The 2018 ALPA Superior Airmanship Award has been awarded to the pilots of United Flight 1175. United 1175 experienced a catastrophic engine failure (the description of a serious serious engine failure in the pilot jargon) en route from San Francisco to Honolulu.
The emergency happened on February 13, 2018. The three pilots handled the emergency with superior piloting skills, safely working together as a crew in a correct procedural and methodical fashion.
What happened with United flight 1175?
With about 35 minutes to go before landing in Honolulu, the right engine cowling (cover) came off. A loud bang was heard inside the cabin. There were 363 passengers and 10 crew members aboard the United Boeing 7772-222, a two-engine airplane. The engine was a Pratt & Whitney PW4000.
Pilot Recipients of the 2018 ALPA Superior Airmanship Award
The following pilots were given the 2018 Superior Airmanship Award by ALPA:
Captain Christopher Benham
Captain Paul Ayers
First Officer Ed Gagarin
You can watch the engine failure and the award-pilots on video here!
Passenger recap of the incident
As always, there wasn’t long after the emergency that passengers who were on board flight 1174 posted the event in their social media channels.
Passenger report on Twitter
The ALPA pilot union and its Superior Airmanship Award
ALPA (Airline Pilot Association) is the labor union representing the pilots of United Airlines. United’s MEC (Master Executive Council) Chairman Captain Todd Insler announced the award in a letter to its pilots.
The superior airmanship distinction is awarded annually. The award goes to pilots who have handled airplane emergencies with superb skills during the year prior. The 2019 award was ALPA’s 65th Annual Award.
Captain Jetson Airline and Travel News congratulates these professional pilots on a job well done and for an award well deserved!
Featured Image: ALPA/YouTube.
What is ALPA?
ALPA is the acronym for Air Line Pilots Association, International. ALPA is the world’s largest pilots union, founded on July 27, 1931. The pilot association has motre than 62,000 members. ALPA-airlines include 35 airlines from the U.S. and Canada. Furthermore, ALPA is a member of IFALPA, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations. Canadian-based IFALPA is a worldwide association of separate national pilots’ associations (airline pilot unions).
How many airline pilots are members of ALPA?
ALPA (Air Line Pilots Association, International), the world’s largest pilots union, represents more than 62,000 pilots working for 35 different U.S. and Canadian airlines. Member services for its pilots are provided within three critical elements: 1. Airline safety. 2. Security. 3. Assistance, representation, and advocacy.
Why should airline pilots be unionized?
Airline pilot unions, such as ALPA, are powerful labor unions providing a collective bargaining tool to protect the interests and the protective oversight of its pilots. Unions help secure pilot contracts, which provides job security, wage commitments and work rules for the pilots that each union airline’s management must abide by. A big pilot union such as ALPA has pilot advocates reaching all the way up to the U.S. Government level, the union works with the FAA for flight safety for pilots and passengers alike, it keeps an eye on regulation protecting U.S. jobs, and much more.
Which pilot groups are represented by ALPA?
ALPA’s (Air Line Pilots Association, International) pilot groups consist of the pilots from the following U.S. and Canadian airlines: Air Georgian (GGN), Air Transat (TSC), Air Transport International (ATI), Air Wisconsin (ARW), Alaska (ALA), Bearskin (BRS), Calm Air (CMA), Canadian North (CNP), CommutAir (CMT), Compass (CPZ), Delta (DAL), Endeavour Air (EDV), Envoy Air (ENY), ExpressJet (XJT), FedEx Express (FDX), First Air (FAB), Frontier (FFT), Hawaiian (HAL), Jazz Aviation (JAZ), JetBlue (JBU), Kalitta Air (CKS), Kelowna Flightcraft (KFC), Mesa Air Group (MAG), Perimeter (PAG), Piedmont (PDT), Provincial Airlines (PVL), PSA (PSA), Sky Regional (SKV), Spirit (SPA), Sun Country (SCA), Trans States (TSA), United (UAL), Wasaya (WSG), Westjet (WJA), Westjet Encore (WEN). Source: ALPA.
