, they can suffer nightmares and experience phobia and anxiety with respect to their work, feeling unable ever to return to work. No matter how angry they are, they may appear to be jovial and use humour especially as they contemplate revenge.
In the changing aviation world, some pilots may express some of the symptoms associated with ED. That’s the state of affairs in the industry right now. The majority of pilots experience some of these reactions, but they do not cause significant impairment at work or at home. In fact, some pilots may have difficulty pinpointing which of the number of negative experiences
they have suffered of late might have generated these symptoms. As they pile up, the experience of stress builds and eventually impacts health and well being.
• Age 60 Rule. The Huper committee eventually agreed on the following proposal: The ability to exercise the privileges of a pilot’s licence should be determined by an individual’s ability to meet required medical and proficiency standards and not by any arbitrary upper age limit. Whilst it is recognised that an arbitrary limit is unable to determine an individual pilot’s ability to maintain the medical and proficiency standards necessary to exercise the privileges of a pilot’s licence; it is also recognised that abilities and skills do decline with increasing age. It is therefore a requirement that full pension provision for pilots, whether state or company, and the ability to retire should be available by age 60.
Firearms onboard the aircraft 
After the atrocities of September the 11th 2001 on American soil, many rules, regulations and some knee-jerk decisions were put into force. Amongst these very debatable decisions was that of allowing (trained) flight deck crew to carry firearms. Under the programme, pilots can be trained to use weapons to defend the aircraft in the event of a hijacker managing to get through the reinforced cockpit door. Pilots need to undergo a week-long training course and psychological testing, only then may they apply for a licence to carry a gun on board domestic flights. This program is voluntary and pilots usually pay for their own training and ammunition. All pilots who qualify from the programme carry the same weapon - a .40-caliber semiautomatic H&K USP.
It is however, ALPA-SA policy not to allow any firearms onboard any South African registered civilian aircraft. To date, about 5000 American airline pilots are authorised to carry firearms onboard domestic flights, however not within the confines of the cabin itself. These latter privileges are reserved for specially trained US Air marshals who fly on arbitrary domestic flights.
According to a representative of the American Transportation and Safety Board (TSA), “...essentially the flight crew has the critical responsibility of safely flying the aircraft. Anything that takes away from their time, their training, their primary responsibility, I think could have an impact on safety” (http://www.pbs.org/flashpointsusa). He does have a point. Airline pilots are required to maintain flying currency on a yearly basis and in cases of large commercial jet pilots, recurrent training and evaluation twice a year. This keeps the pilot “ahead of the game” and gives the fare paying passenger confidence in the maintenance of professional flight standards. By adding a second responsibility, that of law enforcement, which in turn requires a high proficiency level of firearm skill, knowledge and training, may be unfair on the passenger, as maintaining the high levels of performance expected from a law enforcement official may not be maintained. This may be akin to a false sense of security in the cabin.
Proponents of the “against” debate in onboard firearms possession are given more ammunition from the following incident:
“On Saturday, 22 Mar 2008, just before noon, a gun carried by a US Airways pilot accidentally went off on Flight 1536 from Denver to Charlotte. No one was injured by the shot, and the aircraft, carrying 124 passengers, landed safely in Charlotte. The plane was then sequestered and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is looking into the incident. The pilot of flight 1536 had just re-qualified from the firearm course a few months before the event. The TSA noted that, in the six-year history of the armed pilot program, the US Airways incident was the first time a weapon had been fired in the cockpit. Guns are otherwise prohibited in the passenger cabin.”
The debate is ongoing, however, together with our European counterparts, ALPA-SA are of the opinion, that any form of firearm onboard an aircraft poses a far greater safety hazard than is acceptable. A quick risk assessment by weighing the probability of hijacking versus accidental discharge is elementary. For more information with interesting and humorous debate, search on Turley’s blog at http://jonathanturley.org/.
Source: http://www.blog.wired.com/
IATA Air Traffic Services Incident Analysis
Carl Bollweg IFALPA RVP AFI South
The last meeting was held at the IATA Regional Head Office in Sandton. In total, AIAG analysed 120 reports. These airproxes/incidents occurred between 16 January 2008 and 16 March 2009.
The reported ATS incidents occurred in the airspaces of the following FICs/ACCs: Abidjan (1); Accra (2); Addis Ababa (1); Beira (3); Brazzaville (7) / Douala (1); Cape Town (1) and Johannesburg (4); Cape Verde (1); Dar es Salaam (3); Dakar terrestrial and oceanic (9); Entebbe (3); Kinshasa (19), Khartoum (8); Lagos and Kano (16); Libreville (2); Luanda terrestrial and oceanic (9); Lusaka (3); Nairobi (14); N’Djamena (6); Niamey (2); Seychelles (2); Tripoli (1) and Windhoek (1)
Following the AIAG analysis, 26 incidents were classified as airproxes with high risk and 30 incidents were classified as airproxes with medium risk, 6 incidents were classified as airproxes, and however the associated risk could not be determined.
Where ATC separation was compromised it was found that the required separation was restored by:
• TCAS TA in 27 instances, of which 4 were restored by TA and IFBP, 3 by TA and Pilot visual awareness, 1 by TA and ATC intervention and 1 by TA and Pilot monitoring ATS frequency;
• TCAS RA in 17 instances;
• IFBP in 9 instances, of which 4 were restored by and IFBP and TA and 1 by IFBP and Pilot monitoring ATS frequency;
• ATC intervention and TA in 1 instance;
• ATC frequency monitored by pilot in 5 instances, of which 1 was restored by ATC frequency monitored by pilot and IFBP and 1 was restored by ATC frequency monitored by pilot and TA;
• No last minute visual separation occurred;
• Pilot visual awareness and TA in 3 instances.
• In 10 instances it could not be established or could not be determined, as these airproxes were reported by ANSPs and crew reports were missing.
Keep up the IFBP calls on 126,9 – it could save your life!
|
