This is APA Communications Committee Chairman Captain Sam Mayer with the APA Information Hotline for Thursday, September 24.

Recapping the past two days, first order of business yesterday was the continuation of a closed-session briefing on last week’s mediated discussions regarding management’s pending joint business agreement.

The Board subsequently received a briefing from Strike Preparedness Committee Chairman First Officer Dave Hitte, who reviewed the assumptions underlying his committee’s budget for the next several months.

In his briefing yesterday, Appeal Board Chairman First Officer Jason Goldberg reported that no Article VII cases or election complaints are currently pending. Following First Officer Goldberg’s briefing, the Board voted to affirm First Officer Goldberg and fellow Appeal Board members First Officer Joseph Barkate and First Officer Scott Abbott—along with alternates Captain Glen Millen and Captain Jim Partin—to serve new 12-month terms and to permit the members to select their chairman. First Officer Goldberg will continue serving in that capacity. The Board then voted to approve R2009-05 Rev. 1, “APA Hearing and Disciplinary Procedures.” This resolution was in response to the Board’s desire to rewrite Article VII of the APA Constitution and Bylaws. As a reminder, changes to the APA Constitution and Bylaws are subject to a 100-day abeyance period. You will find the full text of this resolution under “Pending C&B Changes” in “Headliners” on the members’ home page of alliedpilots.org.

The Board also voted to approve R2009-39 Rev. 1, “Recall of Domicile Officers,” which modifies the domicile officer recall procedures contained in Article VI, Section 7 of the Constitution and Bylaws. This resolution is likewise subject to a 100-day abeyance period. You can review it via the same “Pending C&B Changes” link.

Communications Committee Chairman Captain Sam Mayer reported that his committee has been working closely with the Strategic Planning Committee to develop plans for future negotiations support and membership education, Director of Representation Bennett Boggess briefed the status of arbitrations awaiting decisions and awards and General Counsel Ed James briefed a series of legal issues in closed session.

During last night’s volunteer appreciation dinner, Vice President Captain Tom Westbrook presented the APA Safety Award of Excellence to Captain Bill Crooks and First Officer William Rodriguez for their handling of an engine failure on takeoff at high gross weight in mountainous terrain on January 3, 2009 in Medellin, Colombia. Tomorrow’s edition of the APA News Digest will include the text of the letter of commendation Captain Westbrook read aloud as he presented the award, as well as additional details of the appreciation dinner.

Today’s agenda included a briefing by Aeromedical Committee Chairman First Officer Guy Gribble, who recommended that all pilots holding special issuance medical certificates—which is around 35-40 percent of our pilot group—carry their special issuance letters on their person. International Civil Aviation Organization inspectors are routinely asking for this letter and the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to follow suit. He also advised that all pilots past age 60 must undergo six-month line checks and first-class medical examinations every six months. In addition, First Officer Gribble and Director of Safety, Security, Training and Aeromedical Ray Duke stressed the importance of accurately providing information regarding any arrests or convictions on your medical application. Mr. Duke encouraged all pilots with questions about this requirement to contact his department at 817-302-2165. First Officer Gribble also noted that “absent a badge or gun,” no protocol exists for inserting a needle into your arm for drug or alcohol testing. The American Airlines testing protocol can be reviewed on JetNet.

Membership/Furlough Committee Chairman Captain Rusty McDaniels discussed issues associated with APA’s membership application and reinstatement policy.

Technical Analysis and Scheduling Committee Chairman Captain Doug Pinion discussed what he termed the “plusses and minuses” of the ongoing Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) on flight time-duty time. Captain Pinion characterized the ARC as having evolved into a negotiation between the participants and questioned the appropriateness of that approach to a safety-sensitive topic such as flight and duty times. APA will shortly be providing additional details of the ARC’s status.

Following the TASC presentation, the Board voted to affirm the current members of the committee to serve new 12-month terms. First Officer Larry Rosselot, Captain Doug Pinion, First Officer Pat Clark, Captain Jim Manos, Captain Keith Kunert, Captain Don Cruikshank, Captain Mike Rossetti, First Officer Dave Quinlan and Captain Pat Liggett now make up TASC. The one exception is Captain David Brown, who indicated he did not wish to serve another term.

Jumpseat Committee Chairman Captain Dave Groves emphasized that jumpseat-related issues are best handled by that committee or the Professional Standards Committee. He also stated that the proper use of captain’s authority would alleviate the majority of such problems.

Hotel Committee Chairman Captain Doug Lister noted that current economic conditions are prompting high-quality hotels to compete for crew layover business and reiterated the importance of securing contract language that addresses our pilots’ layover hotel needs. Also, please note that in the Monday, Sept. 21 hotline, we referred to an upcoming $565 million payment to the A Plan—to clarify, management is slated to make payments totaling approximately $565 million to the company’s four defined-benefit plans in September 2010. In addition, the APA Pension Committee notes that the anticipated A-Plan funding level in January 2010 of somewhere in the mid-90 percent range is contingent on no significant declines in the financial markets for the rest of 2009.

That’s it for today. Thanks for checking this hotline.