IFALPA Briefing Leaflet: Detrimental Effects of Identifying Crew Members in Accident Reports
5 January 2024 - The goal of every accident investigation is to discover the contributing factors of the occurrence. Crew members involved in an accident or incident are often willing participants in the investigation, knowing that they are contributing to aviation safety by providing the information required to prevent a reoccurrence (...)
Position Paper IFALPA: PED Smoke or Fire Response Kits
8 January 2024 - Some airlines have been providing containment bags or boxes to crew members as part of their Dangerous Goods smoke or fire response kits, to deal with a potential thermal runaway of PEDs. IFALPA believes that these items need to meet certain requirements before being considered suitable for use (...)
Position Paper IFALPA: Deidentified Accident Reporting
5 January 2024 - In an occurrence report, identifying the individuals involved has no safety benefit and can only lead to the attribution of blame or liability. The traits or experience that contributed to the event are sufficient in identifying safety risks and addressing measures of prevention (...)
Position Paper IFALPA: Carriage of Persons on Cargo Aircraft
3 January 2024 - Reference is sometimes made to Dangerous Goods Regulations to determine which persons are allowed onboard commercial transport aircraft (both passenger and cargo). This determination is not the role of the DG regulatory structure and goes well beyond its scope. The final decision to accept any persons onboard should be left to the pilot-in-command (...)
Press Release IFALPA on Aircraft Accident at Japan’s Haneda Airport
2 January 2024 – The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) is closely monitoring the developments related to the accident involving Japan Airlines flight 516, an A350 aircraft from Sapporo (CTS) to Tokyo Haneda (HND) and a DHC-8 aircraft. Our thoughts are with the friends and families of the five crew members that were onboard the DHC -8 aircraft (...)
Position Paper IFALPA: Protection of All Cockpit Recordings
21 December 2023 - Although ICAO Annex 13 para. 5.12 has clear provisions for the protection of "cockpit voice recordings, airborne image recordings and any transcripts from such recordings", there are no ICAO definitions of "cockpit voice recordings" and "airborne image recordings", which leaves it to the States to decide which recordings should fall under these provisions and which should not (...)
Position Paper IFALPA: Use of Flight Recorders
21 December 2023 - This paper is an update to, and supersedes 23POS11, of the same name. IFALPA acknowledges the contribution of Flight Recorders to accident and serious incident investigation, conducted by the relevant State Investigation Authorities in accordance with ICAO Annex 13. These investigations have formed the foundation of the current high level of aviation safety (...)
IFALPA Briefing Leaflet: Controlled Rest on the Flight Deck
18 December 2023 - This paper is an update to, and supersedes, 21HUPBL01, of the same name. Controlled rest is not permitted by some regulators and operators. The purpose of this briefing leaflet is to advise Member Associations of the guidance material available concerning procedures for Controlled Rest (CR) on the flight deck. It also gives information on the prerequisites when CR may be used.
Position Paper IFALPA: Use of Social Media by Pilots
13 December 2023 - This paper supersedes 18POS25, of the same name. The omnipresence of social media in modern society has blurred the separation between our working and personal lives. As innocent as posting a status update or a short comment may seem, what people do and say on social media can result in serious consequences (...)
Position Paper IFALPA/IFATCA: Disruption of Satellite-Based Signals
11 December 2023 - This paper supersedes 21POS07, of the same name. Modern air traffic relies heavily on the internal accuracy of aircraft systems and the aircraft's ability to monitor its own reliability. Satellite-based Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) services have been playing a growing part in the overall ATM system and aircraft are becoming more reliant on space-based signals (...)