As an aviation industry professional it is important to
belong to a professional association within your profession. Whether you are a
pilot, mechanic, air traffic controller, management, or any other aviation
professional there are different professional associations that you can belong
to.
As a pilot there are many associations with a variety of
different missions and functions that one can belong to. Although there are many others, some popular
ones associations include: Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Experimental
Aircraft Association, Regional Airline Association, Air Line Pilots
Association, and the National Business Aviation Association.
Since I have not yet fully committed to whether I want to
pursue a career as an airline pilot or a corporate pilot, I have chosen the Air
Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and the National Business Aviation Association
(NBAA).
The ALPA describes in their mission statement that they
represent over 51,000 airline pilots of both U.S. and Canada airlines, making them
the world’s largest union for airline pilots. As described in their mission
statement, they promote safety, assist in collective bargaining for their
pilots, and also defend their pilot’s rights by representing pilot when
negotiating their contracts. ALPA represents pilots with legislation in both
the U.S. and Canada in the form of lobbying. They also provide insurance for
pilots and their families ("ALPA Member Insurance
> Home," n.d.).
Some of the Airlines that ALPA represents include Delta, United, Spirit,
Alaska, and ExpressJet. Last year, Jet Blue, who was previously a non-union
airline voted to become part of the ALPA union and it passed with 71% of the
vote (Mouawad, 2014).
The NBAA’s mission statement is short and to the point, “To
foster an environment that allows business aviation to thrive in the United
States and around the world” ("About NBAA," n.d.). As we
discussed in a previous blog post, business aviation is a vitally important
aspect of the aviation industry and for the corporate business world as well. NBAA
represents large flight departments down to individual single-engine pilots
that use their plane for business. In the past several years, the Obama
administration has been trying to implement “user fees” of $100 per IFR flight
in a turbine driven. This would affect the business aviation world most
significantly. The NBAA fought back by joining 26 other associations and
basically told the Obama administration to give up on implementing this tax and
that it would hurt the industry (Spruce, 2011). It seems to have worked. The
administration recently repealed their decision to try to push these “user
fees” for the fiscal year of 2016 (Lynch, 2015).
As an aviation professional, it is important to be in one or
multiple aviation associations. The
benefits range widely from organization to organization but the missions are
almost always to promote safety in aviation. The more members these
organizations have, the more powerful they can be when under attack from
legislation or other agencies.
References
About NBAA. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2015, from
http://www.nbaa.org/about/
Alpa About ALPA Who We Are. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2015, from
http://www.alpa.org/AboutALPA/WhoWeAre/tabid/2030/Default.aspx
ALPA Member Insurance Home. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2015, from
http://memberinsurance.alpa.org/
Lynch, K. (2015, February 02). White House Scraps Aviation User
Fee Push For FY2016. Retrieved April 11, 2015, from
http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2015-02-02/white-house-scraps-aviation-user-fee-push-fy2016
Mouawad, J. (2014, April 22). JetBlue Airways’ Pilots Vote to Join
Union. Retrieved April 11, 2015, from
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/23/business/pilots-at-jetblue-vote-to-join-a-union.html?_r=0
NBAA - National Business Aviation Association. (n.d.). Retrieved
April 11, 2015, from http://www.nbaa.org/
Pope, S. (2013, April 11). President Obama's $100 User Fee Plan is
DOA: Here's Why. Retrieved April 11, 2015, from http://www.flyingmag.com/blogs/fly-wire/president-obamas-100-user-fee-plan-doa-heres-why
Spruce, T. (2011, September 22). NBAA joins other industry groups
opposing new taxes and user fees - Corporate Jet Investor. Retrieved April 12,
2015, from http://corporatejetinvestor.com/articles/nbaa_joins_other_indutry_groups_opposing_new_taxes_and_user_fees_258/
