Heroism, Teamwork and Service Mark ALPA’s 55th Air Safety Awards Banquet

Friday, August 7, 2009 - The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) honored aviation’s best at its 55th Air Safety Awards banquet Thursday night, bestowing accolades on crews and individual pilots for outstanding work in the fields of safety, security, pilot assistance, as well as extraordinary acts of airmanship and courage.

Joining hundreds of pilot volunteers and their families from a host of airlines across the world were U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, NTSB Chair Deborah Hersman, Transport Canada Director General of Civil Aviation Martin Eley, and representatives from IFALPA, Nav Canada, Boeing, Airbus, and other international aviation and labor organizations.

“It’s truly amazing to see the breadth and depth of our union’s efforts embodied in you,” ALPA’s president, Capt. John Prater, told the audience. “You represent that backbone that makes our work possible.”

A highlight of the evening was the presentation of ALPA’s first-ever Distinguished Crew Safety Award, presented to the crew of US Airways Flight 1549, including the air traffic controller who handled the flight and two jumpseaters from Colgan Air and American Airlines who assisted in evacuating the crippled Airbus A320 after an emergency ditching in the icy Hudson River last January. It was the first gathering of this entire group of aviation professionals since the accident.

After the audience gave the entire team an emotional, two-minute standing ovation, Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger said, “I am very happy to know that, unlike other appearances we’ve made, I don’t have to explain here what ‘crew’ means.”

Speaking for the entire crew, Sullenberger told his pilot peers that their support after the accident was “a heartfelt, touching, indescribable experience.”

“I feel a renewed pride in our profession,” he said. “Those of us who have chosen this profession in life have chosen a noble calling. We act as we do for three reasons: our passengers deserve it, our colleagues expect it, and profession demands it.”

Building on this year’s Air Safety Forum theme of “It Takes a Pilot,” ALPA leaders honored a unique collection of airline pilots who set the standard for excellence in the industry.

ALPA’s 2008 Superior Airmanship Award was presented to Compass Airlines Capt. Steven Peterka, First Officer Clifton “Lee” Cain, and Flight Attendant Gloria Heurematte for their performance and outstanding teamwork as they successfully conducted an emergency landing as a result of an inflight cabin fire on a flight from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., to Regina, Saskatchewan, in May 2008.

Bringing down their burning jet from cruise speed at 32,000 feet to a safe touchdown in just eight-and-a-half minutes, Peterka said “We were going down so fast we couldn’t read the altimeter.… We smoked the descent record [for an Embraer 175] by three minutes and twenty seconds.”

A second Superior Airmanship Award was bestowed on United Airlines Capt. Everett “Ross” Miller and First Officer Douglas Cochran for their exemplary performance in preventing a catastrophe aboard United Airlines Flight 731, which suffered a near-total electrical failure with accompanying loss of all radio communications moments after taking off from Newark Liberty Airport in January 2008.

CanJet Capt. James Murphy and First Officer Glenn Johnson were recognized with ALPA’s Aviation Security Award for Valour for their bravery during an attempted hijacking of CanJet Flight 918 on April 19, 2009.

FedEx Express Capt. David Wells received the Association’s highest safety honor for his unwavering commitment to aviation safety. His accomplishments include work to establish a standard level of safety for all airline flying, including cargo, through ALPA’s “One Level of Safety” campaign. He also helped lead the Association’s efforts to press for modernization of FAA’s flight- and duty-time limits and rest requirements.

ALPA conferred its highest security honor on Air Canada Jazz Capt. Craig Hall for his longstanding contributions to aviation security. Among other accomplishments, his efforts include developing and implementing the Canadian Restricted Area Identification Card (RAIC) program, a leading-edge aviation security initiative to more effectively and securely identify airline pilots and other airline employees.

Calling his family onto the stage to accept the award with him, Hall recognized the sacrifices his and countless other ALPA families have made over the years to do important union work on behalf of their fellow aviators, explaining that his son once told him he was not going into aviation as a career because “airline pilots are never home.”

Delta Air Lines Capt. Bob Hesselbein was presented with ALPA’s 2008 Presidential Recognition Award for his exemplary efforts to advance aviation security. His drive and determination have been among the deciding factors in many of the most important aviation security advancements since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Prater closed the banquet with a touching and heartfelt tribute to the late FedEx Express Capt. John Lux, who posthumously received the Association’s inaugural Pilot Assistance Award for his many years of exemplary service in building and maintaining pilot assistance programs at his airline and for many other ALPA pilot groups. Capt. Lux, who died of cancer in April, helped define the concept of an all-encompassing human performance program aimed at assisting pilots with all their physical, mental, and emotional needs. His son Jack, an ALPA pilot flying for Pinnacle Airlines, accepted the Award on behalf of the Lux family.