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Q: If the Congress forces the FAA to change the rule to age 65, what
prevents FAA from making tight medical requirements that a lot of us could
not pass younger than Age 60?
. The FAA has stated publicly that if Congress changes the age, they will
offset the age by imposing higher standards to maintain their "equivalent
level of safety."
Q: Can we put out information publicly in newspapers to educate the public
about our plight?
. Generally we have found out that there is little impact. The public
doesn't care about us. The only opinion that matters about airline pilots is
our own.
After being at the podium for three straight hours, Captain Woerth left and
Council 12 conducted its normal monthly meeting. The minutes for the meeting
will be released shortly.
Kevin Buchar, Chairman C12 R&I Committee and Delegate to the Chicago
Federation of Labor has asked for the following comments to be included in
this Weekend Update:
The pilots of Council 12 wish to express their support for the pilots of
Trans States Airlines, a United Express carrier. As highlighted in a recent
issue of Air Line Pilot magazine, Trans States management has engaged in a
series of intimidating actions while formulating an alter-ego airline named
GoJets. GoJets is slated to operate 70 seat jets under the United Express
banner. Trans States management is attempting to recruit pilots from Trans
States to staff GoJets, which would be operated outside their current
collective bargaining agreement. Our profession is under attack on many
fronts at many airlines. If you have the opportunity, please express your
support to Trans States pilots as they face this threat to their contract
and our profession.
In other news, Chicago will host the 25th Constitutional Convention of the
AFL-CIO. The event will be held in Festival Hall at Navy Pier from July 25
-28.
Additionally, due to some misunderstanding regarding comments made by the
C12 LSC, the following clarification has been issued by Jim Crail, C12 LSC
737 Representative:
There seems to be some consternation on the 737 fleet about a comment I made
in the last LSC Report. It is noted and unfortunate that it made it through
the "vetting" process because it is being taken in a light that it was not
intended.
Your LSC strives for the best possible flying on all fleets in ORD, period.
In that regard for the last two months, the 737s in ORD have had some of the
best 737 flying in the system, (I would call it the best.) and it has been
far superior to A320 flying in almost every measure. Our fellow pilots on
the A320 are suffering through an unreasonable and degrading drop in quality
in their schedules; we see no reason for the company doing this to them; and
we are fighting to improve their quality of life.
For a number of reasons, including a variety of stage lengths that are
simply undoable in the 737, exclusive Ted destinations, a larger fleet than
the 737, more destinations overall than the 737 has, and others, I should
have written that the A320 "has the OPPORTUNITY to be the best flying in the
LCO." There is no intent to favor one fleet over another and I regret the
unfortunate choice of words I used that gave the impression that the A320
fleet is favored. That is not the case and it will never be the case, but
when there is such a discrepancy in the quality of flying between fleets,
your LSC is obligated to make its best effort to bring up the quality of
flying on the affected fleet, and we are doing this to the best of our
abilities. If 737 flying would suffer in the manner that the A320 has, you
can safely bet that your LSC would be putting the same amount of effort into
its repair.
On the Safety front, C12 Safety Chairman Chris Sims recently put out a
message and posted flyers around Operations regarding the ORD 1 Departure
Procedure. UAL and ALPA have an EXCELLENT relationship with the ORD Air
Traffic Control personnel and this has apparently saved quite a few pilots
from receiving letters regarding the lack of aircraft clearance between UAL
departures and surrounding airport traffic.
As most of you know, in the northern quadrant of the ORD departure airspace,
there is a "3 by 5, 4 by 8" requirement. This is to ensure that ORD
Departures are above the flight corridors used by ATC for outlying airports.
Due to the summer heat and heavy load factors, more than a few aircraft have
not made the restrictions. This is NOT a problem when TRACON knows it is
coming. However, if the crew does NOT specify "Unable ORD 1 Departure," then
TRACON assumes you will comply with the altitude restrictions and COULD (and
soon will, if we do not start to modify our behavior) give the crew an
altitude deviation violation.
Further, TRACON has assured UAL and ALPA that should you state that you are
unable to comply with the ORD 1, your aircraft will NOT be unduly delayed on
your departure, but it will enable them to coordinate traffic away from your
departure path or allow them to find you a slightly different vector out of
the ORD Terminal area.
Thank you for your professionalism on this and other flight safety issues.
This coming week, your LEC Officers will be in Chicago at the
InterContinental Hotel on Michigan Avenue for the July MEC meeting.
Therefore, we will be out of telephone contact for most of the daytime hours
during the week. If you have questions or concerns, please utilize the
Committee structure to the best of your ability. If you are unsure who to
call, phone the C12 Office at (847) 297-2030 and ask Patty who to call from
the Committee Roster. However, if your problem requires an Officer's help,
please feel free to call us and we will get back to you at our earliest
opportunity.
As always, ALL members in good standing are welcome to attend open sessions.
The meeting will be from Monday to Friday, from 0900 to close of daily
business (1700-1900). Some sessions are closed, which is usually the case
for nearly all Monday sessions, as we receive the Financial/Bankruptcy
Briefings. However, the rest of the week is usually MOSTLY in open session.
There are always about 50 seats put out for members and the MEC meets for
breakfast in the conference room beginning at 0800.
Of particular interest to you during this meeting may be the R&I briefing
scheduled for Tuesday morning in Open Session. This presentation will
contain the current thinking and possibilities for the Distribution of the
$550M Convertible Note. The method of Note Distribution will not be decided
at this MEC meeting. We are hopeful that this presentation will provide
sufficient data to enable your Council Officers to provide you with a
similar presentation of the facts and data at our next regularly scheduled
meeting in August.
Space for the local August meeting is currently being sought by the C12
Office. We will let you know the date and location at our earliest
opportunity.
We hope you have an excellent weekend and look forward to seeing you at the
MEC meeting or the next LEC meeting in August.
Safety First, In All Things At All Times!